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Abstract
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in promoting economic growth, employment generation, and community welfare; however, many SMEs continue to encounter challenges related to strategic management and human resource capability that hinder their long-term sustainability. This community engagement program aimed to strengthen business strategy and enhance human resource capacity to improve the competitiveness and sustainable development of SMEs. The program adopted a participatory capacity-building approach involving needs assessment, business strategy workshops, human resource development training, mentoring, coaching, and program evaluation. Interactive learning methods, including discussions, case studies, business simulations, and individualized mentoring, were employed to facilitate knowledge transfer and practical implementation. Program evaluation was conducted using pre-test and post-test assessments, observations, interviews, focus group discussions, mentoring records, and participant satisfaction questionnaires. The findings indicate that participants demonstrated improved understanding of strategic business planning, organizational management, leadership, customer service, and sustainable business practices. The mentoring process further enabled SME owners to formulate strategic business plans, improve managerial decision-making, strengthen workforce competencies, and increase organizational readiness for business development. Participants also expressed high satisfaction with the relevance and applicability of the training activities. These findings suggest that integrating business strategy development with human resource capacity building provides a comprehensive and sustainable approach to enhancing SME competitiveness. This program highlights the strategic role of higher education institutions in empowering local enterprises through knowledge transfer and collaborative capacity-building initiatives that contribute to sustainable economic development.
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References
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References
Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639101700108
Barreto, A. (2025). Human resource development strategies to improve the economic growth of small businesses in Manatuto District. The Journal of Applied Social Sciences, 3(2), 1798–1814.
Fantoni, M. J., Bianchi, F., Rossi, L., & Moretti, P. (2025). Fostering Sustainable Development Goal 8 through inclusive human resource management strategies for small and medium enterprises. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems, Social Sciences, Education and Engineering.
Hasan, M., Isma, A., Santoso, R., Suarlin, S., Nurmahdi, A., Elpisah, E., ... & Azis, F. (2024). Pendidikan Kewirausahaan Dalam Perspektif Pembangunan Ekonomi: Menggagas Peran Kewirausahaan Sebagai Pilar Ekonomi Bangsa. Penerbit Tahta Media.
Hernita, H., Surya, B., Perwira, I., Abubakar, H., & Idris, M. (2021). Economic business sustainability and strengthening human resource capacity based on increasing the productivity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Makassar City, Indonesia. Sustainability, 13(6), Article 3177. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063177
Ngora, S., Mwakalobo, A. B. S., & Lwesya, F. (2022). Managerial skills for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs): A pathway toward business sustainability. Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, 10(4), 343–359.
Nurfadila, M. Y. (2023). Unlocking local prosperity: Empowering communities through small Business Financing. Golden Ratio of Community Services and Dedication, 3(1), 18-28.
Piwowar-Sulej, K. (2021). Human resources development as an element of sustainable human resource management: Theoretical insights and future directions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 278, 124017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124017
Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. Free Press.
Sugiyanto, S. (2026). Strategic mapping of workforce capabilities: Developing a sustainable human resource development framework for urban MSMEs. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 24.
Sutrisno, S., Harahap, R., & Muslimin, M. (2024). Human resource development strategies to enhance small business economic growth in community settings: A literature review. Indonesian Journal of Future Innovation, 4(2), 261–272.
Teece, D. J. (2007). Explicating dynamic capabilities: The nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance. Strategic Management Journal, 28(13), 1319–1350. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.640
World Bank. (2020). Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) finance. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance