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CAS Newsletter 2020/2021
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This paper introduces a new genre of Chinese online propaganda about the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) that we call personalized propaganda. It takes the shape of personal vlogs and short videos by young minority people showing their lives and debating political topics in line with the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The paper describes and contextualizes this phenomenon and argues that, unlike what the videos seek to portray, these political influencers are supported and coordinated by the government while also deriving much incentive from the private market of media platforms that help turn such videos into business opportunities. We see the phenomenon of personalized propaganda as a synthesis of state propaganda, social media, the gig economy, and the commercialization of personal space. The videos analyzed for this paper are similar to those of other young vloggers and influencers using social media platforms to earn money in China and elsewhere. What is special about them is their explicit political content and close alignment with CCP narratives and that they are produced by young minority people in Xinjiang at a time when the region is under massive pressure from the government and security apparatus. Based on an analysis of seven ethnic minority vlogger accounts with a total of over 2,000 videos, their videos and the personal interconnectedness of the vloggers in question, we argue that these schemes of personalized propaganda are likely to have been started by state-sponsored programs that subsequently help facilitate commercial success on social media platforms. We also hope to make a contribution to the establishment of an epistemological frame and an analytical set of tools for the online ethnography of places with limited access, high surveillance and securitization.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected advertising communication. One of its effects was a clear reference to the new situation in the content of advertising messages, which can be observed, among others, in banks’ advertisements. In uncertain times the veracity of the message has become particularly important. It consists of, among others, the veracious character. The aim of this article is to characterize the functioning of this type of character in advertising messages of 10 the most significant banks in Poland, which were published on their YouTube channels during the first stage of the pandemic.
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The COVID-19 pandemic was a socially significant event, but its effects and impact were also noticeable in the media world. Although various epidemics have been recorded over the years, today's one has a special character due to the fact that its effects were also noticeable in the media space, which also had an impact on the society. Today's times are characterized by highly developed technology, and the media - known as the fourth power - play a significant role in them. They also play an essential role in the context of a pandemic - primarily in connection with the flow of information on diseases or actions taken in response to the current epidemiological situation. Unfortunately, this is not only a service role, as not all messages can be considered credible. Moreover, some information is extremely harmful. The problem of fake messages is especially noticeable and, at the same time, the most disturbing one in the Internet due to the fact that all kinds of information spread very quickly in it. In this study, the authors outlined the role of fake news in the era of the coronavirus pandemic, including the definition of fake news, the ethical aspect, as well as examples with a description. The study is an overview and describes the areas affected by fake news and its consequences.
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Fake news are information, messages or entries that provide false or distorted data. Their main purpose is to mislead the audience, cause feelings of shock and disbelief, and cause controversy. The aim of the study is to identify methods of qualitative analysis of (dis)information that can be used to study the anatomy of fake news. A set of selected information collected from various sources was analyzed, including from Twitter. The results of the study allow for the identification of the characteristic features of false information and are able to aid faster detection of fake news.
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[angielski] The article aims to analyse the operation Cedar Falls (8 to 26 January 1967) propaganda image based on American, North Vietnamese and Polish materials. Cedar Falls was the largest offensive since of the begging of the Vietnam War, engaging nearly 30 000 US and South Vietnamese soldiers. In the after action reports, the Operation was considered a significant success. Therefore, it is not surprising that due to its scale and course, it has become an object of propaganda. In the article, I discuss, and analyse its image in the materials mentioned above and show similarities and differences between them. I examine whether the propaganda representation of this Offensive in polish “Trybuna Ludu” is different from the one shown in the North Vietnamese materials taking into account that both of these countries belonged to the same Cold War bloc. Analyse to what extent the propaganda image of this Operation, at respective sides, is consistent with the actual course of events and why and how certain elements have been changed. The specific motives of each material are worth of emphasizing. In the "Trybuna Ludu" to merge Operation Cedar Falls and the unsuccessful operation Deckhouse V carried out almost at the same time in the Mekong Delta, trying to extend the failure of the latter to Cedar Falls. Trybuna” has written about the displacement of refugees from the Iron Triangle to concentration camps, thus connecting Americans in Vietnam with Germans during WW II. American materials attempts to emphasize humanitarianism, allegedly unique on a historical scale, towards the inhabitants of the Iron Triangle. Vietnamese communist propaganda significantly overestimated of the losses of Americans in the Operation and accuses them of using chemical weapons in the form of toxic gases.
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Jozef Pilsudski, who was undoubtedly the most famous Polish figure of the 20th interwar period, had as many supporters behind him as he had enemies against him. The purpose of this paper is to bring to light the issue of propaganda concerning Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, which was a permanent feature of the Polish press, often finding its way into the foreign press as well. The analysis is based on the history of the image of Jozef Pilsudski over the years, which was associated with the events of the time. The paper also focuses on the key, from a legal point of view, the Law on the Protection of the Name of Józef Piłsudski - interpreting the provisions, objectives and further history of its validity and legal legacy. The result of the work in question is to present the scale of caricature and propaganda concerning the Marshal of Poland, to provide an overview of the history and consequences of legal actions directed at a specific single individual, and to examine and present possible legal analogies in Polish law.
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In the context of the growing scale of indoctrination of the young generation in Russia, manifested by the fascination of Vladimir Putin, the case study of Sergei Polunin (Sergei Polunin), a world-famous ballet dancer born in 1989 in Kherson (Ukraine) and a declared supporter of Putin, takes on a special dimension. The tattoo showing the face of the Russian leader (placed right next to the heart, on the chest), which Polunin decided to make in 2018, became an open manifestation of the artist’s views. After Russia's invasion on Ukraine, and even after the aggressor entered his hometown, the dancer did not react, did not declare, and did not even issue a binding short comment. The case of a ballet soloist provokes further questions in the course of the critical discourse on the art of dance - can ballet be a “commercial, advertising product”? In what language does this choreography appeal to the audience? And finally, can its artistry serve propaganda? While analyzing the process of cultural transmission from a historical perspective, a clear tendency to proclaim specific ideas through choreography might be noticed.
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The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 is unquestionably one of the greatest challenges the world has ever faced. Aside from the terrible repercussions for human health, the current situation with COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all economies across the globe. Based on scientific literature, publicly available data and analytical reports, this paper will try to identify the changes in innovations potential of certain countries caused by the current pandemic. Observing the indicators of the Global Innovation Index (GII), comparative analysis will show how much has the pandemic affected the innovation capacity of the chosen countries and indicate the differences among them. Furthermore, the paper aims to research and to perceive the importance of undertaking innovations and R&D activities in crises such as the spread of coronavirus.
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Due to the fast-changing environment caused by the impact of the pandemic, a response to companies’ behavior is inevitable. These pandemic crisis scenario triggers searching for changes, adjustment, and adaptation of business models to seek new opportunities for competitive advantage. Therefore, the paper aims to analyze, identify and evaluate the impact of a pandemic on a firm´s business model, specifically to changes in its business elements. The research methodology applies a statistical apparatus mainly the Mann-Whitney U test, using the econometric software EViews for identifying the significance of individual business model elements within national economy sectors and branches before the pandemic and the current post-pandemic crisis. Data were obtained from 173 Czech and Slovak companies’ owners (executives). The findings represent the perception and view of businesses on the current post-pandemic crisis and their priorities changes in specific elements of business model.
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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute significantly to the European GDP and have a pivotal role in the ecological transition from linear to a circular economy (CE). SMEs, however, have more trouble than bigger firms making their business models circular. This article analyses the key factors that SMEs should manage for a strategic transition towards CE. Based on qualitative content analysis on the existing literature about CE in SMEs, we identify governance, relations with stakeholders and innovation as CE key pillars. It is also found that SMEs’ attitude toward them changes during the transition process. The article contributes to filling a gap in the re search about SMEs’ transition towards circularity and provides a conceptual framework for SMEs’ self-assessment in the transition path.
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Digitization in enterprises enables the application of artificial intel ligence, especially machine learning. One area of use for artificial intelligence is in the creation of an insolvency forecast for companies. With a literature re view, the current status on the usage of artificial intelligence in insolvency fore casting is presented. For this purpose, the two databases Scopus and Web of Science are searched for scientific papers on the topic of artificial intelligence and corporate insolvencies to get an up-to-date impression of the status quo. A particular focus is placed on small and medium-sized companies. It is shown that artificial intelligence methods provide better results compared to classical methods. The research reveals that the most important algorithms related to the prediction of potential corporate insolvency are artificial neural networks, decision trees and support vector machines as well as hybrid models.
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The purpose of this paper is to identify the effects caused by COVID-19 on the economic performance of Italian small businesses in the year 2020, with particular regard to the relationships between the determining variables of the operational management profitability. This survey can be useful in guiding the management of the firm, since it allows to intercept the management areas characterized by greater fragility which, as such, must be subjected to closer monitoring. The research considered a sample of 322 small Italian companies. To identify the impact caused by the pandemic on the performance of the selected sample, the research used a Pearson correlation analysis applied to the main variables of the operating area and ob served the five years 2016-2020 in order to understand the main variations that occurred in 2020 compared to previous years. The research showed that in 2020 the core business suffered a general loss of elasticity demonstrated by the presence of a significant reduction in the correlation between revenues and production costs (raw materials, services, employees and de preciation). The lower reactivity of costs to changes in revenues contributed to the sharp erosion of the net income of the companies in the sample.
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The situation at the time of the pandemic COVID-19 and after wards posed great challenges for companies as they had to adjust to a “new normal”. This situation posed a challenge to the use of internal communication channels, employee engagement and satisfaction with the company. It is argued that the use of internal communication channels is an important factor in increasing employee engagement and satisfaction with the company. The study aimed to investigate the use of communication channels and their impact on employees’ satisfaction with their jobs, the meaning fulness of their work and their commitment to their company during the crisis COVID-19. An explorative qualitative and qualitative research approach was used to determine the use of communication channels and employee engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic and afterwards by Slovenian employees. The results of the statistical analysis show that there is a significant relationship between the use of communication channels and the satisfaction level of Slovenian employees. Finally, suggestions are made for organisational communication strategies in times of the pandemic.
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The topic of emotional intelligence has attracted considerable interest from both academics and practitioners. Emotionally intelligent leaders have the ability to express, understand and regulate their own as well as others’ emotions. Previous evidence suggests that emotionally intelligent leaders play a crucial role in encouraging employees to perform at their best at work, which in turn can improve the financial performance of the organization. Still, there is little empirical evidence to support these claims from developing countries. Therefore, the research question of this paper is: Which of the leaders’ emotional competencies are required for outstanding financial performance of the organization? In this study, emotional competencies are analyzed through the self-awareness and self-management clusters. This study proposed and tested the relationship between managers’ emotional competencies and an organization’s financial performances, such as growth in profits, profitability, return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). Empirical data were obtained via a questionnaire survey involving 300 employees from 80 organizations in the Republic of Serbia. The methodology used in the study is a well-known ESCI questionnaire. The findings revealed a weak positive correlation among emotional self-awareness, aspiration for success and adaptability as emotional intelligence competencies and financial performances, whereas emotional self-control and optimism did not have any statistically significant relationship with financial performances. The results provide implications regarding the development of emotionally intelligent leaders, supporting emotional competence at the organizations.
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Human Resources Management is an important function of organizational management. The way an organization uses its human resources for the development and implementation of its strategies can strongly affect its performance. Human Resources Management (HRM) in the context of a market economy is still a new concept in Albania. About thirty years after the transition from a centralized economy towards a free-market economy, the job relations in Albania are undergoing important changes; therefore, businesses should be able to successfully face the fast development of technology, globalization effects, and the need to have an efficient and effective labour force to fulfill, in the best way possible, the economic objectives. The role of the HR department is crucial towards such achievements; however, this role and its potential towards organization success is not fully appreciated by the Albanian private sector companies and often the HR department is not existent, or its role is vague. This paper uses literature review and quantitative research to analyse the role of the HR department as a key function of organizational management and to explore the extent of HR department presence in the big companies in Albania, in the view of ownership and type of business activity
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The article deals with customer e-loyalty. The main objective of the research was to investigate customer buying behaviour, hence customer e-loyalty in e-commerce, and the implications of this for e-shops. Specifically, it concerns how customers behave at e-shops, how often they buy from the e-shops and what kind of revenue they bring to the e-shops. First, the theoretical background of the research is presented, based on some studies. The theoretical discussion proceeds from the broader context of loyalty. The core of the theory is e-loyalty. Secondary research and its results are then characterized. The subject of the research is the analysis of empirical e-shop data related to the manifestations of behavioural e-loyalty. Indicators in forming about the proportion of loyal customers on the main variables of interest, concerning the total number of all customers, the number of visits to the e-shop, the number of transactions and the sales volume, were evaluated. Also, the subject of the research is a company operating e-shops in selected countries and its customers. The research covers a total of 13,418 customers. The results obtained contradict the claims of some authors that e-loyalty is one of the key factors for the success of e-shops and that e-loyal customers generate a substantial part of the volume of purchases and sales.
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The main goal of this paper is to assess labour productivity in the Croatian hotel industry. The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of productivity of employees in the hotel industry in order to improve the performance of the Croatian hotel industry. In order to achieve the goal and purpose of this research, many scientific methods have been applied, of which the survey method (N = 452), descriptive statistics methods and cluster analysis methods have been singled out. The main finding of this paper suggests that every other employee in the hotel industry shows a low level of labour productivity
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In this article, the authors are examining the application opportunities of artificial intelligence in the material handling industry. A structured literature review with the help of a mapping study is being conducted in the study to show how the material handling industry can benefit from the implementation of artificial intelligence. The paper will demonstrate how artificial intelligence can assist in transforming material handling processes from manual to autonomous operations impacting greatly the overall efficiency and effectiveness of different industries. The paper is using the Scopus and Science Direct databases to show what are the advantages and the constraints based on the selected articles.
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