Managerial and organizational factors shaping export participation among food manufacturing firms in Kazakhstan

The rapidly changing business climate and competition that has been getting stricter demand companies to have a proper strategy to grow and sustain their business. The objective of this quantitative study is to analyze the benefits of innovation in business strategy to create a competitive advantage for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). Inferential statistical analysis was performed on three mediating variables: people innovation, process innovation, and product innovation, in their involvement in business strategies as an independent variable, against competitive advantage as a dependent variable. Twenty-nine MSMEs in Indonesia were used as a sample of this study to examine four hypotheses. Thirty indicators of five variables were transformed into 50 questions in a Likert-scale questionnaire distributed to selected respondents using purposive sampling. The results of the T-test show that business strategy has a significant effect on competitive advantage, which means that business strategy without innovations creates only 20.2% of its competitive advantage. On the other hand, Sobel test results demonstrate that innovations significantly mediate the influence of business strategies on companies’ competitive advantages. Finally, product innovation potentially increases the competitive advantages by 53.1%, followed by process innovation and people innovation by 47.2% and 44.5%.

Acknowledgment
The author would like to express special gratitude to the Department of Industrial Engineering at Universitas Kristen Krida Wacana, who supported this investigation, as well as all participating MSMEs. This study received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

The objective of the research is to examine the impact of brand name and pricing on Kazakhstan Gen Z consumers’ buying behavior, spending patterns, and other buying motives. Adopting a quantitative approach, the study administers a structured questionnaire following a comprehensive analysis of the relevant literature and gleaned responses from 300 Generation Z consumers after checking the reliability and validity of the instrument using Cronbach’s alpha. The selected hypotheses were tested using the Karl Pearson coefficient of correlation, which revealed that brand name significantly impacts Kazakh women, and price greatly influences both genders. The results observed that price has the most significant effect on the buying behavior of female and male Gen Z consumers in Kazakhstan, with 25 and 28 percent, respectively. Brand name and authenticity considerably influence female consumers, with 16 and 15 percent, whereas innovation, technology, and customization, with 20 and 14 percent, influence male consumers. The significant influence of branding and pricing on the buying behavior of Kazakhstan Gen Z customers is displayed, and the findings provide a focal context for developing marketing plans in this first-of-its-kind research article.

The transition to an innovative economy requires greater attention to creating favorable conditions for the commercialization of scientists’ developments and the possibility of realizing the accumulated scientific potential. This study aimed to examine the commercialization process in the Republic of Kazakhstan and identify factors influencing the development of academic entrepreneurship in universities. It examines a gradual change in legislation on technology transfer and the dynamics of implemented commercialization projects during 2016–2022. Structured interviews were conducted with academics of the biggest 14 universities in Kazakhstan with a sample of 209 respondents to identify factors influencing the desire of scientists to engage in academic entrepreneurship. The findings revealed that the most attractive factors for academics are flexible working hours (4.67 of 5), the opportunity to implement their own innovative ideas (4.12), and an increase in income (3.63). In turn, negative factors include the lack of qualified personnel (4.56), difficulties in legislation (4.27), and bureaucratic barriers (3.78). The study revealed that gender and age moderately affected scholars’ desire to engage in academic entrepreneurship (Cramer’s V = 0.3025). The greatest desire to start their own business was demonstrated by men aged 26-35 years and by women aged 36-45 years. The findings also show that the scientific fields positively affect the number of ready-made ideas, patents, and technologies that academics offer to businesses.

Acknowledgment
This study is funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grant No. AP13268750).