The Effectiveness of Salt Business Empowering Program (Pugar) on Salt Farmers’ Income Improvement in Kedungmutih Village of Demak Regency

Indonesian national low productivity of salt which is unequal between the need level and salt consumption eventually results in salt import made mainly to meet the industrial needs. The government through the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries has released a Public Salt Business Empowering Program (known as PUGAR/Pemberdayaan Usaha Garam Rakyat). PUGAR is an empowering program focusing on the improvement of job opportunities and welfare for salt farmers/managers to achieve the self-sufficiency of salt for consumptions and industries. This research aims at examining the influence of salt business empowering program on the salt farmers’ income improvement in Kedungmalang village of Jepara Regency; the implementation level of salt business empowering program in Kedungmutih Village of Demak Regency when compared to that in Kedungmalang Village of Jepara Regency; and the influence of salt business empowering program on the salt farmers’ income improvement in Kedungmutih village of Demak regency. The research was conducted using a descriptive method with a case study approach. The program implementation was quantitatively analyzed. Furthermore, the effectiveness of PUGAR on income was analyzed using T-test. The test result showed that there were income differences in Kedungmutih and Kedungmalang Village before and after the implementation of PUGAR. This finding showed that PUGAR was proven as an effective program to improve the salt farmers’ welfare through income improvement.

An Experimental Study of Students Attitudinal Shift Towards Advertising Through Mobile Phones

The study is conducted to analyze the students' Attitudinal Shift towards Advertising through Mobile Phones. Mobile technologies imply many opportunities for marketing, in particular a direct communication with consumers without time or location barriers. However, some aspects of mobile marketing such as mobile advertising still require further research. The diffusion of mobile technologies is considered a factor that may impact consumers' perceptions and behavior. Samples of 300 students froth the universities and colleges of Islamabad / Rawalpindi of various age groups, academic level, and gender was taken. Four variables such as; information, entertainment, irritation and credibility, based on the student attitudes, were selected and measured on 5 point Likert scale. The results indicate that almost 53 % students enjoy the SMS and take it as entertainment, 51% receive only specific information as and when required. 39% feel irritation upon receiving any SMS on their mobiles phones, whereas, 40% even don't bother to read the full text message, received on their mobiles. Overall 59.7% students like mobile advertising. It can be concluded that the students generally have positive attitude towards mobile advertising. Entertainment and information are considered main factors which affect students' attitudes towards SMS-based mobile advertising. The attitude towards advertising contrast between two genders bias and as per result male students enjoys mobile advertising; where as majority of the female students were irritated from the mobile advertising. The results of this research are helpful for management to better understand the critical components of mobile advertising in different cultural settings.