J. Straková, Iveta Šimberová, Petra Pártlová, J. Váchal, R. Zich
{"title":"The Value Chain as the Basis of Business Model Design","authors":"J. Straková, Iveta Šimberová, Petra Pártlová, J. Váchal, R. Zich","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.08","url":null,"abstract":"The article presents a new approach to the generation of business models based on value streams. The originality of the study lies in the assumption that in every business model the generator of added value is the value chain which, if original enough, will maximize potential while minimizing costs. This approach will provide the respective enterprise with a high level competitiveness in the long term. The tested group of enterprises consisted of 354 SMEs, one hundred eightyseven of which were from the manufacturing and industry sector, with 167 from the services sector. The novelty of this approach also consists of the integrated approach to the business environment in which the value streams were analyzed. The results suggest that the analysis of value streams is suitable for the projection of business models. In addition, the methods of dimensional reduction and logit regression have been identified as appropriate analytical tools, with representative results found valid and utilizable in business practice. The authors of the article are aware that this is only the first step in addressing this issue, one which will play a critical role in the gradual process of the upcoming digital transformation of all business models, not only those of SMEs in the Czech Republic.","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42777206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Poliak, A. Poliaková, L. Svabova, N. Zhuravleva, E. Nica
{"title":"Competitiveness of Price in International Road Freight Transport","authors":"M. Poliak, A. Poliaková, L. Svabova, N. Zhuravleva, E. Nica","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.05","url":null,"abstract":"Over the last 30 years, the competition in road transport has increased significantly. For a transport company to maintain its position in the road freight transport market, the knowledge of the accurate costs arising from the transportation process is an important tool in the current competitive struggle. Carriers quantify the transportation costs in the process of price creation using the routes utilization coefficient, also taking into account routes with an empty vehicle. The value is usually set as a constant in the range from 0 to 1. The purpose of this paper is to show that it is more appropriate and economically feasible to consider this as a variable which depends on the direction as well as on the time of the transportation. In this analysis, a twofactor ANOVA model was applied to actual data of transport offers to Slovakia from 18 different countries recorded on a daily basis in a period of one year. The analysis shows that the direction of transportation is a significant factor in the offer, and therefore it is appropriate to include this factor in the price creation. The results of this analysis are in practice directly applicable to modify the calculation procedures and thus gain a competitive advantage for the transport operator in calculating the transportation price. Using this methodology, the carrier can determine the price more accurately and achieve greater price competitiveness in road transport in the common EU market.","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42603083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Héctor Cuevas-Vargas, Rudy Fernandez-Escobedo, Hector A. Cortes- Palacios, Lidia Ramirez-Lemus
{"title":"The Relation Between Adoption of Information and Communication Technologies and Marketing Innovation as a Key Strategy to Improve Business Performance","authors":"Héctor Cuevas-Vargas, Rudy Fernandez-Escobedo, Hector A. Cortes- Palacios, Lidia Ramirez-Lemus","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.02","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding how capacities and resources of companies are crucial factors to improve business performance and competitiveness is a major issue for academics, policy, and decisionmakers. The purpose of this research is to analyze the effects of the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on marketing innovation as a key strategy to increase the business performance of small- and medium-sized Mexican manufacturing companies. A gap exists in the literature regarding the full understanding of the simultaneous relationship among ICTs, marketing innovation and business performance. For this reason, a quantitative approach and cross-sectional design were applied through Structural Equation Modelling, in which a simple random sampling technique and a self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data from a sample of 230 business owners in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico. The results indicate that adopting ICTs has a significant influence on marketing innovation. Moreover, marketing innovation showed a considerable impact on business performance. Therefore, decision-makers must pay special attention to the adoption of ICTs, as they are of vital importance for the development of marketing innovations and competitive advantage. Decision-makers must also use their resources and capabilities in innovations that have an impact on the sales strategy, design and promotion of their new products as well as the redesign of existing ones to achieve higher levels of competitiveness.","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71330375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Governance Quality, Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth","authors":"M. M. Khyareh, H. Amini","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.03","url":null,"abstract":"Governance is a factor that affects new entrepreneurial activities and economic growth. However, the effectiveness of governance will vary depending on a country’s development level and entrepreneurial motivation. The main goal of this study is to use global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) data and to apply a three-stage least squares (3SLS) regression to investigate the impact of six governance indicators on the entrepreneurship-growth nexus in 64 countries during 2010-2018. In addition, this paper describes whether the impact of governance indicators varies according to the country’s development stage. The results show that entrepreneurship and governance indicators have a significant impact on economic growth. However, depending on the development stage of the country, major differences can arise regarding the degree and nature of this relationship among countries. Specifically, the results show that entrepreneurship can promote economic growth in innovation-driven countries, but it cannot promote economic growth in factor- and efficiency-driven countries. In particular, the results show that opportunitydriven entrepreneurship (ODE) is only positively correlated with the economic growth of innovation-driven countries. In contrast, necessity-driven entrepreneurship (NDE) is negatively correlated with the economic growth of factor- and efficiency-driven countries. In addition, the survey results show that governance quality indicators contribute to entrepreneurial activities in the three groups of countries examined. This research contributes to the literature from a theoretical perspective (the use of good governance as an intermediary between entrepreneurship and growth) and a practical perspective (providing insights to improve the quality of governance to promote entrepreneurship and economic growth).","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71330413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Job Insecurity, Job Instability, and Job Satisfaction in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic","authors":"M. Nemteanu, Vasile Dinu, Dan-Cristian Dabija","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.04","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges regarding employee adaptation to change as well as job security, with levels of wellbeing and satisfaction being greatly affected. Based on the literature as well as on Adaptation-level Theory, Stress and Coping Theory, and Motivationhygiene Theory, this paper approaches the link between job insecurity and job instability during the COVID-19 pandemic along with employee job satisfaction in an emerging market. The proposed conceptual model analyses the influence of job instability and job insecurity on individual job satisfaction, including supervisor support and promotion opportunities. The survey-based empirical study was implemented with the aid of a questionnaire taken by 568 employees in Romania. The results determined with the help of a correlation analysis highlight a strong, direct, and positive link between job instability and employee insecurity in increasing employee competitiveness. The impact of job insecurity and instability on the components considered in terms of job satisfaction vary. Job insecurity was shown to manifest a negative correlation only with regard to satisfaction concerning supervisor support and promotion opportunities. Perceived job instability showed a significant negative impact on individual work satisfaction, satisfaction with supervisor support and promotion opportunities. This paper also enhances the human resources literature by demonstrating how organisational competitiveness might be enhanced during a global pandemic by focusing on employees.","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48321544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Z. Toušek, Jana Hinke, Barbora Malinska, Martin Prokop
{"title":"The Performance Determinants of Trading Companies: A Stakeholder Perspective","authors":"Z. Toušek, Jana Hinke, Barbora Malinska, Martin Prokop","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.09","url":null,"abstract":"This research aims to propose a model adding to the competitiveness of companies by identifying factors that determine the profitability of the selected companies (both publicly traded and unquoted private companies of all sizes). Another aim is to prove a dichotomy between the motivation of equity holders and senior lenders as far as acceptable financial leverage is concerned. The paper is innovative based on its combination of several different factors influencing corporate profitability (i.e. firm-specific effects: current ratio, labor cost ratio, working capital financing ratio, long-term financing ratio, return on sales, age of the firm; industry-specific effects and other macroeconomic effects) and by assessing determinants concerning the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders using a panel regression analysis with fixed effects. The authors prove that the determinants of the operating performance of Czech trading companies differ substantially when the performance is measured by ROA or by ROE. This clearly shows discrepancies between the equity holder interest to maximize their returns on investment and the other stakeholder interests. Specifically, the authors have found that the leverage, both in terms of working capital and long-term financing, negatively impacts returns on assets. On the other hand, it positively impacts returns for equity holders both in the Wholesale and Retail sub-samples. Interestingly, other determinants of operating performance, such as capital intensity, labor cost ratio, historical profitability, and macroeconomic variables, are of comparable significance, impacting both the ROA and ROE analyses.","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44118517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Study of Entrepreneurial Intentions and Entrepreneurial Competencies of Business vs. Non-Business Students","authors":"Tanja Zdolsek Draksler, Karin Širec","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.10","url":null,"abstract":"Entrepreneurship contributes to economic growth and job creation and thus to competitiveness. Nevertheless, the question remains of how to stimulate entrepreneurial activity, especially in the case of youth as a disadvantaged group. The key to entrepreneurial activity is entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial intentions. Young people can acquire and develop both through entrepreneurship education. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial competencies of university students in Slovenia from a socio-psychological perspective. A conceptual research model based on Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the competency approach was developed, also applying the assumption that entrepreneurial competencies influence entrepreneurial intentions. The applied research methodology was a quasi-experiment. The research sample of 837 students consisted of an experimental group (involved in entrepreneurship education) and a control group (not involved in entrepreneurship education) examined by a pretest and a post-test. Various statistical analyses were used to determine correlation, comparison, and dependency. Although it was confirmed that the conceptual research model is appropriate and that some of the factors studied do influence entrepreneurial intentions, we could not find a higher level of entrepreneurial intentions or entrepreneurial competencies by students involved in entrepreneurship education. Nevertheless, the conceptual research model has statistically confirmed that the TPB and entrepreneurial competencies are linked. It was also revealed that entrepreneurial competencies partly influence entrepreneurial intentions. This study forms a basis for further research in the field of entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial competencies.","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46143642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Stanković, I. Marjanović, S. Drezgić, Zarko Popovic
{"title":"The Digital Competitiveness of European Countries: A Multiple-Criteria Approach","authors":"J. Stanković, I. Marjanović, S. Drezgić, Zarko Popovic","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.07","url":null,"abstract":"High-quality digital infrastructure is the basis of almost every sector of a modern and innovative economy and society. As a part of the overall competitiveness concept, digital competitiveness is a multidimensional structure that encompasses various factors of the process of digital transformation through the ability of learning and application of new technologies, technology factors that enable digital transformation, and digital readiness factors that assess the preparedness of an economy and citizens to assume digital transformation. The paper aims to propose a methodology for measuring digital competitiveness using a composite index approach including a variety of various indicators. To assess the digital competitiveness of European countries, a multi-criteria analysis was applied in a two-stage procedure integrating CRITIC and TOPSIS as weighting and aggregation methods. The sample includes thirty European countries and the research is based on thirteen indicators provided in the database Eurostat Digital Economy and Society. In addition, a ranking of sample countries according to digital competitiveness is presented. Finally, a cluster analysis was conducted to examine relations between digital competitiveness and several economic performances such as GDP pc, labour productivity and employment rates. The results indicate that Nordic countries have achieved the highest digital competitiveness, while most Eastern European countries still lag behind.","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45168625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Environmental Issues and Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility for Organizational Competitiveness","authors":"Rizwan Raheem Ahmed, D. Štreimikienė","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.01","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this study is to examine a multi-dimensional modified conceptual model based on stakeholder theory & previous literature. The work represents an attempt to evaluate the association of environmental issues and practices of an organization’s corporate social responsibility and the impact of these two factors on overall competitiveness. We have taken four corporate social responsibility (CSR) factors regarding the environment that affect competitive organizational performance. Additionally, we incorporated green innovation as a mediator and social media marketing apps as a moderator to examine the impact on organizational competitiveness. We collected 906 responses from the manufacturing and services sectors from the regional developing Asian countries China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the UAE for more generalizable and robust results. We developed a modified questionnaire and conceptual framework to empirically test organizational performance & competitiveness. For the analysis, we employed SEM-based multivariate modeling. The study’s findings reveal that all the considered CSR factors of the environment positively and significantly impact organizational performance for competitiveness. The results further show that both green innovation as a mediator and social media marketing apps as moderators significantly impact the relationship of CSR factors of environment and organizational competitiveness. Thus, the modified conceptual model demonstrates that the environmental CSR factors are beneficial for the manufacturing and service sectors of developing economies, which create value for competitive business, society, and environment. The findings provide valuable directions for the senior management in the manufacturing and services sector to devise and implement environmental strategies for competitiveness.","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46360719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Sedliačiková, Mária Moresová, P. Alac, J. Drabek
{"title":"How Do Behavioral Aspects Affect the Financial Decisions of Managers and the Competitiveness of Enterprises?","authors":"M. Sedliačiková, Mária Moresová, P. Alac, J. Drabek","doi":"10.7441/joc.2021.02.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.06","url":null,"abstract":"Decisions of financial managers can improve the competitiveness of the enterprise. Decisions are affected not only by knowledge and experience but also by emotional and cognitive deviations in behavior. Considering the role of competitiveness, this paper investigated whether an effect of behavioral factors on the financial decision-making of managers can be shown, and if so, to what degree. The aim of the paper is to propose a concept, the essence of which is to determine the key systematically-occurring errors in the financial decision-making process of managers rising from the effect of the human factor as a basis of prevention of incorrect financial decisions. The issue was mapped in the territory of the Visegrad Four (V4) by means of an empirical survey by the method of a questionnaire. By evaluating the research, the methodology of statistical hypotheses testing by measures of association was used (contingency coefficients - Cramer’s contingency coefficient V and Pearson’s contingency coefficient C) and Pearson’s chi-square test. The results of the research allow the formulation of conclusions that expand current knowledge in the field of research. The main results of the conducted research are that the key behavioral aspects (cognitive, psychological and emotional) that influence the financial decision-making process of business managers in the V4 countries are love, sadness and hate. A concept was created from the achieved results, the application of which in the enterprises of the V4 countries can help managers avoid making improper financial decisions which could have a negative impact on the financial health and competitiveness of an enterprise.","PeriodicalId":46971,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Competitiveness","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42382787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}