Recovery and development of the creative economy fried shallots MSMEs during the covid-19 pandemic in supporting economic growth

The Indonesian economy, especially in Palu, is currently dominated by the Micro, Small, Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) sector and the creative economy. There was a decrease in the production of fried shallots in 2020 for almost all fried shallot MSMEs in Palu City. The COVID-19 pandemic has hampered the performance of MSMEs, especially Fried Shallot MSMEs in Palu, or unable to carry out their business. This research was conducted on five Fried Shallot MSMEs in Palu from March to August 2022. The location selection was made purposively. SWOT analysis was used to analyze the data with a creative economy approach (Penta Helix). The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on fried shallot MSMEs in Palu, which are a decrease in the number of workers, a reduction in production, and a decrease in sales. These three things influence each other. In addition, these three factors were affected by the difficulty in obtaining raw materials, the application of restrictive policies during the pandemic, and the declining purchasing power of consumers. Several alternative strategies can be applied to recover and develop fried shallot MSMEs based on the analysis results. In addition, implementing this strategy requires Penta Helix collaboration from MSMEs, Government, Academics, Financial Institutions, and the Community as consumers.


Introduction
Indonesia's economic growth has experienced several shifts for the first time.The era of development growth focused on agriculture, then the age of industrialization shifted to the informative generation, and currently, the era of the creative economy has .colouredIndonesia's development growth.The creative economy is a concept development based on creative capital that has the potential to increase economic growth.The creative economy is the utilization of resource reserves that are renewable and unlimited, which are ideas, talents, and creativity.The economic value of a product or service in the creative era is no longer determined by raw materials or production systems like in the industrial stage but rather by the use of creativity and the creation of innovations through increasingly advanced technological developments.
The Indonesian economy, especially Palu City, is currently dominated by the Micro, Small, Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) sector and the creative economy.When the country is experiencing a financial crisis, MSMEs are one part that is not affected.MSMEs are not affected by the financial crisis because MSMEs actors generally still use personal capital from savings.In Palu, microentrepreneurs still use their capital from non-investment savings from investors or bank loans.MSMEs tend not to want to make loans through banks because of the complicated requirements and the existence of repayment interest.The safest thing for business capital is indeed savings, but this nominal is quite limited depending on the ability of the business actor.MSMEs in Palu are dominated by the fried shallot business, which is the hallmark of Palu.In 2020 almost all fried shallot MSMEs in Palu experienced a decrease in production due to a lack of consumer purchases due to the COVID-19 pandemic where PSBB (Large Scale Social Restrictions) was implemented in IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1253/1/012087 2 various regions of Indonesia, including Palu [1].All activities are carried out online (on a network) or at home, like school and work.As a result of this pandemic, all aspects of life have had an impact, especially on three aspects of life, namely health, education, and the economic sector is no exception, including the fried shallot MSMEs in Palu in particular which have also been affected with a significant impact which is a decrease in production.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a dangerous and even deadly virus for humanity.This virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019.This virus is characterized by symptoms similar to influenza in general but exacerbated by shortness of breath, nausea, and other indications.This virus is dangerous and can be transmitted through direct contact with sufferers of COVID-19.Related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has made policies to reduce the transmission rate of the virus.Government policy regarding the COVID-19 pandemic is contained in Government Regulation Number 21 of 2021 concerning Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB); this policy was made to limit the movement of people and goods outside the home if there is no urgent need [2].
All countries have experienced almost the same impact and losses due to the pandemic.Even the UK, which has a strong economy, has impacted its GDP by decreasing by 3.0% due to the COVID-19 pandemic [3].The World Bank stated that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indonesian economy would experience a slowdown in its growth rate.The economic pace decline affected various economic sectors, especially the MSMEs.As many as 70% of MSMEs stated that they had stopped their business production due to the COVID-19 pandemic [4].
In addition, capital is an important element in business.During this pandemic, declining sales caused businesses to make various efforts to spend more.According to a survey by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), 88% of micro-businesses have run out of cash or savings, and other information states that more than 60% of micro-small businesses have reduced their workforce [5].
The pandemic has caused the performance of MSMEs, especially Fried Shallot MSMEs in Palu, to be hampered or unable to carry out their business.Therefore, many MSMEs are forced to reduce their workforce, reduce the amount of production and even close their businesses.Based on [6] , the sub-sectors that were significantly affected were micro-businesses, which decreased by 27%, small businesses by 1.7%, while for medium businesses by 0.07%.It is time for business activities, including creative economy-based MSMEs, to use online facilities in the current digital progress.MSMEs can make efforts through digital resources such as utilizing various communication platforms such as WhatsApp, Zoom, and Skype [3].Apart from that, from the same source, having customer and supplier contacts is also important in utilizing limited resources in the conditions of COVID-19.
There are certainly not a few problems with MSMEs, especially Fried Shallot MSMEs in Palu, based on the creative economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.The creative economy must pay attention to marketing, packaging, product design, and promotion aspects of a business unit.Therefore, business actors must have creativity and innovation to develop their products, especially during a pandemic.Currently, business actors are fighting against other business units but also against situations that are not conducive.During this pandemic, the existence of these MSMEs was still unstable, and many even decided to withdraw from business activities.This condition was driven by the existence of a social restriction policy, so the buying and selling of goods or services decreased.Based on the description above, the problem that this research wants to study is how creative economy-based MSMEs can survive and thrive during the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on the formulation of the problem described, this study aims to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Fried Shallot MSMEs in Palu and to design recovery and development strategies that Fried Shallot MSMEs can carry out in Palu to develop a creative economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Material and method
This research was conducted on Fried Shallot MSMEs in Palu, which has the largest production capacity, UD.Hj.Mbok Sri, Crown, Garuda Jaya, Sandalwood and Sri Fortune.The location selection was made purposively.This research was carried out from March to August 2022.
This research is a type of descriptive research using several qualitative techniques.Qualitative techniques are used to collect, process, and classify to obtain information about business characteristics at the research location.Qualitative descriptive research is not intended to make generalizations from the research results.Therefore, in qualitative research, there is no known population or sample.
Research subjects that have been reflected in the research focus are determined deliberately.The subjects of this study are referred to as research informants who will provide various information needed during the research process.This research informants include several types, such as: (1) Key informants, those who know and have various basic information needed in research (2) The main informants, those who are directly involved in the social interaction under study (3) Additional informants, those who can provide information even though they are not directly involved in the social interaction being studied Informants' answers related to the development of the MSMEs' creative economy during the COVID-19 pandemic through semi-structured interviews will provide valuable feedback, especially from free or open responses provided by informants.
This research was conducted using descriptive analysis.Descriptive research aims to describe and explain certain things, such as existing conditions or relationships, development perspectives, ongoing processes, effects or effects that occur, or trends.According to Furchan ( 2004), descriptive research aims to obtain information about the symptoms or circumstances of a phenomenon when conducting research.These phenomena are forms, activities, characteristics, changes, relations, similarities, and differences between one phenomenon and another [7].
This research includes data collection, analysis, interpretation, and conclusions using the creative economy ecosystem approach (Penta Helix).SWOT analysis through a quantitative approach and a qualitative approach through a matrix.SWOT analysis is a method that shows business performance by determining a combination of internal and external factors.SWOT analysis compares internal factors, namely strengths and weaknesses, with external factors, namely opportunities and threats.For SWOT with a quantitative approach using three steps of calculation [8], the first step is to score each of the internal and external factors and give weight to the internal and external factors in order based on the level of importance.The second step is to reduce the internal factors, namely the total strength minus the total weakness (d = S -W), then reduce the external factors, namely the total Opportunity minus the comprehensive treaty (e = O -T), obtaining points (d = x) then becomes the X-axis point, then the number (e = y) becomes the y-axis point, the third step is to find the (X, Y) axis point in the SWOT quadrant as follows :    Respondents in Table 3 have the information needed in research as MSMEs actors.Based on the table, it is known that the average work experience is 24 years and the average age of the respondents is 46 years.Based on this, it is considered capable of providing information related to the development and recovery of fried shallot MSMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of the covid-19 pandemic on MSMES performance
The COVID-19 pandemic has hampered the performance of MSMEs, especially Fried Shallot MSMEs in Palu City, or unable to carry out their business properly.Therefore, many MSMEs are forced to reduce their workforce, reduce the amount of production and even close their businesses.Based on [9] the sub-sectors that were significantly affected were micro-businesses, which decreased by 27%, small businesses by 1.7%, while for medium businesses by 0.07%.
The problems of SMEs, especially fried shallot SMEs in Palu based on the creative economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, are certainly not small, but the visible problem is the decrease in the number of purchases by consumers.The results of Rosita [10] show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, customers or consumers closed themselves and kept their distance due to the implementation of WFH (Work From Home) and Physical Distancing.The impact for MSMEs is a decrease in turnover.
Based on [11] the condition of MSMEs' performance before the pandemic was good/very good business conditions were 92.7 percent and bad/very bad business conditions were 1.0 percent, while during the COVID-19 pandemic, bad/very bad business conditions increased to 56.8 percent compared to before the pandemic which originally only 1.0 percent.
Based on data from observations made on five fried shallot SMEs in Palu City, the impact most felt by business actors is a reduction in the number of workers, a decrease in the amount of production, and a decrease in sales volume.The number of workers decreased by 40.30 percent, total production was 33.48 percent, and the sales volume decreased by 56.27 percent.

Labor
One of the important factors in industrial activities, both small, medium and large industries, is labour.The impact of the pandemic was the reduction in the number of workers in fried shallot MSMEs.The decrease in the number of workers can be seen in Table 2 below.Based on the data in Table 2, it is known that 80% of the decrease in the number of workers during the pandemic was experienced by fried shallot MSMEs in Palu City.The average decrease in the number of employees was 40.30 percent.Based on the results of the interviews, this was due to a decrease in sales, which resulted in a reduction in production and a reduction in the number of workers.This data follows research [12] which says that 8 Asian countries also reduced the number of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic by more than 40% of the previous number of workers.One of these countries, namely Indonesia, has data on 39% of MSMEs laying off permanent workers and 37% laying off contract workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Production
Production is an activity to produce goods to increase the added value and use the product's value.One of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on MSMEs is a decrease in the amount of fried shallot production.The research results show that there was a decrease in the amount of fried shallot production before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.The percentage decrease in the average number of production reached 33.48%.The following is data on the decrease in the amount of fried shallot production, which can be seen in Table 3.Based on the results of field observations, information was obtained that the decline in production occurred due to the difficulty in finding raw materials due to the reduced supply of shallots from shallot farmers who replaced commodities cultivated during the pandemic because demand for other commodities was higher, for example, red ginger.In addition, business actors are also reluctant to produce fried shallots in large quantities like before the pandemic because the PPKM policy implemented during the pandemic resulted in no buyers from outside Palu who usually make fried shallots as souvenirs when visiting Palu as a result of airport closures and other inter-city transportation restrictions.
Similar research results were put forward by [13] that during the pandemic, all MSMEs were only allowed to stay at home due to restrictions on leaving the house.This condition affected the amount of production that continued to decline due to a lack of raw materials that had to be processed into products.The possibility of changing a product into another product is also very slight because raw materials cannot be obtained.

Sales
Sales are distributing products produced by fried shallots until consumers accept them.Fried shallot sales activities during the pandemic were also very impactful.The decline in fried shallot sales can be seen in the following table.Based on Table 4 above, it can be seen that there was a decrease in the number of sales of fried shallots before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, which reached an average decrease of 56.27%.This was the impact of the decrease in fried shallot production, a decrease in the number of workers, and the implementation of restrictive policies during the pandemic, especially from 2020 to 2021.It is difficult to carry out product marketing activities during the pandemic, offline and online or within and outside Palu.
Based on the results of observations made, information was obtained that during a pandemic, as much as 80% of fried shallot MSMEs experienced a decrease in production; the remaining 20% did not reduce production because they could sell online and had done it long before the pandemic.Khairuna, et.al [14] found the same results in his research, namely, during the COVID-19 pandemic, MSMEs in Indonesia experienced a decrease in production because the circulation of product sales was not smooth.Products sold are decreasing, so business actors decide to reduce the amount of production.
Online marketing is one way to keep sales running during the COVID-19 pandemic.Several fried shallot SMEs in Palu City carry out online marketing through digital platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram and e-commerce such as Shoope, Buka Stalls, Blibli, and others.Research [15] found data on Indonesian MSMEs that at the end of December 2020, 3.8 million were registering their businesses through online-based marketing, and in March 2021, the data had increased by 4.8 million MSMEs.This proves that during the COVID-19 pandemic, MSMEs tried to get up by switching the offline marketing system or direct sales to online marketing.
The following is a marketing pattern carried out by fried shallot SMEs in Palu City before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MSMEs recovery and development strategy during the covid-19 pandemic
The results of the analysis and observations made on the MSMEs who were respondents in this study obtained the following alternative strategies that can be applied:

Expansion of new customer segments.
The new customer segment expansion strategy combines internal strengths in points one, five, and six with external opportunities in points two and three.So far, customers in Fried Shallots MSMEs have been well segmented.Seeing the demand for fried shallots in the market, opportunities to serve new customers, and the use of social networks to reach all customer segments both in Palu and outside the Palu area will spur the creation of new strategies.This strategy can support the development of the Fried Shallot MSMEs business by expanding new customer segments.COVID-19 has changed consumer behaviour, which used to look for needs in person by visiting the desired place, now changing by looking for needs online.Of course, it must be followed by business actors so that they remain in business.They have to open a new network following the current conditions by utilizing sales in E-commerce [15].

3.5.2.
Maintaining product quality and innovation to maintain customer trust.plays a very important role in the development of Fried Shallot UMKM because an emotional bond can be established with buyers, so they do not easily move to other businesses.By incorporating the internal strength of the Fried Shallot MSME, which already has guaranteed quality standards and an integrated supplier network, it can generate external opportunities by improving product service.Maintaining the trust of business relations is very important for the progress of the business being carried out.Maintain the trust of business relations by maintaining the quality of goods and fulfilling payments according to a predetermined time.The method used to maintain customer trust is to provide good and satisfying service.Also, the items sold are of good quality and have no defects [10].Increase cooperation with partners to achieve mutual benefits.

Participate in training for business and product development.
Training for product development is very important because the times always require business actors to innovate their products.One way that can be used to develop and enhance an entrepreneurial spirit and explore the business potential for MSMEs players so that they can compete in the current digitalization era is to utilize information technology and mastery of electronic media for business development.Information technology is utilized to promote and distribute MSMEs products to facilitate trade relations between traders and consumers [15].Apart from the government, the parties involved are the industry.The industry in question is the fried shallot MSME itself.The strategies implemented by MSMEs based on the SWOT results are: 1. Expanding market segments, specifically the customer segment.Market segments can be expanded by maintaining good relations with customers so that long-term relationships are established between MSMEs and customers.2. Maintain product quality and improve product innovation to maintain customer trust.Adding product safety, such as improving the quality of packaging so that the product can last a long time while waiting for the delivery period by using an online marketing system, is one of the fried shallot product innovations the industry can carry out.3. Increase cooperation with partners to achieve mutual benefits.Collaboration with partners needs to be done both with fellow food industries and partners with others.The strategy generated through the SWOT analysis does not show the involvement of academia, the public, or financial institutions.One of the shortcomings of the resulting strategy considering that all parties in Penta Helix have the potential to restore and develop MSMEs during the pandemic and post-pandemic later.

Conclusion
Based on the provisional results obtained in this study are as follows: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on Fried Shallot MSMEs in Palu.The impact that has occurred is a decrease in the number of workers, a decrease in production, and a decrease in sales.These three things influence each other.In addition, these three factors were affected by the difficulty in obtaining raw materials, the application of restrictive policies during the pandemic, and the declining purchasing power of consumers.Several alternative strategies can be implemented to restore and develop fried shallot MSMEs based on the analysis results.In addition, implementing this strategy requires Penta Helix collaboration from MSMEs, Government, Academics, Financial Institutions, and the Community as consumers.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.SWOT analysis quadrant SWOT with a qualitative approach using internal factors and external factors.Internal factors are entered into the IFAS (Internal Strategic Factor Analysis Summary) matrix.External factors are entered into the external factor matrix or EFAS (External Strategic Factor Analysis Summary).After the matrix of internal and external strategic factors has been compiled, the results are entered into the qualitative model, namely the SWOT matrix, to formulate the company's competitive strategy.Matrix of internal (IFAS) and external (EFAS) strategic factors.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Map of Palu Based on the results of data and information collection conducted on several respondents from MSME, government, academics, financial institutions and the public or consumers, it is shown in the following table :

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Marketing pattern of fried shallot MSME products in Palu The marketing pattern carried out by fried shallot SMEs in Palu City during pre-pandemic and during a pandemic.Based on the results of observations and interviews conducted with business actors, during the pandemic, MSMEs only focused on online marketing activities, bearing in mind that MSMEs had experienced many impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic as previously explained, namely a decrease in sales, a decrease in production, and a decrease in the number of employees work.

3. 6 .
Penta helix MSMEs in Palu The next stage in this research is to look at the recovery and development strategies for MSMEs in Palu based on the Penta Helix collaboration concept.The results of field observations made in the form of a pentha helix MSME collaboration in Palu can be seen in the following figure:

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Penta helix collaboration of fried shallots MSMEs in Palu Based on the figure, it is known that the parties involved in implementing the recovery strategy and development of fried shallot MSMEs in Palu are the government and the MSMEs themselves.The Office of Cooperatives and MSMEs in Paluis the government party involved in the recovery of MSMEs in Palu.One of the programs carried out by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic was participating in training for business and product development.One of these pieces of training is Technical Guidance for Increasing Product Sales during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Apart from the government, the parties involved are the industry.The industry in question is the fried shallot MSME itself.The strategies implemented by MSMEs based on the SWOT results are: 1. Expanding market segments, specifically the customer segment.Market segments can be expanded by maintaining good relations with customers so that long-term relationships are established between MSMEs and customers.2. Maintain product quality and improve product innovation to maintain customer trust.Adding product safety, such as improving the quality of packaging so that the product can last a long time while waiting for the delivery period by using an online marketing system, is one of the fried shallot product innovations the industry can carry out.3. Increase cooperation with partners to achieve mutual benefits.Collaboration with partners needs to be done both with fellow food industries and partners with others.The strategy generated through the SWOT analysis does not show the involvement of academia, the public, or financial institutions.One of the shortcomings of the resulting strategy considering that all parties in Penta Helix have the potential to restore and develop MSMEs during the pandemic and post-pandemic later.

Table 1 .
Characteristics of fried shallot msmes respondents in Palu.

Table 2 .
Decrease in the number of workers on fried shallot MSMEs.

Table 3 .
Decrease in fried shallot production amount during the covid-19 pandemic

Table 4 .
Decrease in sales of fried shallots during the covid-19 pandemic