In order to develop the economic condition of a country, its government should encourage entrepreneurship among the people. It is no secret that by increasing the number of entrepreneurs, a state may surge its economic growth significantly. However, the nature of government bureaucracy which is usually complicated can block the small business enhancement, thus it is believed that the exclusion of governmental contribution in private sector is the best way to encourage the proliferation of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). I have to disagree with this view because government can actually support SMEs effectively in several ways.
First, starting a business up can be easy for those who have a well funded capital, but it is the other way around for the others who start from nil. An ordinary citizen who is used to be an employee will find it really hard to kick start his business idea because business requires significant capital to start with. One can lend money from banks but still this method is risky to be taken because she is obliged pay the debt in the given interval. In this case, government can fund these small businesses which is not necessarily huge in term of amount, but it has to be effective. This can be done by monitoring SMEs that provide promising growth. Thus, everyone has much lesser worries when deciding to become entrepreneur.
Emerging businesses require a lot of cost in marketing in order to spread the brand or simply so that people will recognize that they have another choice for a certain product. This huge cost is not yet included the tax that they must pay to the government. Stripping 5-10% from the revenue may be not a big deal for big companies, but for these startups, it could be significant considering their puny profit. The government can support them by exempting them from paying tax such that is done by Singaporean government where startups are discharged from tax for their first $100,000 of chargeable income. By doing this, small entrepreneurs can focus on establishing steady business which could yield considerable growth. Once they have developed durable business condition which is marked by its revenue, they will start to pay the tax.
Other important role in business development is networking. Government could help this SMEs by providing them access to certain business circle that can enhance their networks which in turn could increase their profitability. Government could also encourage the partnership between the big ventures and the SMEs which can potentially create unprecedented market and possibilities.
On the other hand, capitalization, the absence of government's role, might lead to great competition among businesses, leading to the birth of the best products in the market. This could generate an environment where those whose products are not good enough will be deceased, forcing every player to innovate to meet what the market demands. While this sounds promising, this kind of business environment might clog new entrepreneur to enter the market because the atmosphere is too risky for someone to start new business.
To sum up, government plays a vital role in the SMEs business development. They have the power and resources to support SME so that their businesses could be leveraged effectively. It is true that competition could lead to innovation and business development, but if there is just a few player in the market, this competition will hardly boost nation wide economy. In such manner, it is important to invite and prepare a lot of new business to enter the competition which can be done by the government involvement.
Questions Need to be Answered Before Implementing IT in SME
In recent years, Indonesians are becoming more and more familiar with Information Technology (IT). People start to realize its potential benefit in their daily live, from a simple task as finding recommended restaurant or in more complex environment such as managing company's resources. One party that start to adopt IT is Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME). It is widely believed that IT implementation within SMEs business could bring higher profit for them. However, investing such technology needs a careful consideration so that it does not yield the opposite result. Therefore, SME's owners should ask themselves several question before introducing IT to their business.
The very first thing that should be answered is what problem they need to solve in their business. There could be issues in the supply chain, marketing, or even in the working environment and they should decide which one is the most prominent to business advancement. Answering this question can help owners to project what kind of solution they need and build definite path to grow pecuniary gain.
After knowing the problem, they should ask themselves whether IT implementation is really needed. Owners should always keep in mind that the main purpose is to enhance their business by solving identified problems. Before considering what kind of technology should be introduced, one should ask how to overcome the problems. For instance, if a company encounter communication problem where the employees have difficulty to discuss with each other because they are separated by rooms, the manager can simply put them in one huge space where they can talk to one another directly and there is no need to bring fancy Cisco conferencing apparatus. It would be wasteful to implement novel technology if there is a simpler solution.
If it is confirmed that IT implementation is the best way to solve the complications, owners should investigate whether there is existing technology that they can adopt or whether they can use their current tools more effectively. For example, if an SME have utilized social media, such as Facebook or Instagram, to sell their products and still has inferior sales, it does not necessarily build its own e-commerce website to grow their revenue. The owners can simply evaluate the market they aim and establish new marketing strategy or they can employ an e-commerce website which has the same market. By using implemented technology in a better fashion, they can maintain their budget as well as increase their profit.
Finally, if the company does require novel technology, owners should consider how much resource-human, money, and time-that they have. They should also analyze which one is better whether to develop it in-house or by outsourcing according to the available resource. Furthermore, they must prioritize the requirement and only deploy what they really need. Sophistication is optional while effectiveness is compulsory.
To sum up, the implementation of IT have huge efficacy in advancing an SME. But before migrating to a complicated system, owners should ask what problem they need to solve, how to solve it, whether there is available solution they can implement and consider the amount of resource they have. And in answering these questions, they need to remember that the main purpose is to enhance their profitability.
Seminggu yang lalu, saya dikejutkan dengan berita mengenai sebuah proyek dari Google yang akan diimplementasikan di Indonesia. Proyek yang diberi judul Project Loon ini berencana untuk menerbangkan sekitar 20.000 balon helium ke stratosfer Indonesia untuk menyediakan jaringan internet di daerah-daerah terpencil. Wah bagus dong!
Kesan pertama yang muncul dari saya adalah ini merupakan langkah positif. Sejak duduk di bangku kuliah, mengkaitkan daerah terpencil dengan solusi berbasis teknologi informasi (TI) bukan perkara mudah, walaupun hanya sekadar membayangkan di kepala. Tak perlu muluk-muluk membicarakan pembelajaran multimedia, sistem informasi agrikultur, atau hal canggih-canggih lainnya, internet saja susah, bahkan mungkin sinyal GSM juga susah. Dengan adanya Project Loon ini, internet jadi lebih mudah di daerah-daerah terpencil, opsi solusi bagi permasalahan di daerah pun jadi semakin banyak.
Tapi ternyata beberapa anak bangsa sudah sejak jauh hari memikirkan konektivitas ke daerah-daerah yang sulit dijangkau ini. Sebut saja Onno W. Purbo dan Donald Wihardja yang ternyata aktif mempromosikan teknologi OpenBTS sebagai solusi konektivitas negeri kita. Nah, bapak-bapak ini menyayangkan sikap pemerintah kita yang cuek dengan OpenBTS tapi antusias dengan Project Loon.
Apa itu OpenBTS?
Kalo kata mbah google, OpenBTS ini adalah access point GSM berbasis software yang memungkinkan perangkat GSM untuk digunakan sebagai endpoint pada jaringan Voice over IP (VoIP). Bingung? Ya saja juga.
Bayangkan, Anda berada di suatu pulau terdepan Indonesia (beuh bahasa politik) penduduknya hanya 50 orang. Anda cek handphone dan kemungkinan besar Anda tidak akan mendapatkan sinyal, sekalipun Anda pakai Telkomsel. Operator mana yang mau membangun BTS, yang harganya ratusan juta, di daerah terpencil dengan jumlah penduduk yang dihitung manual juga masih bisa. Simply, not a good business.
Masih dalam bayangan Anda, bayangkan ada sebuah perangkat yang tinggal Anda pasang di pohon, sambungkan ke laptop, dan voila Anda bisa sms emak di belahan Indonesia yang lain. Tentu, Anda akan senang bukan kepalang, kan? Oke, ilustrasi yang saya berikan tidak sepenuhnya tepat, tetapi kurang lebih begitulah gambaran manfaat yang bisa didapat dari OpenBTS.
Salah satu contoh penerapan OpenBTS ini ada di Desa, Papua. Proyek tersebut dipimpin oleh Kurtis Heimerl, seorang developer dari Range Networks yang juga lulusan UC Berkeley. Proyek tersebut dimulai dengan dana sebesar $10.000 dan pada tahun 2013 memiliki 187 pendaftar seluler dengan rata-rata keuntungan $368 per bulan. Selengkapnya, bisa Anda lihat di tautan yang saya berikan di bagian sumber.
Sayangnya, OpenBTS ini menemui berbagai kendala di Indonesia. Bisa tebak apa kendalanya? Ya, Anda betul, Pemerintah! Seluruh frekuensi GSM sudah diberikan ke operator, jadi akses GSM melalui kanal selain operator terdaftar menjadi ilegal. Belum lagi masalah perizinan terkait penyelenggaraan jasa telekomunikasi.
Masalah seperti ini sepertinya sudah biasa kita terdengar, bagaimana pemerintah kita lebih terbuka dan antusias dengan karya-karya impor dan cenderung mempersulit karya anak bangsa sendiri. Masih ingat mobil listrik Selo yang tidak lulus uji emisi?
Baiklah, sebelum tulisan ini berlanjut ke arah caci maki pemerintah, kita kembali ke OpenBTS dan Project Loon. Dua hal ini sebenarnya punya tujuan yang sama di mana seharusnya bisa saling melengkapi. Dengan sumber daya dan kapabilitas Google yang tidak perlu diragukan lagi, Project Loon bisa menjadi tambahan solusi konektivitas untuk negeri kita yang terdiri dari 17.504 pulau. Namun, pemerintah harus sangat cermat terhadap proyek ini, sebagaimana pemerintah dengan 'sangat cermat'-nya mengawasi produk bangsa sendiri.
Apa saja yang perlu dicermati? Secara ekonomi? politik?
Menurut saya di samping dua aspek tersebut, hal yang sangat krusial adalah mengenai privasi data. Dengan hadirnya Project Loon di Indonesia, kita secara tidak langsung memberikan Google akses terhadap data dalam negeri kita. Walaupun tanpa Project Loon sebenarnya Google sudah dapat mengakses banyak data dari Indonesia, tetap saja kita perlu mewaspadai hal ini. Mungkin ada data yang berada di daerah-daerah terpencil tersebut yang bahkan oleh Google pun tidak dapat diakses karena kenihilan koneksi internet, yang mana data itu pun bisa jadi tidak punya nilai yang signifikan untuk sekarang. Tapi untuk di masa mendatang? Bisa jadi sangat bernilai.
Yang ingin saya kemukakan adalah jangan sampai Project Loon ini di masa depan menjadi bentuk penjajahan terhadap Indonesia dalam hal informasi, sebagaimana Freeport dalam bidang pertambangan, dan Chevron, Total, dan kawan-kawan dalam hal energi. Pemerintah seharusnya lebih suudzon terhadap pihak asing ketimbang masyarakatnya sendiri. Saya tidak menyarankan agar bangsa ini bersikap tertutup terhadap perkembangan dari luar, namun saya rasa sudah sewajarnya jika kita berhati-hati. Ga mau dijajah lagi kan?
So, I’ve lost my blog because I forgot to pay the domain and hosting. And sometimes ago, I randomly deleted my tumblr. And here I am, making a new one.
It’s been so long since my last post. But actually, I didn’t stop writing. As a matter of fact, I write a lot. Finishing my bloody final assignment. And a couple days ago, I randomly made this new tumblr blog and decided to write something about something.
Well, why don’t we discuss about gay.
This LGBTQ thing has covered all of my social media these couple of days with rainbows (the pros side) and some copy-paste-articles (the cons side). And yes, it has successfully distracted me.
The first time I’m aware of this topic (or getting distracted), was last weekend. I was scrolling down my Instagram and found the official Instagram account announcing the weekend hashtag project for that week. Weekend hashtag project (#whp) is some kind of weekly event that encourage Instagram users to post photos or videos with a specific theme.
Last week hashtag was #whpcelebrate. The picture caption stated “Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHP In honor of Pride Month — and this morning’s landmark decision legalizing marriage for all in the United States — the goal this weekend is to capture creative photos and videos that celebrate pride...”.
Honestly, I was a bit surprised. I thought that same sex marriage had already legalized in US since the prehistoric age. It is the land of liberty, no? Ok, I was naive to think that way.
So, same sex marriage had been legalized last week. A lot of people celebrates it by changing their profile pictures, sharing pro-LGBT-articles, commenting like a pro, and acting like the fairest person in the universe. Some others argue it by doing almost the same thing with those who celebrates.
Here is the illustration of the debate that I get, more or less.
Rainbow guy: we have to celebrate this. They are just like us who can be in love with someone else. It is their rights to choose with whom they are fall in love. Furthermore, homosexuality is something which has been in their blood since they’re born, so it is unfair to not giving them the freedom for their sexual behavior. (blablabla, followed by some articles that prove the advantages of having legalized same-sex marriage).
Normal profpict guy: No. Homosexual is not given. It is a choice. And they’ve chosen the wrong path. Homosexual can be cured if there is a will. (blablabla, followed by some holy verse).
Okay, so this question comes up to my mind: is sexual behavior depends on gene?
So, I went to my browser and googled. The first article written by Dean Burnett questioned why people choose to be gay. He confronts if homosexuality is something that can be chosen, why people choose it in the first place. In the end of his article, he is like “okay, let say homosexuality is a choice, we have to respect someone’s choice, right?”.
Next, I got this article written by Marcia Malory that tells about sexual preference in the eye of science. She put forward a study published in 1993 about “gay gene”. But she doubt the “gay gene” completely affect sexual behavior by explaining how our environtment can affect our behavior. In the end, her conclusion is almost the same with Burnett’s, “let’s just respect others’ choice”.
I read a couple more articles and I end up confused with those twin studies genetic, X chromosome stuffs, statistical numbers, GWA studies, and so on. But what I find clear is even the scientist is still debating whether homosexuality is genetic or not. So, let’s play what-if game.
What if sexual behavior is genetic?
Oh yes! Rainbow guy will say that homosexual is given, so it will be really cruel to forbid them of getting married the way they are. It will be really cruel too of judging the homosexual as immoral, since there is nothing they can do about their sexual behavior.
Normal profpict guy will probably say that this is 21st century, anything can happen. If you know the gene, or whatever the cause is, you can find doctors or scientist to cure your sexual behavior. Yes, if you’re gay, you are sick and need to be cured.
Then, rainbow guy will reply, “why should they alter their sexual behavior?”.
So let’s at this point for now, and move to the next what-if.
What if sexual behavior is a lifestyle choice?
Hooray! Normal profpict guy will have a sound reason to ask gays to alter their sexual behavior. They’ll say that gays have chosen the wrong choice, so gays should come back to right path. Or, they will be like, “why on earth are there people who choose to be gay?”.
In the other hand, rainbow guy will question back his friend, “why on earth should people really care about what others choose?”.
Okay, so, no matter what, whether being gay is given or it is a choice, rainbow guy will always end up questioning why gays should alter their sexual preference and the other guy will always be optimistic that gays can be cured. So, there is no point of proving whether it is genetic or not. Yeah, maybe it is important in the scientific world, but in this debate, it is not important. At all.
So why are this rainbow guy and normal profpict guy so excited in this topic? What makes rainbow guy insists not to alter someone else’s sexual behavior? What makes normal profpict guy insists to cure the gays? Maybe, I should check their backgrounds and google some more informations. No, maybe I should go back to work.
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