Corporate activity diversification is a promising but at the same time risky condition of a company’s adaptation to the business environment. Effectiveness of diversification processes in enterprises may be achieved by research in the following areas: development of methods of internal and external business environment analysis as a basis for diversification decisions; understanding the dependence of the scope and nature of corporate activity diversification on the market situation; providing sciencebased advice for the management of diversified companies, especially large ones; improvement in the methods of diversification measuring so that a complex analysis of the diversification process would become implementable. Based on the study of the Lithuanian construction sector, this paper seeks to provide new insights into the following aspects of corporate activity diversification: preconditions and conditions for deciding on corporate activity diversification; the problem of the scale and nature of diversification; organisational management conditions for the success of diversification projects. Furthermore, an in-depth discussion of the problematic of measuring the achieved level of diversification is offered.
Keywords:
corporate activity diversification construction sector success factors diversification measurement
Organisational development requires creative and open employees, who must feel confident to use their inventiveness and share ideas. However, some entities encounter organisational silence. The lack of research into this phenomenon in Lithuanian educational institutions encouraged the authors of the article to investigate how demographic characteristics of teachers relate to types of organisational silence. The authors used two nonparametric tests for analyses, i.e. Mann–Whitney U to study gender and Kruskal–Wallis H to investigate age and marital status. The quantitative research targeted teachers of 104 Lithuanian secondary schools. The research findings contribute to filling the knowledge gap in the topic of organisational silence in Lithuania. The enclosed demographic characteristics can help rectify the current situation in educational institutions.
Keywords:
organisational silence organisational voice organisational culture demographic characteristics
The article aims to explain how controlling influences an organisation as a whole, considering the job performance of employees and managers. It describes the development and verification of the Controlling Effectiveness Model, which characterises the impact, the place of each variable and the direction of each relationship in the effort to shape organisational performance. The hypothesis was verified with the help of empirical research, which was conducted with 264 organisations operating in Poland. The survey took place in October 2019. The authors of the article used the CAWI method. Efforts had been made to ensure a diversified research sample encompassing various organisational characteristics. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and the sequentially mediated regression model were used to verify the hypothesis. The empirical research allowed confirming a statistically significant indirect impact of the quality of controlling on organisational performance. This relationship depends on the job performance of managers and employees. The analysis of the impact made by controlling on the job performance of employees and managers as we as the organisational performance resulted in a mediation model (the Controlling Effectiveness Model) and confirmed the effect of controlling on organisational performance through the impact on job performance of managers and employees. The article has practical implications. The organisations that decide to implement controlling should focus on the quality of this management support method. It is not enough to simply implement controlling as organisations need to ensure the correct implementation. In this context, it is also relevant to properly shape functional, organisational and instrumental controlling solutions (tailored to the characteristics of the organisation as a whole, as well as to the environmental conditions, under which the organisation operates), which determine the quality of controlling.
Keywords:
management controlling organisational performance Controlling Effectiveness Model empirical research
The research aimed to identify promising areas and outline problems associated with the transition of Ukrainian industrial enterprises towards advanced innovative development based on information and knowledge and to formulate recommendations for improving the knowledge management and commercialisation at these enterprises. The study used several methods for analysis, including a literature review; system, structural and statistical analyses; SWOT analysis; the inference method; and interpretation. The research efforts resulted in systemised major sources of knowledge in an enterprise and types of their utilisation. The performed analysis found the key ways to obtain and commercialise knowledge used by Ukrainian industrial enterprises. The results were compared with data of the EU countries. The analysis produced strengths and weaknesses of the existing knowledge management system used in Ukrainian enterprises. Strengths: growth in the number of enterprises producing new knowledge and implementing marketing and organisational innovations; intensified patent activity; and a rational structure of innovation-active enterprises by their size. Weaknesses: the new knowledge structure does not meet the needs of enterprises; an insignificant and unstable share of innovation-active enterprises in the total number of firms; and insignificant sales volumes of patents. The research revealed that Ukrainian enterprises had the potential ability to produce and commercialise new knowledge effectively and to use it as the basis to form, strengthen and implement relative competitive advantages, which would contribute to the innovative growth of the Ukrainian economy as a whole. Recommendations were designed for the formation of prerequisites necessary to improve the efficiency of knowledge management in the context of conditions required for the innovative development of domestic enterprises. The obtained results can be used as an information base for evaluating the system of knowledge production and commercialisation at Ukrainian enterprises to enhance the management and identify promising areas for innovative development.
Keywords:
knowledge production knowledge commercialisation knowledge management in industrial enterprises innovative development knowledge economy
The European Union currently uses Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) as basic units for planning local development activities under its financial support. An important issue in terms of managing such areas is branding. FUAs are made of at least several territorial units (covering a dense urban area and a functionally related urbanised zone). Such composition poses a particular challenge in terms of developing a brand that covers all of the units. Therefore, it is essential to select the core around which the target image will be created. This publication aims to identify marketing and branding goals for the development of FUAs and determine activities facilitating the achievement of these goals by entities that manage the functional areas. The research method used in the article was a content analysis of documents outlined as Strategies for Integrated Territorial Investments developed for FUAs in Poland. The authors of the article undertook preliminary exploratory research. The obtained results show that most of the marketing and branding goals for the development of FUAs correspond with the objectives specific to city marketing and branding. Moreover, “integration” and “strengthening the metropolitan area function” were recognised as goals specific to FUAs.
Keywords:
city marketing city branding Functional Urban Area FUA Poland
The research aimed to examine Latvian grain cooperatives in terms of their performance and causes of development problems. The research employed several approaches, including a monographic method, induction and deduction, comparison, graphical method, statistical analysis, cause and consequence analysis and a sociological research method in the form of structured expert survey and interviews. The research examined the theory on cooperative development in Latvia and the world, analysed the Latvian grain production industry and made a statistical analysis of the performance of grain cooperatives. The total output of cereals was affected by the total area cropped with cereals, which was proved by the correlation coefficient r = 0.90. An increase in the area used for cereals leads to an increase in the total cereal output. The correlation coefficient showed a strong relationship between independent and dependent variables. Structured interviews with experts allowed the authors to identify the factors that hinder the development of grain cooperatives in Latvia. The industry experts identified the technological factor, i.e., poorly developed agricultural processing. As possible causes of the previously identified problem, experts identified a lack of financial resources, the unclear market situation, workforce problems, additional costs, and a lack of initiative in identifying new opportunities. The expert method helped to identify the most significant problem for the development of Latvian grain cooperatives and the underlying causes. The research allows drawing the attention of policymakers to the main problem regarding the development of grain cooperatives, namely, the technological factor of underdeveloped grain processing. The cooperatives did not own processing enterprises, which was mainly due to an unclear situation in the sales market.
Keywords:
cooperation grain production cooperatives
The article analyses the influence made by corporate reputation on the mediation model for the impact of external support on organisational performance through resilience. The article aims to clarify the mechanism behind the moderating role of corporate reputation played in the influence of external support on organisational performance and considering the mediating role of organisational resilience. The empirical research was made to verify the existence of the relationship and to reach the aim of the paper. The set of hypotheses was built based on the theoretical research and then verified on the sample of 268 organisations operating in Poland. Dependences among the data selected from the theoretical research were analysed using statistical methods, including the correlation with the moderator and the mediated regression analysis. The obtained results clearly showed that corporate reputation was a moderator of the discussed mediation model for the influence of the external support on organisational performance through resilience. The paper contributes to further development of knowledge in organisational resilience management. It clarifies and stresses the role of two external factors: corporate reputation and external support in shaping the resilience of an organisation and its performance. The obtained results imply specific practical recommendations. Since corporate reputation can be the key to achieving greater organisational resilience and performance, special attention should be given to managing this category in an organisation.
Keywords:
management corporate reputation organisational resilience external support organisational performance
The research aims to characterise the optimisation of a technological process depending on the main time parameters for production. The optimisation does not require to correct technical parameters of a system, but rather the organisational and managerial factors of the technological process. The workload is taken as an evaluation criterion, which factors in the probability distribution of time characteristics of computer process operations. Time characteristics that represent the performance of an operation influence the workloads of an operator and equipment, determining the productivity of the technological process. Analytical models were developed for the operational control of a production line efficiency considering the probability–statistical parameters pertaining to the performance of operations and technological equipment peculiarities. The article presents research results, which characterise the dependence of a production line efficiency on the type of equipment, and the duration of preparatory and final operations considering their probability. Under an optimal workload of the operator, the duration of the complete program changes linearly, regardless of the time required for the performance of operations by a computer without the involvement of the operator, and depending on the type of equipment. A managerial decision can be optimal under the condition that the factor of technological process efficiency (K_TP) tends to max. The developed method of analytical determination can be used to calculate the workload of both an operator and technological equipment. The calculations of the duration of a production line operation resulted in the methodology for the consideration of probability characteristics pertaining to the time distribution of the period required to perform operations, which influences the unequal efficiency of the production line. The probabilistic character of time distribution related to intervals of performed operations serves as a parameter in the management of technological process optimisation, which can be achieved using simulators of technological processes optimised in terms of their efficiency.
Keywords:
workload factor process productivity analytical model duration of operations amount of equipment
This article aims to examine how the theory of co-production can be connected with servitization and digitalisation and used together for the public service development with the help of discrete-event simulation modelling to highlight time-related deficiencies of a complex public service process, which is most commonly used by patchwork families. Data was taken from the Guardianship Office in Győr (Hungary), based on which in-depth interviews were conducted. Based on the legal background and the interviews, the authors of the article created the process model of the contacting procedure. Based on the model, discrete-event simulation was used to identify the process elements for potential improvement through servitization. Discrete-event simulation showed the insufficiency of national regulation regarding the whole process and weaknesses of the contacting procedures in terms of quality and success. Basic reasons were found for the dissatisfaction expressed by participants of the procedures (administrators and customers). The increasing customer demand for high quality and efficient public services and failures in the New Public Management (NPM) in Eastern European countries require other approaches to advance. The paper connects the theory of co-production and servitization in a public service context and demonstrates how a complex public service can be examined with this approach to find possible improvements. The government must change the process regulation considering the number of the cases, the workload of administrators and family types (divorced or patchwork). The emphasis should be placed on the training and experience of administrators.
Keywords:
co-production digitalisation discrete-event simulation public service processes servitization