EMPAS 15 (3) 2023

Early identification of potential financial problems is among important companies’ risk management tasks. This paper aims to propose individual and ensemble models based on various types of neural networks. The created models are evaluated based on several quantitative metrics, and the best-proposed models predict the impending financial problems of Slovak companies a year in advance. The precise analysis and cleaning of real data from the financial statements of real Slovak companies result in a data set consisting of the values of nine potential predictors of almost 19 thousand companies. Individual and ensemble models based on MLP and RBF-type neural networks and the Kohonen map are created on the training sample. On the other hand, several metrics quantify the predictive ability of the created models on the test sample. Ensemble models achieved better predictive ability compared to individual models. MLP networks achieved the highest overall accuracy of almost 89 %. However, the non-prosperity of Slovak companies was best identified by RBF networks created by the boosting and bagging technique. The sensitivity of these models is about 87 %. The study found that models based on neural networks can be successfully designed and used to predict financial distress in the Slovak economy.

Keywords:
company  Kohonen map  neural network  non-prosperity  predictive ability 

The main purpose of this paper is a systematic literature review on retrofitting tools, equipment, and infrastructure in the industrial domain. The methods used for the research were a systematic literature review: publication analysis, selection of databases, and appropriate modification of queries in individual databases. Findings were presented using a map of keywords, clusters, and charts. The main result of the conducted research was the identification of the main trends in the retrofitting area. The trends developed within the review can support further research into the direction of retrofitting methods and the factors determining the choice of specific techniques and tools in the digitalisation of manufacturing enterprises.

Keywords:
Industry 4.0  retrofitting  Internet of Things  equipment modernisation and adaptation  smart manufacturing 

Flexibility in workforce scheduling in services is necessary to reduce the impact of demand uncertainty, absenteeism, and desertion while maintaining high service levels. This paper studies the workforce scheduling problem, including multiple skill accumulation, training, and welfare, as well as flexibility for employees and the company. All these elements are modelled and included in a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model that maximises their accumulated skill level. A real case study based on the scheduling of lab assistants to laboratory practices at a university in Colombia is used to generate numerical experiments. Different experiments were conducted, and the results show that the level of skill achieved is highly sensitive to the number of assistants and the number of allocations. The experiments also showed that, while keeping the same number of lab assistants, it is possible to include flexibility and welfare constraints. Finally, the proposed model can generate schedules that achieve high levels of skills and meet the different constraints of the model, including balance, accumulation, demand and welfare.

Keywords:
flexibility  multiskilling  workforce scheduling  training  optimisation 

The article aims to present sustainable development reporting based on data obtained from Polish commercial banks, considering different approaches and scopes of presenting non-financial data, even though specific guidelines have been issued. The research procedure included a literature review of Polish and foreign literature and research using the case study method. The article presents examples of environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities reported by selected commercial banks in Poland in a case study. ESG activities are reported separately and presented as part of annual reports. Many of the banks’ activities presented in the survey can serve as a model for others, as not all banks have a clearly written ESG strategy. A positive effect of reporting ESG activities is the clarification of indicators, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, eliminating exposure to the extractive sector or increasing “green” financing. This article can contribute to showing role models for banks in three areas, i.e., environmental, social and corporate governance. As a result, the authors tried to propose solutions where sector organisations could compare themselves in non-financial areas.

Keywords:
non-financial reporting  ESG  ESG reporting in banks 

The fundamental transformation of the global energy sector challenges Polish energy companies to define new organisational goals. To a large extent, these objectives determine an energy company’s competitive position and ability to develop in the long term. However, achieving the set goals requires adequate resources. This paper mainly aims to identify and assess the resources used to achieve organisational goals in Polish energy companies. Based on a literature review and data collected from 110 Polish energy companies, the authors identified and assessed resources for achieving their organisational goals. The study confirmed that the organisational goals pursued by energy companies are interrelated. Analysis of the results of the basic organisational goals postulated by Polish energy companies showed that economic goals, such as “market share growth”, “implementation of innovative solutions”, and “quality of products/services”, are among the most important. The study showed that the resources held by energy companies are important for implementing separate organisational goals. Human resources received the highest rating and were considered of the greatest importance for the implementation of the goals of “sector development”, “uninterrupted energy supply”, and “sustainable development”. The paper assesses and discusses the characteristics of Polish energy companies’ organisational resources and organisational goals. The contribution of this study is the highlighted importance of resources in achieving the organisational goals of Polish energy companies. The main practical implication of this article is to stress the existence of links between the individual goals of companies in the energy sector and to highlight the importance of the different resource categories they possess for achieving specific objective bundles.

Keywords:
organisational resources  organisational goals  energy sector companies 

The paper aims to identify how Industry 4.0 technologies affect the quality and speed of the managers’ decision-making process across the different stages of the value chain, based on the example of the manufacturing sector. The paper adopts qualitative research, based on nine in-depth interviews with key informants, to capture senior executives’ experiences with implementing Industry 4.0 technologies in their organisations. The research is focused on three manufacturing industries: the automotive, food and furniture industries. The research shows that depending on the stage of the value chain, different Industry 4.0 technologies are more suitable for the support of managers’ decisions. Various Industry 4.0 technologies support decision-making at different stages of the manufacturing value chain. In the Design stage, 3D printing and scanning technologies play a crucial role. In the case of Inbound Logistics, robotisation, automation, Big Data analysis, and Business Intelligence are most useful. During the Manufacturing stage, robotisation, automation, 3D printing, scanning, Business Intelligence, cloud computing, and machine-to-machine (M2M) integration enable quick decision-making and speed up production. Sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) optimise distribution in the Outbound Logistics stage. And finally, Business Intelligence supports decisions within the Sales and Marketing stage. It is also the most versatile technology among all particular stages. The paper provides empirical evidence on the Industry 4.0 technology support in decision-making at different stages of the manufacturing value chain, which leads to more effective value chain management, ensuring faster and more accurate decisions at each value-chain stage. When using properly selected Industry 4.0 technologies, managers can optimise their production processes, reduce costs, avoid errors and improve customer satisfaction. Simultaneously, Industry 4.0 technologies facilitate predictive analytics to forecast and anticipate future demand, quality issues, and potential risks. This knowledge allows organisations to make better decisions and take proactive actions to prevent problems.

Keywords:
Industry 4.0  decision-making  value chain  technologies  manufacturing industry 

Significant gaps in public services management were highlighted when service-dominant logic emerged in services science, resulting in fundamental changes in attitudes. The business model application in public services was initiated by offering public service logic. However, this concept requires justification of its interfaces with management approaches, frameworks, and practices. The VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) environment has changed the existing managerial approach in organisational performance and services management. This paper aims to highlight the key aspects and justify the application of services management approaches, frameworks, and practices (Agile practices, customer experience management frameworks, and the design thinking approach) that coincide with the business model approach in public services management (public service logic) in a VUCA environment. In this paper, the Cochrane Guide to Literature Reviews was loosely followed. The focus was on academic publications and such expert sources as webinars for practitioners. Only publications and expert sources in English were included. The Scopus search engine was used for academic sources. Publications covering at least two of the following domains were included: Customer experience, business model, Agile practices, design thinking approach, public services, and VUCA. The expert sources were selected using purposive sampling when communities of practice were identified by authors with expert knowledge, and the main communication channels within each community of practice were sampled. The analysis showed that public services are defined as public goods that the State’s government commits to deliver in line with public values by applying a customer-centric approach. Integrating the design thinking approach and Agile practices help create customer-centric solutions for the customer experience management framework as design thinking helps understand what to do, while Scrum (one of Agile practices) gives the autonomy in deciding how to do it. Each analysed managerial method contributes uniquely to improving public services management in a VUCA environment.

Keywords:
business model  VUCA environment  Agile practices  design thinking approach  Customer experience management 

The factors influencing consumer purchase decisions in electronic commerce platforms and the interrelationships of each element are prevalent in the domain literature. However, a comprehensive analysis of the complex interrelationships among the success factors remains unexplored, especially in a social commerce context. To address the gap, this work evaluates the relationship structure and determines the critical factors using interpretive structural modelling (ISM). On the other hand, the Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) is introduced to analyse the interaction of the factors and recognise the most relevant among them. In demonstrating the ISM-MICMAC analysis, this work performed a case study evaluating 13 factors of social commerce success for food products derived from a previous study. The findings of this work suggest that timeliness, data privacy policy, and Internet connectivity drive most other factors. Thus, focusing the resources on augmenting these factors consequently improves other factors. These findings suggest that sellers must streamline their overall service chain to maintain timeliness in their transactions, safeguard consumers’ data privacy, and uphold consumer communication efficiency to maximise Internet connectivity. These insights provide useful information to help decision-makers in the food industry allocate resources and encourage more consumers for social commerce. Several managerial insights were discussed.

Keywords:
consumer purchase  social commerce  food products  COVID-19