Village-Owned Enterprises Perspectives Towards Challenges and Opportunities in Rural Entrepreneurship: A Qualitative Study with Maxqda Tools

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This text file is also enclosed. 

This is an interesting and important article about social entrepreneurship in rural areas of Indonesia as social entrepreneurship and community-based entrepreneurship is an important way of growing the economy in rural areas of developing countries – as also the author of this article state. This is also a topic that will be more and more important also globally because of the common challenges that the climate change cause all over the world.

This research aims to understand the Village-Owned Enterprises program’s role in fostering entrepreneurship in rural areas and this aim is mentioned in the beginning of the chapter 3 (Methods) where also the use of a qualitative method is justified, and the research object/subject is described. 

Before describing the data analysis, to better understand the process, I would like to see some kind of visual description of the research setup/process in which first the main variables and items were found from the literature, secondly, they are face validated by experts and after that based on that validation the content i.e. themes/questions for the individual interviews of the Director and 4 BUMDes managers were modified and the interviews were conducted. And after that the collected data were analyzed by using MAXQDA software. 

In the end of the paper the author expresses that the BUMDes still require government assistance, financial aid and supervision to expand the business activity in their area. The regional administrations have made manual surveys to prevent the inclusion of inaccurate information which is quite an important result from this research project that has been presented in this article. In the end of this article also the author could present some further research ideas. 

As a rule, the text in this article is quite logical so there is no need for major improvements, but there are some small editing suggestions that would make it the text easier to follow and reflect. 

Page 1 Introduction: in the firs column there is written: 

Rokhin et al., (2017) also highlight that an entrepreneurial strategy is an essential element for enhancing the economic performance of the region. Particularly, entrepreneurial endeavors in rural areas of developing countries.    

When I read this, I felt that there is something missing in the last sentence … 

Could it be:  …  enhancing the economic performance of the region, particularly in rural areas of developing countries.  

Page 3 Chapter 2.2 There is something that I do not understand in the following sentence:

Another reason why the authors focus more on China is since the reforms in 1978, TVEs have enjoyed tremendous productivity growth than state-owned enterprises (SOEs) based on a low starting point (Jefferson et al., 1992; Weitzman & Xu, 1994), while SOEs have displayed some catch-up inefficiency in the late 1990s (Zhang et al., 2001).

Could the sentence mean this?

Another reason why the authors focus more on China is that, since the 1978 reforms, TVEs have enjoyed enormous productivity gains compared to SOEs (Jefferson et al., 1992; Weitzman & Xu, 1994), which in turn have shown some ineffectiveness since the late 1990s (Zhang et al., 2001).

Page 5 in chapter 3.1 in the first column:

In the beginning of the column mentioned:

This study has two research subjects: the head of the Office for Community Empowerment, Village, Population, and Civil Registration (Dispermadesdukcapil), and 5 BUMDes managers.

In the Abstract of this article there is mentioned the director of the Office for Community Empowerment, Village, Population, and Civil Registration (Dispermadesdukcapil),     

 

Could it be possible to use show an abbreviation already in the abstract and after that use only the abbreviation?  And could the abbreviation perhaps be Director 1?  (and user that also in the Table 5, figure 1, in the text under the figure 1 etc.)?

 

Further in the same column:

Government officials are selected based on their primary tasks etc.   …  

 the primary tasks are written as follow, but there is the task number 2 written twice

(1) Formulate policies in village management, village government administration, village development and cooperation, village community empowerment, and facilitation of population administration services. 

(2) Carry out policies in village management, village government administration, village development and cooperation, village community empowerment, and facilitation of population administration services. 

(2) Carry out evaluation and reporting in the field of village management, village government administration, village development and cooperation, village community empowerment, and facilitation of population administration services.

 (3) Provide administrative and secretarial direction to all Service work divisions 

(4) Per-form additional official duties assigned by the Governor, in accordance with his duties and responsibilities.

Page 8. Figure 1. Single-Case Model from The Director

This figure is not easy to read, the text should be bigger

 

Page 9 in table 5:

In the table 5 page 9 and in figure 2 page 9 there are the codes/variables market with different colors

I think that it is not possible to use colors in main text, but could it be possible to use “Italics” in the text, when writing about those codes/variables when referring to those same codes i.e. starting from the chapter 4.2:

According to Table 5, participants (including the Director 1 and Bumdes 1,2,3 and 4) most commonly identified “synergy and involvement” as the main variables/codes.  

 

BUMDes manager 4 (Bumdes 4) also highlighted “synergy and involvement”, with one of the company’s state-owned banks in business development training.

In 4.3 chapter:

Several variables are associated with each other and co-occur. Nevertheless, Figure 2 shows that "synergy and involvement" have a strong connection with "increasing community capacity to become entrepreneurs" due to these variables often being assigned to each other 13 times. The BUMDes manager regards the external (third parties) involvement of industry, universities, financial institutions, and other entities in empowering village communities as an enhancement of their ability for rural entrepreneurship. This involvement also benefits BUMDes by equipping its members with sufficient knowledge and skills (Rahayu et al., 2024).

“Synergy and involvement” also recognized frequently assigned to “Exploring regional Potential”    etc. 

This modification could help the reader reflect on the text and figures. 

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Point-by-point response to Comments and Suggestions for Authors
Comments 1: Rokhin et al., (2017) also highlight that an entrepreneurial strategy is an essential element for enhancing the economic performance of the region. Particularly, entrepreneurial endeavors in rural areas of developing countries. When I read this, I felt that there is something missing in the last sentence … Could it be: … enhancing the economic performance of the region, particularly in rural areas of developing countries
Response 1: Thank you for your advice. We have revised it on page 1.
Comments 2: Another reason why the authors focus more on China is since the reforms in 1978, TVEs have enjoyed tremendous productivity growth than state-owned enterprises (SOEs) based on a low starting point (Jefferson et al., 1992; Weitzman & Xu, 1994), while SOEs have displayed some catch-up inefficiency in the late 1990s (Zhang et al., 2001). Could the sentence mean this?   Another reason why the authors focus more on China is that, since the 1978 reforms, TVEs have enjoyed enormous productivity gains compared to SOEs (Jefferson et al., 1992; Weitzman & Xu, 1994), which in turn have shown some ineffectiveness since the late 1990s (Zhang et al., 2001).
Response 2: Thank you for the correction; we have revised it on page 4.   Comments 3: Before describing the data analysis, to better understand the process, I would like to see some kind of visual description of the research setup/process in which first the main variables and items were found from the literature, secondly, they are face validated by experts and after that based on that validation the content i.e. themes/questions for the individual interviews of the Director and 4 BUMDes managers were modified and the interviews were conducted. And after that the collected data were analyzed by using MAXQDA software.   Response 3: Thank you for your valuable input. I have drawn the research design process on page 6.   Comments 4: the primary tasks are written as follow, but there is the task number 2 written twice   Response 4: Thank you for correcting it. We revised it on page 7.   Comments 5: This figure is not easy to read, the text should be bigger   Response 5: I have enlarged the figure; thanks for the suggestion. Page 11.   Comments 6: Could it be possible to use show an abbreviation already in the abstract and after that use only the abbreviation? And could the abbreviation perhaps be Director 1? (and user that also in the Table 5, figure 2, in the text under the figure 2 etc.)?   Response 6: Regrettably, subsequent to the loss of my data and software, I was unable to revise Figure 2 and Table 5. I trust that the text under Figure 2 and the statement above Table 5 anticipate the shortages.   Comments 7: In the table 5 page 9 and in figure 2 page 9 there are the codes/variables market with different colors I think that it is not possible to use colors in main text, but could it be possible to use “Italics” in the text, when writing about those codes/variables when referring to those same codes i.e. starting from the chapter 4.2:   Response 7: Thank you we have revised it.   Comments 8: Several variables are associated with each other and co-occur. Nevertheless, Figure 2 shows that "synergy and involvement" have a strong connection with "increasing community capacity to become entrepreneurs" due to these variables often being assigned to each other 13 times. The BUMDes manager regards the external (third parties) involvement of industry, universities, financial institutions, and other entities in empowering village communities as an enhancement of their ability for rural entrepreneurship. This involvement also benefits BUMDes by equipping its members with sufficient knowledge and skills (Rahayu et al., 2024).   “Synergy and involvement” also recognized frequently assigned to “Exploring regional Potential” etc.   This modification could help the reader reflect on the text and figures.   According to Table 5, participants (including the Director 1 and Bumdes 1,2,3 and 4) most commonly identified “synergy and involvement” as the main variables/codes.   BUMDes manager 4 (Bumdes 4) also highlighted “synergy and involvement”, with one of the company’s state-owned banks in business development training.   Response 8: Thank you we have revised it on page 12.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Well-crafted text. It appears that the authors have done a fairly good job when conducting the research. I could not see any serious flaws in the literature review, methods and results, discussion and conclusion sections. However, it was challenging for a reader not particular familiar with the context, topic, and methodology to really pinpoint what this study is actually about, how it illuminates existing theory and what (if any) substantial findings mean.

Author Response

Comments 1: Well-crafted text. It appears that the authors have done a fairly good job when conducting the research. I could not see any serious flaws in the literature review, methods and results, discussion and conclusion sections. However, it was challenging for a reader not particular familiar with the context, topic, and methodology to really pinpoint what this study is actually about, how it illuminates existing theory and what (if any) substantial findings mean.

 

 

Response 1: I appreciate your perspective; however, this research is exceedingly challenging to comprehend due to the fact that not all nations, including developing nations, have village-owned enterprise programs. Nevertheless, this initiative is highly beneficial for nations that experience economic disparities between urban and rural regions. This research was conducted for this purpose.

The researcher adhered to rigorous qualitative research design protocols, which included conducting an initial interview to identify potential significant points, composing a list of interview questions, submitting it to experts for validation, and conducting the final interview with managers. The interview was transcribed and analyzed using software. The researcher has incorporated a research design to facilitate the comprehension of the flow for the reader. I am grateful for your continued attention.