Indonesian Cooperatives' Growth and Improvement Strategies in Time of Pandemic Crisis

Subject and purpose of work: This study seeks to assess and analyse cooperative performance using PEARLS and a partial Balanced Scorecard (BSC) tool at savings and credit cooperatives (SCCs) in Eastern Indonesia. Materials and methods: Both primary and secondary data as well as time series analysis were used, which consists of a financial perspective (PEARLS) and customer perspective from 2019 up to 2021. The study used the quantitative research method based on balanced scorecard analysis. Results: The results show that in terms of financial performance during the pandemic, it must be admitted that several indicators did not achieve the target. In terms of asset utilisation, cooperatives need to develop a new marketing strategy so that their financial resources can be managed to improve the welfare of members. The pandemic is indeed one of the reasons that the financial asset resources owned cannot be attributed to the community, because many community members have experienced a decline in their economic capacity. Conclusions: The applicable strategies to improve SCC performance are: applying innovations in marketing, and improving employee productivity in generating income for savings and credit cooperatives.