Lecturer of Schools of Creative Industries Telkom University, Riky Azharyandi Siswanto, Ph.D. succeeded in obtaining a doctoral degree in the field of Visual Identity Branding. The visual communication design (DKV) lecturer carried out the online Viva Voice Examination on Thursday (9/2) at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
Riky stated that his dissertation entitled ‘The New Digital Branding Ecosystem Model: Empowering Indonesian Small Medium Enterprises Expansion into Global Markets’ was based on an objective to improve the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia through strengthening the branding aspect.
He stated that there are several challenges in providing services for small business (SMEs) owners. A market that lacks assistance to improve branding further adds to the difficulties. Meanwhile, the development of technology and digital have a significant impact on the branding process.
“Even though digital marketing has become an increasingly affordable approach for small businesses, digital branding has become increasingly expensive because it requires a special treatment that is more personalized.” said Riky.
In the current digital era, Riky explained, it was not a hard task to find graphic designers to help with the branding. Therefore, the potential to assist small business owners in developing their branding is also increasing, but the financial gaps to collaborate between small businesses and designers remain a major obstacle.
To overcome the problem, an effective system to simplify the branding process and reduce the branding fee is needed so that MSMEs can show their best performance in the digital market. Thus, a new integrated and modern ecosystem model is also required to give an easy access for the small business owners to develop their digital branding.
According to Riky, his dissertation presents a model that can help MSMEs to grow optimally and can give an opportunity for novice graphic designers to venture into the branding industry. In that way, not only to help strengthen the competitiveness of small businesses, this model can also create job opportunities and contribute to strengthening the overall economy of Indonesia.
“Therefore, it is highly expected that through this research, it will help novice designers, fresh graduates, and students to be able to help SMEs owners in improving their competitiveness through branding that can penetrate the global market and can improve the Indonesian economy.” concluded Riky.
Author: Abdullah Adnan | Editor: Daris Maulana | Foto: Public Relations