The article discusses how Indonesia has changed its laws to give more power to local governments, known as decentralization. The researchers looked at how this change affects the competitiveness of different areas within Indonesia. They found that decentralization in Indonesia is facing problems like poor planning and lack of money and skilled workers. The study also compared two cities, Semarang and Surabaya, to see how decentralization impacted their economic growth. The results show that decentralization can help local governments provide better services to businesses, but only if it is done well.