EMPOWERMENT MODEL FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM HANDICRAFTS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS ON THE PERFORMANCE TO PRESERVE LOCAL CULTURE IN SEMARANG CITY

Abstract

he handicraftof Semarang City is one of Indonesia's cultural heritages which must be preserved by the local culture of
Semarang. Recently, the Government of Semarang Cityhas begun to develop the handicraftculture of Semarang city as
Semarang’s regional identity through the preservation programof Semaranganhandicraft. The aims of the studywere to
identify and analyze the business performance of the craftsmen in Semarang Citybased on the studies on the aspects of
production, distribution, market, and information technology. The problem was the reduced number of the craftsmen
that fluctuated each year. When conducting the research, the number of craftsmen was 33 craftsmen in Semarang City.
The business performance analysis of handicraft in Semarang used the approach of SCP (structure-conductperformance)
started from the analysis of market structure, conduct analysis and performance analysis. The analysis
results of SCP (structure-conduct-performance) shows that the market structure of handicraft businesses in Semarang
Cityis an oligopoly market. The conduct analysis included theconduct elementsof product price, product and market. In
the handicraft price, the conduct indicates that 71 percent of the priceswere determined by the craftsmen. From the
element of handicraft products, itshows that 74 percent of the respondents chose to diversify handicraft products. In
other hand, the market element as shown by marketing distribution shows that 63 percent of the craftsmen sold directly
to end consumers, especially when thehandicraft fairs were held, while 25 per cent of them, before reaching
consumers,were distributed through buyers (order owner). Twelve percent were distributed through
handicrafttradersand export. The Performance Analysis was seen from the element of handicraft businessesprofitability,
through Return/Cash ratio (R/C ratio) and ROA (Return on Assets). In the small scale of business, themean of R/C ratio
is1.85 and themean of ROA is 0.58. This shows that the handicraft businesses in Semarang City are still profitable and
have good prospects for development in preserving Semarang’s local culture.
Keywords: Performance, handicraft, SCP (Structure-Conduct-Performance)