CEEOL - Browse Subjects Result

We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.

EXPLORING THE FORMAL AND INFORMAL INSTITUTIONS AS A KEY TOOL FOR ENHANCING ECONOMIC RESILIENCE

Author(s): Sergey Lisnyak,Ilkhom Shapirov / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2015

Despite the fact that there have been many institutional studies over the past two decades and the role of institutions in economic life is extremely high, we could state that modern economic theory of institutions is in its infancy. Institutions organize the relationship between people as well as determine and limit the set of alternatives in the economic behavior. This paper aims to investigate and to understand the impact that formal and informal institutions induce on the broader growth of economic resilience capacity and the development outcomes as well as to consider ways of prospect measuring of this institutional approach. Content analysis of fundamental research papers on the issue of resilience and institutional theories has been carried out. According to the result, we state that formal and informal institutions retain their backbone role, even under strong external influences. Also, the long-term differences in the functioning of economic systems are shaped by a very deep influence of institutions.

More...

An approach to multiple attribute decision making based on the induced Choquet integral with fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy information

Author(s): Guiwu Wei,Rui Lina,Xiaofei Zhao,Hongjum Wang / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2014

In this paper, we investigate the multiple attribute decision making problems with fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy information. Firstly, some operational laws of fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy values, score function and accuracy function of fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy values are introduced. Then, we have developed two fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy Choquet integral aggregation operators: induced fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy choquet ordered averaging (IFNIFCOA) operator and induced fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy choquet ordered geometric (IFNIFCOG) operator. The prominent characteristic of the operators is that they can not only consider the importance of the elements or their ordered positions, but also reflect the correlation among the elements or their ordered positions. We have studied some desirable properties of the IFNIFCOA and IFNIFCOG operators, such as commutativity, idempotency and monotonicity, and applied the IFNIFCOA and IFNIFCOGM operators to multiple attribute decision making with fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy information. Finally an illustrative example has been given to show the developed method.

More...

Processual antecedents of perceived channel conflict in franchising

Author(s): Scott K. Weaven,Debra A. Grace,Lorelle Frazer,Jeffery Giddings / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2014

In this study, we develop and examine the network of relationships explaining perceived conflict in franchise relationships from a franchisee perspective. Our research contributes to the current knowledge of asymmetric exchange relationships through demonstrating the importance of a franchisee's expectations confirmation, relational trust and relationship satisfaction in franchisee assessments of network conflict. The goal of this paper is to empirically examine (1) the relationship between franchisee perceptions of information quality (information dissemination and information search) and the confirmation of franchisee performance expectations, (2) franchisee characterizations of their relationships with their franchisors in terms of relational sentiments such as trust and relational satisfaction, communication and conflict management, (3) the relationship between franchisee satisfaction and perceived conflict, and (4) the moderating effect of franchisee experience on the relationship between franchisee satisfaction and franchisee perceptions of conflict. Empirical results, utilizing a sample of 345 franchisees in Australia, present strong evidence for the support of nine of the ten hypotheses drawn from the conceptual model. Specifically, data reveal that in an effort to cultivate a network of cooperative and satisfied franchisees, franchisors should adopt strategies that promote the timely dissemination of relevant and meaningful pre- and post-entry information, open communication exchange, transparent conflict management systems and personalized support in accommodating individual franchisee needs.

More...

Does multinational ownership affect firm survival in Italy?

Author(s): Anna Maria Ferragina,Rosanna Pittiglio,Filippo Reganati / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2014

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether and how multinational status and foreign ownership affect the survival of Italian manufacturing and service firms. To this end, we analyze firm survival by distinguishing Italian firms as foreign multinationals (FMNEs) domestic multinationals (DMNEs) or domestic non-multinational firms (NMNEs). The empirical analysis is based on the Kaplan-Meier survival estimator and on the Cox proportional hazard model, in which we look for the impact of ownership dummies on firm survival, controlling for several firm and industry specific covariates. Our findings reveal that manufacturing and service firms owned by foreign multinationals are more likely to exit the market than either DMNEs or NMNEs. Moreover, DMNEs show a higher chance of survival in services. By decomposing firm activities into different technological classes, we also find that foreign ownership still exerts a negative influence on firm survival in both static and dynamic industries, while domestic multinationals in less-knowledge-intensive services appear more persistent.

More...

Organizational slack effects on innovation: the moderating roles of CEO tenure and compensation

Author(s): Fariss-Terry Mousa,Jaideep Chowdhury / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2014

This study draws on upper echelons theory, the resource based view, and Penrose's theory of firm growth to show that slack resources, specifically financial and human slack, are essential to the research and development (R&D) strategies of organizations. We also suggest that both Chief Executive Officer (CEO) tenure and CEO compensation positively moderate the slack-innovation relationship.The empirical design compromised of panel regression analysis. We tested our hypotheses using all US publicly traded firms between 1993 and 2011.The research results show that firms with excess financial resources are more likely to have higher R&D investments, and to completely understand this relationship we must study CEO tenure and compensation.This study sheds light on central antecedents of firm innovation, it further extends our understanding by investigating the impact of CEO tenure and compensation on the slackinnovation relationship, and it applies a longitudinal design which answers previous calls to investigate this topic in more depth by offering enhanced stability to the results while allowing for different economic scenarios.

More...

Coalition or decentralization: a game-theoretic analysis of a three-echelon supply chain network

Author(s): Hannan Amoozad Mahdiraji,Kannan Govindan,Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas,Seyed Hossein Razavi Hajiagha / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

Supply chains have become the major and dominant paradigm of business and competition. The main challenge is how to act in multi-echelon supply chains considering the levels involved. Making a choice independently or integrating with some or all levels will be a critical decision, and therefore affects the overall profit of the chain. This article proposes a non-cooperative game theory approach to helping in making a better decision in the supply chain and gaining the most accessible benefit. Our research considers unlimited three-echelon supply chains with S suppliers, M manufacturers and K retailers. The Nash equilibrium and definition are used bearing in mind inventory and pricing and marketing cost as decision variables for this matter. This paper studies a three-echelon supply chain network and focuses on the value of integrating a pair of partners in the chain. In the decentralized case, the supplier sets its own price, the manufacturer points out order quantity, wholesale price and backorder quantity, and the retailer charges the final retail price of the product and marketing product. Though there are multiple players at a single echelon level, each manufacturer supplies only a specific product to a given retailer. In addition to the decentralized case, two integration scenarios have been taken into account: manufacturer-retailer and supplier-manufacturer. As for manufacturer-retailer integration, inventory/holding cost issues diminish to a single warehouse and the retailer does not have to enforce marketing effort any more. Supplier-manufacturer integration brings similar benefits. Under each scenario, all parties involved simultaneously set their strategies. Through a numerical experiment, 17 design cases (through designing experiments) have been developed and the total profit of the supply chain under each scenario has been evaluated. Statistical tests on the above introduced 17 experiments have found that the decentralized system performs significantly worse than the integration of the supplier with the manufacturer, whereas no significant difference can be observed regarding other combinations.

More...

A hybrid multiple criteria decision-making model for investment decision making

Author(s): Li-Chang Hsu / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

Investments are accompanied by risks. How investors choose the right investment tools to assist in the selection of investment targets is a topic worth exploring. Therefore, this study aimed to develop an investment decision-making process to deal with this issue. Firstly, we proposed a globalized modified grey relational analysis to select the representative indicators including the financial indicators and risk measurement indicators. Then we combined financial and risk evaluation indicators, and divided companies into low, moderate and high-risk groups through the grey clustering analysis. Finally, Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) combined with the grey entropy weighting method was applied to business performance evaluation and sorting of each grouping. In order to verify this study, a combination of 21 financial ratios and four risk indicators was utilized in order to verify the evaluation and decision-making process in the operating performance of 62 listed opto-electronics companies in Taiwan. The results of ranking the operating performance for each group can be made available to company managers as a reference in order to enhance competitiveness and business performance. The results can also be used as the basis for decision-making to aid investors who are facing many investment portfolios.

More...

Strategic reference points, risk and strategic choices in small and medium-sized enterprises

Author(s): Ana María García-Pérez,Vanessa Yanes-Estévez,Juan Ramón Oreja-Rodríguez / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

This article presents a realistic view of the strategic process in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study integrates prospect theory and strategic reference point theory: strategic choices depend on how the decision maker perceives the situation in relation to the reference and the risk being taken. Applying Rasch models to a sample of firms in the Canary Islands (Spain), the results show that SMEs that are more influenced by external references take higher risks. These enterprises differ in their strategic choices from those that do not focus on external references in the greater importance they attach to market diversification. This study is pioneer in considering the internal and external dimension of references that SME managers have in mind and linking them, via prospect theory (Kahneman, Tversky 1979), to the risk they take in their strategic choices. It also has the added value of applying Rasch Measurement Theory.For managers, the study of the SRPs shows a large number of enterprises with a more internal than external view. Thus, the need for rethinking their SRPs and for designing a greater market orientation of firms in the service sector is worth highlighting.There are also important implications for the public administration and institutions. They should emphasize the promotion of cooperation among enterprises to increase their external orientation and then, the importance of external SRPs. Training, financial and organizational support could be some of the strategies that ought to be implemented.

More...

Choquet integrals of weighted triangular fuzzy linguistic information and their applications to multiple attribute decision making

Author(s): Rui Lina,Guiwu Wei,Hongjum Wang,Xiaofei Zhao / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2014

We investigate the multiple attribute decision making problems in which attribute values take the form of triangular fuzzy linguistic information. Firstly, the definition and some operational laws of triangular fuzzy linguistic are introduced. Then, we have developed three fuzzy linguistic Choquet integral aggregation operators: fuzzy linguistic choquet ordered averaging operator, fuzzy linguistic choquet ordered geometric operator and fuzzy linguistic choquet ordered harmonic mean operator. The prominent characteristic of the operators is that they cannot only consider the importance of the elements or their ordered positions, but also reflect the correlation among the elements or their ordered positions. We have studied some desirable properties of these operators, such as commutativity, idempotency and monotonicity, and applied these operators to multiple attribute decision making with triangular fuzzy linguistic information. Finally an illustrative example has been given to show the developed method.

More...

A structural analysis of the EFQM model: an assessment of the mediating role of process management

Author(s): Eva Suárez,José L. Roldán,Arturo Calvo-Mora / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2014

The purpose of this paper is to research how the critical total quality management (TQM) factors present in the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model make up a management system. This article presents a significant contribution to the current body of TQM by establishing the model's internal working structure as a management system and also by showing how the way in which the organization designs and starts up this system has a bearing on its results. The methodology used is structural equation modeling (Partial Least Squares technique). The sample consisted of 116 firms. Our findings show that: (1) the EFQM model is a reliable and valid framework to measure the results achieved by the firm; (2) The synergies between the critical factors make up a management system, especially, the importance of leadership, strategy and processes for the system's effectiveness and soundness; (3) The obtaining of a measure of the overall results. This allows us to have an overall indicator of the level of excellence attained by the firm; (4) The process management fully mediates the influence of strategy, and alliances and resources management respectively on overall results.

More...

Alignment of business and information strategies and its impact on business performance

Author(s): Björn Johansson,František Sudzina,Andreja Pucihar / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2014

Alignment between business strategy and information strategy has been focused on for several years with research suggesting different explanations to how this alignment influences a firm's performance. This article presents results from an investigation of firms in Slovenia about how business people perceived their business strategy and information strategy to be aligned. Respondents’ statements from the questionnaire survey on their perceived alignment between business strategy and information strategy were checked against the firms’ revenue growth. The analysis of perceived alignment between business strategy, information strategy, and revenue growth shows that there is a significant relationship between alignment and revenue growth in Slovenia, and this link is positive. Managers should aim to align business and information strategies in order to achieve better business performance.

More...

Identifying temporal relationships within multidimensional performance measurement

Author(s): Sergeja Slapničar,Adriana Rejc Buhovac / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2014

The paper investigates temporal relationships between leading drivers of success, non-financial outputs, and financial outcomes as suggested by the Balanced Scorecard. Based on a sample of 42 companies with a four-year survey data, we find partial confirmation of temporal causality between selected actions and performance. The effects of the leading variables on the non-financial outputs are the strongest in the same year. Also, the influence of innovation and HR policies via the number of patented innovations and new products (services) on profit growth is the strongest within one year. These findings have important implications for the design of cause-and-effect relationships schemes (strategy maps) and the development of contemporary performance measurement systems.

More...

Factors driving turnover and retention of information technology professionals

Author(s): Renata Korsakienė,Asta Stankevičienė,Agnė Šimelytė,Milda Talačkienė / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

Taking into consideration turnover phenomenon and retention issues, the purpose of the paper is to reveal the employee perceptions on organisational and job-related factors impacting decisions to leave and to stay with the current employer. Based on theoretical discussion related to voluntary turnover and retention of employees, the research instrument was developed. A total of 143 responses were collected from employees working in private IT companies of Lithuania. The results revealed that base pay and challenging work content were perceived as the most important employment characteristics. Turnover prediction models disclose turnover intentions of project managers, which can be explained by participation in strategy development, support of top managers and negative perception of the base pay. Meanwhile, turnover intensions of heads of departments/ high level managers can be explained by negative associations with performance incentives/ bonuses, career opportunities and working conditions. The findings of the paper let us to develop theoretical insights and provide manager recommendations leading to the retention of information technology professionals.

More...

Evolutionary patterns and development prospects for e-government: a Delphi-based approach to perceptions of the administrative agent

Author(s): Fernando A. F. Ferreira,Carla S. E. Marques,Melanie M. Reis,Neuza C. M. Q. F. Ferreira,Amali Çipi / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

Information technology is an open door for governments to service citizens in a more timely, cost-efficient and effective manner. Even considering citizen resistance, cultural adversity or changes in the economic agents’ relationship, few would contest that concern over the state of electronic government (e-government) has increased over the years. This concern has been responsible for the emergence of a wide range of new initiatives devoted to development of the information and knowledge society, which occupies a central place in government policies and planning strategies worldwide. In this paper, we aim to analyze the evolutionary patterns of e-government in Portugal and, based on an application of the Delphi technique, provide development prospects considering the perceptions of a panel of administrative agents. Despite the low use of e-government services, our study demonstrates that the administrative agent expresses overall satisfaction with its use. Additionally, the high level of modernization allows us to forecast the increased use of information and communication technologies in terms of e-government services.

More...

Impacts of social capital on transformation from efficiency to innovation-driven business

Author(s): Mindaugas Laužikas,Simona Dailydaitė / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The present article is focused on impacts of social capital on transformation from efficiency to innovation-driven business. Such aspects of social capital as social relations, usage of human capital in innovation processes, expertise in market analysis are often ignored by entrepreneurs. The research purpose is to analyse the relation between social capital and transformation from efficiency to innovation-driven business. Main aspects of this relation are revealed by interpreting findings of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), which is to examine how different factors encourage economic development globally via entrepreneurship. Relying on a solid GEM methodology, which combines quantitative adult survey and qualitative expert interviews, various transformation problems of catching-up countries are analysed while paying a special attention to effects of social capital and illustrating them by the case of Lithuania. The role of human capital is measured by such factors as anticipated growth of headcount within respondents’ firms; social relations refer to social image of entrepreneurs (as it is impossible to have a strong social image without good social relations with stakeholders), while information/ knowledge diffusion is analysed via such effects as a number of companies that deliver innovative products and/or services, a number of customers who appreciate and want to try innovative products and/or services as well as a number of expected competitors in the market (it is impossible to be innovative and competitive in the market without information/ feedback collection system established).

More...

A new institutional economic theory of project management

Author(s): Ping Yung / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The theories of project management are not well developed despite the existence of extensive literature on the topic. This paper derives a New Institutional Economic theory of project management. It is suggested that project management encompasses both the discipline of operational management and that of economics. The operational management part deals with optimization of project processes. The basic postulation of the economic part is that human beings will maximize their benefits under constraints. Constraints are converted to either price or cost to facilitate the application of the law of demand. Three examples are used to demonstrate how refutable hypotheses can be derived when changes in constraints lead to changes in behaviours. The functions of project management are discussed in the contexts of this theoretical framework. A synthesis with existing theories is also given.

More...

Innovative application of contemporary management methods in a knowledge-based economy – interdisciplinarity in science

Author(s): Joanna Ejdys,Leonas Ustinovičius,Jelena Stankevičienė / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

Interdisciplinarity, which is a part of the research paradigm in all fields of science, constitutes a real challenge in research. It manifests itself particularly in the diversity of the undertaken research topics, in the variety of the adopted research approaches (theoretical, methodological, normative, empirical-descriptive), and in the flexibility and the ability to see both the scientific problems as well as the economic and social needs. The ability to cross the boundaries between the fields of technical and social sciences, to identify problems and to seek solutions at the frontiers of scientific disciplines, the eagerness to work in research teams diverse in terms of competence, age and skills, creating conditions for both the personal development and that of individual team members, breaking the stereotypical ways of thinking in the process of solving problems and anticipating future events are all features of an academic culture nurtured by Professor Joanicjusz Nazarko. The paper highlights the research of Professor Joanicjusz Nazarko, presents a review of his extensive scientific work and lists some of his publications.

More...

Study on the Financial Performance of Companies operating in the Pharmaceutical Industry in Romania

Author(s): Nicolae Balteş,Minculete Piko Georgiana Daciana / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

The study aims at determining the financial performance of companies in the pharmaceutical industry between 2009 and 2014 by means of the indicator of the financial return rate, using multiple linear re-gressions as research method. By analysing the evolution of the share of companies in the phar-maceutical industry based on the trend of the financial rate of return, we can estimate that the num-ber of entities that resort to supporting the financial activities from loans and liabilities is growing in the period under analysis. This is due mainly to the liquidity crisis faced by entities, as a result of the high recovery duration of debts. Also, using the multiple linear regression we can highlight that, the financial return of pharmaceutical companies is positively influenced by their economic profitability, by the equi-ty multiplier and by inflation, and negatively, by the net profit margin.

More...

Measuring Methods of the Corporate Competitiveness, and those Weaknesses

Author(s): Tunde Orsolya Nagy,Eva Darabos,Istvan Labas / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

This research was carried out with the aim of giving the reader an overview of different conceptual approaches of the competitiveness. It particularly deals with the competitiveness according to the “practical” approach, “environmental/system” approach, “capital reorganisation” approach and with the widely accepted closed definitions of competitiveness. To determine the components of competi-tiveness according to different aspects, to assess some empirical examinations regarding the analysis of the aforementioned aspects as well as to present the results of an own primer research are also important parts of the article.

More...

Understanding the Relationship between Organizational Networking and Network Capability

Author(s): Raul Alexandru Hutu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

Organizational networking refers to firms‘ behaviours as activities, routines, practices which enable an organization to make sense of and capitalize on their networks of direct and indirect business relation-ships. The relationships are more important today when the business environment is more competi-tive. The firms can develop their organizational networking strategies by developing their network ca-pability which refers to its ability to build, handle and exploit relationships. These capabilities are in-cluded in a complex configuration with other capabilities and competencies. The aim of this paper is to explore how network capabilities are structured and we tried to understand how they could be im-proved in order to obtain higher performance. Achieving a good network position that allows firms to make use of business opportunities is a main strategic aim of firms.

More...