Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Versus Shopee: A Public Policy Dilemma in Globalization Era?

This study aims to assess the Indonesian government policies in maintaining and protecting the existence and resilience of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia facing competition with Shopee (the most popular marketplace with the most users in Indonesia). MSMEs play an important role in driving rural development because they are able to generate jobs and provide national economic resilience. The presence of Shopee as part of globalization threatens the existence of MSMEs. MSMEs and Shopee data were collected from the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, Central Bureau of Statistics, and news reports. This study finds that several policies not increase the popularity and resilience of MSMEs compared to Shopee. Even though the government implements a policy to limit the sale of products from importers, Shopee can still sell cheap products from abroad. This phenomenon has the potential to cause chaos in market competition, prices, and threaten the existence of small businesses. The government's efforts to digitize micro, small and medium enterprises have also not been successful because the condition of digital literacy is still relatively moderate