This study investigates the dynamic landscape of agritourism in Thailand, emphasizing innovations, challenges, and policy implications in the post-COVID-19 era. Employing a qualitative approach, including a comprehensive literature review and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, the research identifies key agritourism models, such as immersive learning experiences, technology-driven agritourism, and unconventional practices like salt and coconut plantations. Findings reveal that agritourism has adapted to shifting market demands through diversification, technological integration, and a heightened focus on sustainability. Notably, technology adoption in precision farming and hydroponics enhances resource efficiency and visitor engagement, while initiatives like rice paddy field tourism and highland agritourism showcase the cultural and ecological richness of rural landscapes. The study underscores the critical role of policy frameworks, infrastructure development, and community empowerment in fostering sustainable agritourism practices. Key policy recommendations include targeted subsidies, capacity-building programs, and harmonized regulatory frameworks to address challenges such as financial constraints, regulatory ambiguities, and inadequate infrastructure. This research contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable tourism and rural development, aligning agritourism with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By synthesizing insights on innovation, resilience, and sustainability, this study offers a comprehensive roadmap for policymakers, practitioners, and academics to leverage agritourism as a vehicle for rural revitalization and global sustainability. Future research directions are proposed to explore the long-term impacts of technological integration, community empowerment, and resilience strategies in agritourism.
The development of the personal innovative competences in workers is of capital importance for the competitiveness of organizations, where the ability of the employees must respond in an innovative way to diverse situations that arise in specific contexts. Considering this, the question arises: How do innovative employees’ competences affect the sustainable development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)? Therefore, the objective of this work is to present a multi-criteria method based on the Analytic Network Process (ANP), to relate innovative personal competences and the sustainable development of MSMEs. An instrument was applied to groups of experts from 31 Ecuadorian fruit-exporting MSMEs, to develop a multi-criteria decisional network that allowed identifying the innovative personal abilities that have the greatest impact on the sustainable development of these organizations. The results demonstrate the relevance of the elements of innovative personal competencies, with a cumulative participation of 39.15%, Sustainable Export Development with 32.18% and Improvements with 28.66%. It also presents three types of analysis: i) Global to establish the weight of each variable; ii) Influences, to establish solid cause-effect relationships between the variables and iii) Integrated. The most relevant innovative personal competences for sustainable development and improvements for exporting SMEs are teamwork, critical thinking, and creativity within the international context.
Since 2022, global geopolitical conflicts have intensified, and there has been a notable increase in the international community’s demand for currency diversification. This has created a new opportunity for the internationalization of the Renminbi (RMB). This paper examines the factors influencing the internationalization of the RMB, with a particular focus on its role as a unit of account, medium of exchange and store of value. These functions are considered in conjunction with the digital technological innovation represented by e-CNY. The methodology employed is based on the vector autoregression (VAR) model, Granger causality test and variance decomposition analysis. The Granger causality test indicates that digital technology innovation is not the primary driver of RMB internationalization at this juncture. The impulse response analysis and variance decomposition analysis revealed that the impact and direction of influence exerted by the various factors on RMB internationalization exhibit considerable discrepancies.
Since 2013, the state has introduced a number of policies to strictly control the number and scale of public hospitals and to control the rapid expansion of public hospitals. After the introduction of this series of policies, the number of public hospitals in China did not continue to grow, but the number of beds in public hospitals continued to grow. This paper uses difference-in-difference (DID) method to analyze the number of public hospitals with the corresponding data of the development of private hospitals after the introduction of the policy, and the results proves that the introduction of relevant policies has an impact on the number of public hospitals, but has a limited impact on the expansion of the scale of public hospitals. At the end of the article, positive policy suggestions are given to the development of hospitals in China, such as controlling the expansion of public hospitals, strictly controlling the number of beds in public hospitals, and vigorously developing private hospitals. Promoting the development of private hospitals is an important economic supplement to China’s health care.
Background: Digital transformation in the sports industry has become increasingly crucial for sustainable development, yet comprehensive empirical evidence on policy effectiveness and risk management remains limited. Purpose: This study investigates the impact of policy support and risk factors on digital transformation in sports companies, examining heterogeneous effects across different firm characteristics and regional contexts. Methods: Using panel data from 168 sports companies listed on China’s A-shares markets and the New Third Board from 2019 to 2023, this study employs multiple regression analyses, including baseline models, instrumental variables estimation, and robustness tests. The digital transformation level is measured through a composite index incorporating digital infrastructure, capability, and innovation dimensions. Results: The findings reveal that policy support significantly enhances digital transformation levels (coefficient = 0.238, p < 0.01), while financial risks demonstrate the strongest negative impact (−0.162, p < 0.01). Large firms and state-owned enterprises show stronger responses to policy support (0.312 and 0.278, respectively, p < 0.01). Regional development levels significantly moderate the effectiveness of policy implementation. Conclusions: The study provides empirical evidence for the differential effects of policy support and risk factors on digital transformation across various firm characteristics. The findings suggest the need for differentiated policy approaches considering firm size, ownership structure, and regional development levels. Implications: Policy makers should develop targeted support mechanisms addressing specific challenges faced by different types of firms, while considering regional disparities in digital transformation capabilities.
The Republic of Moldova is a state with a small, but dynamic economy and which, with the help of competitiveness in the IT industry, is looking for a place on the economic market in the Eastern European region. The research approaches this topic from an economic, historical, but also geopolitical point of view. This analysis of economic data and figures from the last period, combined with government policies and that of the National Bank of Moldova, means that in the near future the software economic area of Moldova will become an important regional player in this part of Europe.
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