This study aimed to gain insights into the attitudes and strategies of top management regarding workplace happiness within a semi-government organization in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Six senior managers at the organization were interviewed to explore their perspectives on employee happiness and the initiatives implemented to enhance it. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed several key findings. Top managers demonstrated strong commitment and willingness to prioritize employee well-being through long-term research-driven improvements. A variety of strategies incorporating personal, organizational, and Human Resources Management (HRM) factors known to impact happiness were utilized. Religious considerations and empowerment initiatives respect personal values while fostering intrinsic motivation. Top leaders modeled strategic priorities through their conduct, emphasizing visible support. The organization balanced individual needs with organizational goals respectfully. The findings provide practical implications for optimizing retention and performance outcomes through dedicated strategic happiness efforts guided by empirical research. However, more extensive research across diverse populations could further advance understanding in this field.

This research aims to determine the strategy of the Jakarta Provincial Government in increasing the resilience and growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) within a collaborative governance framework post-COVID-19. This study explores the effectiveness of SMEs and facilities in accessing financing and fostering collaborative partnerships between SMEs, government agencies, and financial institutions by utilizing USAID’s Theory of Change (TOC). This research uses a qualitative approach supported by in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions to enrich the insights of SME stakeholders, large companies, and SME actors and assess the impact of their roles. The results of this research highlight the critical role of SME Cooperative Banks (SCB) in improving SMEs’ access to credit and financial services, including collaborative governance frameworks and partnerships between SMEs, government agencies, and banks, which were identified as necessary to improve policy coherence and encourage conducive SME business environment conditions. The main findings of this research underscore the importance of the SCB model, demonstrating its potential to improve SME resilience and economic sustainability. This SCB model enriches the TOC indicators introduced by USAID. The study identifies gaps in digital infrastructure and market access that hinder SME growth and recommends targeted interventions to address these challenges. This study shows that SCB offers a promising pathway to increase the resilience and growth of SMEs in Indonesia, especially if accompanied by effective collaborative governance strategies. These initiatives can encourage inclusive economic development and strengthen the role of SMEs as drivers of the local economy. Recommendations include expanding the SCB model to other regions, encouraging digitalization, facilitating market access, advocating for a supportive policy framework, and integrating these strategies to advance the principles of USAID’s Theory of Change, fostering sustainable SME development and economic resilience.

The implementation of government decentralization in Indonesia is facing regulatory problems for autonomous regions’ financing sources. Therefore, attention to regional finance is increasingly needed given that autonomous regions are required to carry out various central government interests in addition to their affairs. This leads to a split of power over financing development policy by the regional government. However, this does not mean that the local government’s financial needs must be free from the central government’s intervention. This study briefly compares financing regional autonomy in Indonesia, France, Germany and Thailand. The results show that the distribution of financial resources between the central government and regional governments is inconsistent with Article 18A section 2 of Law No.1/2022. The results also show that the provisions of various sources of taxation and levy have not met the financial needs of regions in Indonesia. Financial balance in the form of Natural Resources Production Sharing Fund from various natural resources owned by regions that only share unrenewable resources such as mining excavated materials remains unequally distributed between regions that have natural resources.

Brazil occupies a prominent position as one of the largest domestic air passenger markets globally. In May 2019, OAG Aviation Worldwide Limited (OAG), a renowned global travel data provider, ranked Brazil as the world’s 6th largest domestic market. This study identifies and meticulously analyses statistical trends in how service levels affect passenger demand on domestic air routes in Brazil. To that end, it employs a panel-data gravity model incorporating service as an instrumental variable. The findings confirm the influence of traditional gravity explanatory variables, while also contributing novel insights into the impact of service levels on domestic routes. The analysis reveals that, while factors such as income and distance play a fundamental role in shaping domestic demand, level of service emerges as a crucial determinant on regional connections. Overall, the statistics suggest growing divergences between Brazilian airlines and regional air transport. Accordingly, substantial changes are necessary in both government policies and the services offered by the airline industry in order to harness the full potential of Brazil’s domestic air transport passenger market and foster regional development.

During crisis events, the government implements many policies to control the development of the crisis and stimulate the economy damaged by the crisis. The government plays a very important role during the crisis. The stock market is a reflection of a country’s economic situation. This article takes the Chinese government policies during the COVID-19 crisis as the research object and analyzes the impact of government policies on the CSI300 index. The following conclusion is drawn: not all government restrictions will cause a decline in stock market prices, among which the Wuhan lockdown policy has promoted the rise of the CSI300 index. The two stimulus policies implemented by the Chinese government are both conducive to the rise of CSI300 index. During the COVID-19 crisis, investors holding high assets, high leverage, and low profitability companies will be significantly negatively affected after the government implements restrictive policies. After the government implements stimulus policies, investors holding high asset and high leverage companies will suffer losses. Investors who hold low asset, low leverage, and high profitability companies will have profits. And this article also finds that the size of company assets is an important driving factor for abnormal returns.