The main purpose of this research was to examine whether systematic cross-national differences existed in risk preferences. As a part of the survey, it was also tested how the subjects decided on behalf of their friends. Considering the type of risk-taking and the role of endowment plus relevant cultural backgrounds, the answerers were grouped, and each segment could be identified. Finally, this segmentation could be correlated with behaviour in risk decisions. Here, the Allais situation was used testing respondent behaviour in risky decision-making on behalf of others. This paper used the validated DOSPERT Scale, measuring risk perceptions and risk preferences of international students (n=244). The used survey contained different risk attitudes depending on decision making and involved the following criteria: Ethical, Financial, Health or Safety, Recreational, and Social Risks. Applying the DOSPERT Scale, differences were also found between ‘Risk-Taking’, ‘Risk-Perceptions’, and ‘Expected Benefits’. This result can be explained by different risk attitudes particular to people making decisions involving measured risks. At the same time, thanks to the worldwide sample, this paper focused on cultural differences and observed the impact of different cultural backgrounds on risk-taking. Comparing personal traits with Hofstede’s cultural UAI (Uncertainty Avoidance Index) helped us understand deeper cultural influences. The sample was widely heterogeneous, which led to some changes in the original research question and provided a new method in the conceptual model. Based on the state of the art, a conceptual model was deduced, three hypotheses were tested, and three various segments were identified regarding the personal DOSPERT (Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale) Risk Preferences. In the second part of the paper, Personal Risk Preferences were connected and tested not only using the national culture background but also attitudes towards the endowment. Although there was no significant correlation between the distribution of risk perception, the styles of each role might show how the cultural heritage impacts various decisions and risk levels.
Keywords:
risk management cultural differences principal-agent problem ownership
The consideration of the multidimensionality and multidirectionality of management science within the research process is currently a very important challenge. The search for dependencies and connections between leadership and customer orientation falls fully into the desired research trend. Both leadership and customer orientation are widely described within management science; however, the connections and dependencies which occur between them still require further, in-depth exploration and knowledge concerning leadership and customer orientation needs to be systematised. This article aims to identify further directions of study into leadership and customer orientation in an innovative company. Additional goals include the systematisation of knowledge regarding customer-oriented leadership and the formulation of research hypotheses which will become the starting point for future studies. The conclusions are supported by the results of a quantitative study which applied the CAWI method to a group of 204 business leaders from North-East Poland. The article presents the results of the preliminary research realized as part of a research grant from the National Science Centre entitled “Leadership and customer orientation in an innovative enterprise”. The results of the conducted research show that customer orientation among business leaders is not uniform and depends on the size of their company, the style of management and the type of innovation implemented by their enterprise.
Keywords:
Leadership customer orientation innovative company
This study demonstrates that integrated management and direct control systems may be combined into integrated enterprise process control (EntPC) systems, which are composed of self-controlling enterprise business processes. A business process has been defined as a control system for business activities, which are considered to be business processes of the lower level, or as base processes that are control systems for control plants in the form of infrastructure operations. An enterprise process also influences its delivery. This description of a business process is usually compared with definitions used in such approaches as BPMN, YAWL, ARIS and DEMO and MERODE. Each enterprise process has its own controlling unit that contains one information unit and one decision unit, as well as memory places of the information-decision state variables that are processed by the business transitions that belong to these units. The i-d state variables are attributes of business objects, i.e. business units, business roles, business activities, business accounts and business products. Their values are transferred between business transitions that belong to the same or different controlling units. Relationships between business objects, business transitions and i-d state variables, as well as the other most important concepts of the EntPC system framework (EntPCF), are presented in this paper as the class diagrams of the enterprise process control language (EntPCL).
Keywords:
enterprise integration complex control systems enterprise modelling enterpriseprocess control industry 4.0 enterprise architectures
The technology of production, transportation, and processing of oil and gas involves various hazardous processes. To mitigate the risk that these processes pose, the technological solutions work closely with the automated control and safety systems. The design and organisation of maintenance for the automated safety instrumented systems (SIS) have a significant bearing on the overall safety of operations in this industry. Over the past few decades, many hydrocarbon resources have been discovered in unconventional environments, such as remote, offshore, and arctic locations. Transportation of engineering personnel to these remote locations and back, and thereby, the organisation of the shift work poses additional challenges for the petroleum sector. Under such circumstances, the workforce-related costs play a considerable role in the overall cost of the technological solution and thereby the decisions regarding the workforce organisation should be addressed in the framework of evaluating and choosing the appropriate safety measures. That is why the research presented in this paper aims to address the lifecycle of the technological solution integrating the problems of SIS design, maintenance planning, and employee scheduling into a single decision-making framework to optimise the set of technical and organisational safety measures inherent in the SIS. The performance and maintenance of the SIS are described with a Markov model of device failures, repairs and technological incidents occurrence. The employee scheduling part of the mathematical model utilises the set-covering formulation of maintenance crews taking particular trips. A black-box optimisation algorithm is used to find reasonable solutions to the integrated problem of engineering design and workforce planning. The decisions include the choices of the components and structures for the safety system, the facility overhaul frequencies, the maintenance personnel size, as well as the schedules of trips and shifts for the crews.
Keywords:
black-box optimisation employee scheduling maintenance planning Markov Analysis oil and gas industry remote and arctic locations risk management safety instrumented system
An ageing population is a natural and inevitable phenomenon that constitutes an opportunity for the development of the logistics services industry. This is related to the fact that a new demographic profile of the world is determined by a growing number of customers — seniors – with special needs that generate the demand for services such as carriage and home delivery of food and medicines. Therefore, considering the growing demand for logistics services intended for older adults, there is a justified need to develop theoretical knowledge in this area. The paper aims to define a logistics service dedicated to an elderly person as the ultimate recipient as well as to identify the classification criteria of such services. The first part of the article is based on a literature review and presents definitions of a service and a logistics service according to various researchers. It also identifies different classifications of logistics services. These theoretical aspects provided a basis for authors to propose the notion of a logistics service and a catalogue of criteria for systemising logistics services dedicated to older adults. Logistics services for the elderly may be grouped according to classification criteria applicable to what is widely understood as logistics services in source literature. The classification criteria are the type of service, the immateriality of service, the frequency of contacting the customer, the type of purchaser market, the degree of service customisation, the type of a relationship between the service enterprise and the customer, and the place of service provision. Nonetheless, due to the customer-oriented approach in logistics, the authors proposed the classification criteria of these services with regard to age, financial situation, needs, health, expectations, hobby, skills and problems of older adults. Such an approach to classification is determined by considerable inherent diversification of the discussed group of customers as well as a specialised catalogue of logistics services. The classification of logistics services may contribute to the improved design of such services.
Keywords:
logistics service elderly definition classification ageing population
Purpose. Recently, foreign economic activity in Ukraine has gradually shifted towards the European Union (EU). The EU’s special interest in the potential of Ukraine’s transit transport lies in the geographical position of the country, which is located on the main routes of international freight traffic. The article aims to study the status and development opportunities in the field of transit freight transport of the Ukrainian railway joint-stock company (JSC Ukrzaliznytsya) within the framework of European integration. Methodology. The article presents the analysis of the activity of the JSC Ukrzaliznytsya in the field of transit freight transport for the period of 2005-2017 and outlines the strategic prospects for its development as a significant transit route considering the conditions of European integration. The methodology included theoretical and practical research using statistical methods; methods of comparative analysis; ABC analysis method; and taxonomic method. Results. The JSC Ukrzaliznytsya was analysed to determine the status of its activity in the field of transit freight transportation for 2005-2017. A structural-dynamic analysis was made to estimate cargo volumes transported by railway enterprises and related revenues. 18 types of cargo were identified using the ABC analysis method based on two indicators, namely, “volumes of transportation” and “revenues from cargo transit”. Also, taxonomic indicators of the level of system development were considered and revenues from cargo transit for the analysed period were estimated. Finally, recommendations were proposed regarding the development of a joint-stock company as a strategic cargo transporter under the conditions of European integration with Ukraine. Practical implications (if applicable). The results of the conducted research and performed calculations confirmed the need to refocus the management activity of the JSC Ukrzaliznytsya in the field of cargo transit towards strategically important cargoes, which have the largest share in the structure of financial results. This will enable the company to achieve its leading role as a strategic transit carrier of the European Union in the near future.
Keywords:
strategic development transit transportation railways transit management income European integration