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Acta polytechnica HungaricaVolume 9, Issue No. 3 (2012.)

Tartalom

Tematikus cím:Special Issue on Management, Enterprise and Benchmarking - Guest Editor: György Kadocsa
  • Janko Belak ,
    Mojca Duh :
    Integral Management: Key Success Factors in the MER Model5-26en [415.07 kB - PDF]EPA-02461-00035-0010

    Abstract: Even though management evolution has been described differently in the literature, many authors agree that in the last two decades we can observe the development of integral management. Many models of integral management have been developed during these years. One of them is the MER Model of integral management, the beginnings of which date back to the years 1992 and 1993. The model has been changed recently. Major changes introduced in the renewed model regard the enterprises’ success factors. Some new key success factors were added in the MER model based on new scientific cognitions as well as taking into consideration new developments in the socio-political and economic environment. In this contribution we present the most important features of the renewed model with more detailed explanation of key success factors.

    Keywords: integral management; MER Model of integral management; success factor; culture; philosophy; ethics; credibility; entrepreneurship; synergy; ecology; compatibility; efficiency; competitiveness

  • Hadľić Miroljub ,
    Pavlović Petar :
    Serbian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Times of Crisis45-64en [319.80 kB - PDF]EPA-02461-00035-0030

    Abstract: Over the previous decade SMEs have become an important agent in the Serbian economy. Although they have made encouraging development achievements, due to a belated transition process, SMEs in Serbia are well behind other transition economies and the EU, especially with respect to efficiency. During the global economic crisis, small and medium-sized enterprises have suffered as much as other companies have. In 2010, micro and small enterprises started to recover by moving their activities to less risky businesses while medium-sized enterprises fell in number and saw declining employment as they were less adaptive to new, tougher circumstances. This affected the intensity of the recovery of the entire SME sector. It is also important to note that in 2010 and 2011 for the first time in the transition period the number of shops closed was larger than the number of shops established. After the initial signs of economic recovery were registered in mid-2010, since the second half of 2011 there has been widespread fear of the so-called W effect, e.g. the recurrence of recession (induced by the recession in the EU). The SMEs are critically important for economic recovery. In the future, the SME support policy should be focused on: a) the enhancement of competitiveness, and b) innovation development. Only with more efficient small and medium-sized enterprises will the Serbian economy have better prospects in the global market.

    Keywords: recession; support policy; innovation; competitiveness

  • Dejan ©abić ,
    Sneľana Vujadinović ,
    Miroljub Milinčić ,
    Rajko Golić ,
    Sanja Stojković ,
    Marko Joksimović ,
    Dejan Filipović ,
    Velimir ©ećerov ,
    Dejana Dimitrijević :

    Abstract: Our study analyzes the transition period of Serbia from a centrally planned to a market economy with a special view to the political, social and economic conditions during the 1990s, and the economic circumstances after the ‘democratic revolution’ through the inflow of FDI, GDP, GDP per capita, GDP growth rate, exports, imports, trade balance, and unemployment rate. The economic decline in the 1990s was a consequence of war, international sanctions and mismanagement of economic policy. Serbia witnessed one of the greatest hyperinflations in modern history. With the purpose of creating the conditions for an inflow of FDI, economic reforms started in 2000 in Serbia. Since the ‘democratic revolution’, most FDI has entered the sector of non-exchangeable goods. That has had negative effects on Serbia from the development viewpoint, since the country needs FDI to the sector of exchangeable goods, as they encourage productivity and technological progress. Foreign investors to Serbia were primarily interested in profiting from the privatization of former state-owned companies. The benefits that Serbia has had from the inflow of FDI since 2000 relate to significant transfer of technology, enhancement of competition on the local market, the training of employees, etc.

    Keywords: transition period; democratic revolution; economic policy; FDI; Serbia

  • Ąubica Lesáková :
    The Role of Business Incubators in Supporting the SME Start-up85-95en [323.81 kB - PDF]EPA-02461-00035-0050

    Abstract: A range of factors determining the extent and success of entrepreneurship have a local dimension: they are either strongly affected by local phenomena and/or they are best supported by initiatives conceived and implemented locally. Entrepreneurship can be locally fostered through business incubators. The role of business incubators is to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and managed by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts. The main aim of the article is to present the role of incubators as a means of supporting the small and medium enterprises. The article is divided into three parts. In the first part is presented the core of incubators, incubator types and goals. In the second part is explained the role of business incubators in fostering local dimension of entrepreneurship. In third part of the article we describe the building of business incubators in Slovakia and their role as a means of helping to start entrepreneurship as well as of helping to support technologically oriented SMEs in Slovakia. The paper was elaborated as a part of VEGA project 1/0654/11, “Innovative small and medium enterprises as a part of knowledge based economy in Slovakia”.

    Keywords: incubator; small and medium enterprises; start-up; types of incubators; business incubator; technological incubator; virtual incubator; role of business incubator

  • Walter Ruda ,
    Thomas A. Martin ,
    Wolfgang Arnold ,
    Benjamin Danko :

    Abstract: This paper comes along with the international research project “Foundation and Entrepreneurship of Students“ (GESt-study) which aims to analyze target group differentiated start-up propensities and entrepreneurship characteristics of students in diverse countries to derive demand-oriented recommended actions for an appropriate conceptualization of entrepreneurship education and support. The results of this country comparison illustrate that the students in Russia show higher start-up propensities and usually deal stronger with entrepreneurship than the students surveyed in Germany. However, this stronger motivation in Russia to create start-ups is based on economic necessity, which often does not depend on innovative business ideas. In contrast, the students questioned in Germany recognize coaching and consulting as more important start-up support than their fellows from Russia – leading one to assume that they stand in later phases of the start-up process and intend more complex and challenging business ideas. Furthermore, the students in Germany regard their own financial risk and fear of failure as higher start-up barriers, whereas their Russian fellows lack stronger entrepreneurial qualifications. Altogether, both student groups should be imparted particularly start-up specific basic knowledge as well as entrepreneurial skills during the whole their studies and on the basis of an interdisciplinary approach.

    Keywords: entrepreneurship; business start-up propensity; students; Russia; Germany

  • Goran Andjelic ,
    Vladimir Djakovic :

    Abstract: This paper tests and analyses the interdependence of financial markets in the transition economies of Serbia, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as the similarity of these markets with the US financial market. The source of information is the data obtained from the financial markets of these countries in the form of stock-market indices for the period 05.10.2005-30.09.2011. The main hypothesis to be tested in the work is the assumption that there is a significant level of similarity between these financial markets. The methodology used in the study includes statistical methods of sampling and factor analysis. The research results confirm the hypothesis, which was tested in the work, that there are significant levels of similarity between the financial markets of transition economies, both among each other and with the US market.

    Keywords: financial markets; transition economies; stock exchange; stock-market indices

  • Petra Benedek :

    Abstract: Accounting failures at Enron and others have raised the question of adequate internal controls. The current global economic crisis has increased the public and legislative focus on accountability, transparency, risk management and compliance with laws and regulations. Organizations seek efficient and effective mechanisms to ensure keeping up with challenging legal requirements. This paper will facilitate the understanding of how corporations can improve their compliance by the setup of a compliance program (including design, implementation and evaluation). Basic compliance initiatives prevent legal misbehavior, complex programs extend to areas like customer satisfaction, public reputation, transparency, ethical behavior, organizational structure and risk management. Compliance in practice is a complex issue that requires interdisciplinary research since it lies on the borderline of law, finance, risk management and operations management. This paper proposes a variety of compliance related research hypothesis.

    Keywords: compliance management; compliance function; compliance and ethics; risk management

  • Katalin Dobrai ,
    Ferenc Farkas ,
    Zsuzsa Karoliny ,
    József Poór :
    Knowledge Transfer in Multinational Companies – Evidence from Hungary149-161en [355.27 kB - PDF]EPA-02461-00035-0090

    Abstract: The article has the aim to contribute to the understanding of knowledge transfer features of multinational organizations. The framework for the research is provided by the Central and Eastern European International Research Team (CEEIRT), which consists of researchers from universities in Central and Eastern Europe and which is studying the changing human resource management practices in this region. The paper first analyses some of the critical issues of knowledge transfer at multinational companies, based on international human resource management research. After the review of literature, knowledge sharing is studied with the help of a research project conducted with the participation of the authors of this paper. Using data on 74 Hungarian subsidiaries of multinational enterprises, this paper analyses knowledge transfer aspects in the HR practice and compares them with international research results. It finds that Hungarian subsidiaries are important places of HR-related learning, the success of which is highly dependent on the ability and on the motivation of people to knowledge transfer.

    Keywords: knowledge transfer; subsidiaries of multinational companies; reverse knowledge transfer; Hungary

  • Zoltán Bokor :
    Integrating Logistics Cost Calculation into Production Costing163-181en [461.32 kB - PDF]EPA-02461-00035-0100

    Abstract: Production costing is a well developed area of cost management. There are several applications reported which make use of the up-to-date costing methods like activity-based costing. Nevertheless, research in product cost calculation has paid limited attention to logistics costing so far. This paper aims to investigate how logistics cost calculation can be integrated into production costing. The methodology applied relies on the multi-level indirect cost allocation technique as it corresponds to the nature of logistics costs appearing in production systems. The proposed costing model is tested by a numerical example. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that the integration of logistics functions into production costing yields clear advantages; however, its implementation may require considerable efforts and also some compromises concerning the methodological constraints.

    Keywords: cost calculation; cost allocation; performance; logistics; production

  • Vahid Majazi Dalfard ,
    Arash Sohrabian ,
    Ali Montazeri Najafabadi ,
    Jamalodin Alvani :

    Abstract: Although the leasing industry is a successful industry in Iran’s economic conditions, there are few studies that deal with the assessment of leasing companies’ efficiency. This article applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) models for the efficiency assessment and ranking of leasing companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Total asset, P/E, and ROE are considered as inputs and EPS, current ratio, and sales growth are considered as outputs of each DMU. The results indicate that both the CCR and BCC models are not capable of ranking the five considered leasing companies. Due to the failure of the standard DEA models to rank the efficient set of leasing companies, a super efficiency DEA model, namely AP-DEA, is applied. The unique feature of this study is the use of a super efficiency DEA model to rank the leasing companies of the TSE. Concluding remarks are also presented in the final section.

    Keywords: performance evaluation; super efficiency; DEA; leasing companies

  • Péter Tóth :
    Learning Strategies and Styles in Vocational Education195-216en [604.17 kB - PDF]EPA-02461-00035-0120

    Abstract: Vocational education in Hungary has seen significant changes over the past 20 years. However, the adaptivity of the system is largely aggravated by certain problems of content, compensation and selection. As a result, the success of Hungarian public education, as shown by PISA research, lags far behind its possibilities. In our present paper the adaptive model of vocational education is outlined first, where teaching and learning strategies appear as regulating agents with a formative influence on the educational process. The preferred patterns of learning and teaching strategies typical of the individual yield the learning and teaching styles. In the second part of the paper, the results of a longitudinal examination performed among secondary vocational school students in Budapest are presented. The answers to the following questions are sought: how much learning strategy and style can be regarded as an individual characteristic, how it changes with the progress of studies, and whether it shows any correlation with the gender or specialization of the students.

    Keywords: learning theory; learning model; learning strategy; Kolb’s learning style