Eurasian Business Perspectives

The hospitality industry is often characterized as a low-wage, low-skill, antisocial working time, and it contributes to the poor reputation of the employer. This leads to the global difficulties of recruitment in this industry and aim of this chapter is to expose how the use of the employer brand can help hospitality services providers to change this and to ensure a positive guest experience. Also focus on employees in the field of hospitality when making solutions that are useful to the organization is gaining increasing importance in the context that contact persons involved both during, after the provision of this service, and at the time of placing it, can affect the customer’s decision to buy or not to buy a service, to become loyal, and exactly employer brand allows organization to attract and retain the right employees. Thus, this theoretical overview of the impact of the employer’s brand on the provision of these services is relevant and important for hospitality service organizations as an opportunity to discover new ways to manage and address the specific challenges of this industry. The chapter reveals the concept of the employer brand, hospitality and hospitality services and the interconnections.

The comprehensive networking and digitization associated with the fourth industrial revolution leads to changes along the entire value chain and requires a holistic change process within the company. This change process affects not only the company itself, but also addresses a wide range of stakeholders. As a particularly important stakeholder group, employees are faced with entirely new challenges. Lifelong learning and continuous professional development will be a prerequisite to survive in the labor market modified by Industry 4.0. Particularly with those employees, who see their job threatened by Industry 4.0, these fears lead to uncertainty and motivation losses. This leads to the question how employees can be motivated in the age of Industry 4.0 and whether classical motivation theories are still valid. In order to answer this question, different motivation theories are analyzed, and the main motivation criteria are worked out and summarized in an overview matrix. Subsequently, the applicability of the classical motivation theories and their measures in the Industry 4.0 process is examined in an empirical survey.

There is an increasing interest in the topic of workplace bullying; however, there is scarce empirical literature examining the role of human resource management (HRM) in addressing this issue in Egypt and the Arab Region. The present study aims to examine several contributing factors that predict workplace bullying, as well as HRM prevention programs that counter workplace bullying. A sample of 384 respondents was selected from insurance companies in Cairo, Egypt. Three hundred and fifty questionnaires were returned from respondents, representing a response rate of 91.15%. Several statistical analysis techniques were applied to analyze the relationship between the study variables, such as regression analysis and structural equation modeling. The main findings of this study revealed that anti-bullying training has a negative relationship with workplace bullying. Anti-bullying policy has no significant relationship with workplace bullying. Moreover, the results show the mediating impact of positive organizational culture in the relationship between destructive leadership and workplace bullying. The results imply that training is indeed influential in addressing workplace bullying. In addition, bullying policy may not be as effective in addressing workplace bullying, especially if not properly communicated to organizational members. The present findings emphasize the underlying mechanism through which destructive leadership might influence workplace bullying.

In management theory, the control function is considered the terminal function in management. Also due to its status as the last step of the management process, it is the least researched function. Another approach states that control accompanies the other functions, and one of its tasks is to influence them to work more efficiently and effectively. Based on our questionnaire survey, we analyze the perceived importance of controlling in companies operating in the Slovak Republic on various aspects such as the size of the enterprise, the level of the respondent’s management, or the subject of business activity. The overwhelming majority of respondents consider controlling important or very important. The larger the company, the more important is the control function perceived. In addition, the higher the manager is situated in company’s hierarchy, the more important controlling is considered. An interesting exception is micro-entrepreneurs.

The accurate and targeted process of selecting the most appropriate human resources can be a key factor in organizational success. The increasing attention to the leadership factor in making organizational developments across the world and the key role of effective leader show the need to use effective methods to recruit effective leaders. In this chapter, based on the proposed model with the help of analytical hierarchy process (AHP), the main criteria on the leadership effectiveness in the organization are weighted. Then, each candidate is scored based on the mentioned criteria with the grey relational analysis (GRA). In this method, candidates with higher scores are introduced as the model selection. Since the grey relational theory follows some assumptions and principles such as nonuniqueness of solution and availability of minimum information, it can be used to greyly select leaders and make decisions on leaders when there is uncertainty and incomplete information.

The chapter concerns progressive services that are provided by Polish entrepreneurs from two provinces that are from different ends of Poland: Podlaskie and Westpomeranian. The aim of the chapter is to present the survey research results that were performed via the Internet. The research was complemented with the Mann–Whitney U test which enabled the verification as for which questions differentiate both provinces. The comparative method allowed the research to define prospects of developing the service offer which constitutes a postulate for transforming service enterprises. The local service trades that feature progressive services and flexible attitude toward their clients have been identified. Similarly, the various factors were recorded and they prove that different courses of action were taken by service company managers from the two provinces. The most important areas of dissonance concern the following issues: market identification by means of marketing research, adaptive abilities with regard to needs of prospect service receivers, contractual terms with the local governments, equipping companies with means of labor and tools, rational employment and the level of human traffic at the place of service provision.

At present, many transportation companies can boast about their new and modern transport fleet. However, only few of them have advanced decision support software for route planning. Most often the decisions related to the organization of transport depend on the experience of the staff. The chapter takes an optimisation-based perspective of the problem of work organization for a given means of transport in the distribution of passenger cars. The author illustrates selected methods of optimizing transportation services which can be used to improve the flow of vehicles from the loading point to the car dealer. One of the methods presented in the chapter is a technique based on permutations and the evolutionary method, the other—the branch and bound method with Little algorithm. They are used to solve the most-known combinatorial problem—the Travelling Salesman Problem. The main objective of the chapter is to show the possibility of using these methods in a simple way, without using specialized software. In addition, apart from the simplicity of their use, the application of these methods could help to optimize route planning, shorten the working time of drivers, and consequently increase the economic efficiency of the distribution system of a transportation company. Eventually, the chapter provides an example of solving the vehicle routing problem together with its analysis.

The aim of chapter is to investigate present position of companies in mechanical engineering and metalworking sector, to prepare proposals for management improvement and financial performance strengthening in these companies. We applied different methods in the research such as theoretical sources, statistical data analysis, forecasting, and other financial calculations. Quantitative research methods were used to analyze trends and structural problems in industry. Additional methods such as sector expert interviews and personal observations were used. Company’s financial independence increases the need to carry out the business analysis of the company in order to improve its efficiency and profitability. Mechanical engineering and metalworking sector is one of the leading industries in Latvia. This industry is a diverse sector encompassing many subbranches. In a saturated market with a high level of competition, it is essential for companies to plan their business strategy in order to secure a sustainable work, keep job places, and secure stability. Managers need information and knowledge about the company’s business activities and financial results of it in order to diversify internal and external resources, they need to set problem segments and modify the activity model. As a result of the research the authors have drawn the conclusions that in order to carry out business efficiency evaluation.

This research aims to increase the vision of strategic knowledge management through collaboration in high education institutions. Data was obtained from online MBA students. A total of 165 students from five countries responded to a survey. The technique used was structural equation modeling (SEM). This chapter discusses the concept of collaboration climate in online studies. The results indicate that social interaction (i.e., online collaborative learning) is positively related to knowledge management. Further, the results suggest that knowledge management processes are positively related to collaboration climate. In addition, the effect of online knowledge platform on knowledge generated is positively moderated by knowledge management processes and online collaborative learning. We suggest that online collaborative learning and knowledge management processes are two of the major factors influencing the effectiveness of learning and, in turn, the knowledge generated.

In times of globalization and turbulence of the environment, even large companies are forced to develop their competitiveness by creating different types of relations with other entities. The crucial issue in supply chain management is finding a governance mechanism that fosters achieving the greatest possible supply chain performance. However, supply chain governance concept is quite new, not well recognized in the literature. In the chapter issue of supply chain governance mechanisms was presented and discussed. The aim of the chapter was to develop the typology of governance mechanisms in the supply chains as well as to analyse the state of research on the issue of supply chain governance and to identify the main research areas related to this subject. The chapter was based on literature review. The analysis included articles available in the EBSCO, Elsevier, and Emerald databases from 1990 to 2017. The chapter also includes a bibliometric analysis of the articles. The results of the study show that the main distinction of supply chain governance is between market, hierarchical, and relational governance. Other typologies could distinguish formal and informal governance, dyadic and network governance, imposed and self-forcing governance or single and plural governance. The main research topic concerns the choice of the appropriate supply chain governance mechanism (or set of mechanisms) and its impact on supply chain performance or other constructs like innovativeness.

The aim of this study is to clarify the transformational leadership behaviors, related with the four dimensions of the transformational leadership construct in order to increase the consistency between theoretically defined transformational leadership behaviors and actually observed ones. In this respect, items measuring the degree of transformational leadership capability of a leader were studied and ambiguous items were chosen. Twenty participants were asked to evaluate the meaning of those items; by asking their opinions about the “specific courses of action a leader takes to behave in that particular way.” Results, presented in detail, display that participant views were a valuable tool to make the fuzzy items more concrete. Study results also highlight the possibility that transformational leadership scale can and should be improved with additional in-depth investigation.

This study offers a theoretical explanation of the underlying factors for employee’s engagement in Green IT. The proposed model examines engagement in sustainable IT practices from the perspective of employee’s adoption of GIT and suggests the role of attitude in enabling such. Drawing on the belief–action–outcome (BAO) framework, this study delineates the micro- and macro-level factors underlying the formation of employee’s beliefs and attitude toward GIT, which in turn leads to the adoption of GIT. The proposed model contributes to the extant literature in GIT adoption by suggesting the role of personal competence, and organizational structure and culture in employee’s engagement in environmental sustainability initiatives.

Over the recent decades, research on collaboration in management sciences has constantly been garnering more and more attention. The chapter focuses in particular on technology entrepreneurship in view of its conditioning. The aim of the chapter is to present the outcome of research on collaboration risk in technology entrepreneurship using systematic review of literature. The research focuses on highlighting the significance and essence of collaboration, outlining the major research limitations and challenges, and diagnosing gaps in conditions of collaboration in technology entrepreneurship.

The collection of questionnaire data, the definition of standards referring to the interpretation of the results, and taking the context in which the data is collected into consideration constitute holistic systems of evaluation. Higher education institutions utilize questionnaires in which students evaluate a given teacher or a given course unit. Does this mean that they possess evaluation systems that can assist them in taking decisions? In this paper, attention is paid to issues related to the number of questionnaires which are returned, to motivation and the reliability of evaluation as well as to the structure of the questionnaire through which research is conducted. On one hand, questionnaires submitted by students provide a lot of information. On the other hand, they cannot always be used in the management system due to the low level of the response rate and a lack of reliability. In this research it is shown that higher education institutions do not use traditional methods in order to increase the response rate or motivation level. Students as evaluators are not ready to provide constructive feedback.

This chapter discusses the social media advertising particularly on Facebook that have positive relationship with brand awareness among young adult in Malaysia. In the current Industrial revolution, online advertising proves to be the fastest growing sensations particularly in the area of marketing. Indications from past studies show that current young adult consumers have short attention span, and with vast advertising, this escalates consumers to skip messages seen on many social Medias. A quantitative data analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between Facebook advertising and brand awareness among 250 young adults in three public universities from the northern states of peninsular Malaysia. The results of this study provides three important contributions: (1) an enhanced understanding on factors that relates to young adults in purchasing product online; (2) the results will provide empirical evidence on the knowledge of the best platform that can attract consumer attention; and (3) the findings may help small business owners to choose the best places when marketing online.

Millennials are more involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and respond more positively toward cause-related marketing (CRM). In the past, CRM campaigns have relied heavily on traditional offline media channels to promote their cause to audiences. However, with the emergence of modern media channels such as the Internet and social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), many CRM campaigns have switched to these channels especially when targeting Millennials. However, research that examines the effectiveness of CRM campaigns that target Millennials via social media ads is still lacking. Therefore, we investigated the effect of social media ad versus magazine ad on Millennials’ response toward CRM campaigns by examining the impact of these two types of media on three responses: (1) attitude toward CRM, (2) trust in CRM, and (3) brand loyalty intention. We used a 1 × 2 between-subject experimental design (types of media channel for CRM campaigns; social media ad versus magazine ad). Based on the data collected from 135 respondents, our findings indicated that there is no significant difference between the effects of social media ad versus magazine ad on Millennials’ responses to CRM. The findings are particularly useful for managers and practitioners involved in the planning of CRM campaigns, CSR initiatives, and integrated marketing communications for companies.

In the age of increasing globalization and more and more frequently observed xenophobic tendencies, the ethnocentric attitudes of consumers are getting more attention of researchers. The chapter presents demographic determinants of Polish consumers’ ethnocentric attitudes on the food market. In the second half of 2016, surveys were carried out among inhabitants of Polish cities, with the aim of determining ethnocentric attitudes toward Polish national food as well as Polish regional food. Direct structured interviews were conducted with respondents responsible for food purchases. The results obtained are representative for residents of Polish cities with over 50 thousand inhabitants. The analysis of determinants refers to both national and local type of ethnocentrism, but special attention is paid to the second one. The findings show which demographic determinants are most correlated with ethnocentric attitudes. The results obtained are presented in comparison with former studies. Moreover, the authors developed recommendations for adjusting the food producers’ marketing communication to the expectations of consumers representing various levels of ethnocentric attitudes.

The latest technological and social changes as well as overwhelming flow of various types of information to consumers have exerted a major impact on their activity regarding dealing with marketing messages. They perform different roles in the marketing communication process, as they are recipients, opinion leaders, brokers, content selectors, cocreators, and senders. However, they still need to select valuable information from the communication noise in order to make purchase decisions, though. The main objective of this chapter is to analyze the information behaviors of modern consumers. This study presents the major factors influencing consumers’ behaviors in case of collecting and dealing with marketing information and shows its implications for the organizations’ marketing communication activities. Four hundred and eighty-one structured direct interviews were conducted in Poland with persons responsible for food purchases in households. Correlations and cluster analyses were executed. On the basis of the results consumers’ segmentation in relation to information gathering and attaching importance to opinions acquired while taking decisions on the purchase of food was done. The classification into five clusters was selected, named: Hesitant seekers (22% of all respondents), Independent seekers (15.8%), Observers (21.8%), Information relativists (22.1%), and Skeptics relying on others (18.3%). The description of main characteristics was done for each segment.

This theoretical paper defines the concept of sustainability entrepreneurship and how it differs from basic entrepreneurship approaches, eco-entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship. All the core elements or so-called pillars of sustainability entrepreneurship are defined and some cases for real sustainability entrepreneurships are illustrated. Sustainability concept is allegedly well accepted both by scholars and practitioners, but in reality, there are very few examples that fit the definition of sustainability entrepreneurship: it is a process to explore and implement future products, processes, and services for protecting the nature and balancing the social phenomena. The returns to be gained here contribute not only to the economy but also to the noneconomic individuals and the community as well. Study aims to describe, define, and detail the concept of Sustainability Entrepreneurship and outline the components with examples such as Career Moves, Waste Works, d.light, Qurrent, Tesla Motors, Bugday, and Çöp(m)adam from all over the world. On one hand, sustainability entrepreneurship addresses environment, social stability, and economic contribution which are the main focuses of sustainable development; and pursues profit on the other.

Identification of factors that influence relation risk at the companies implementing technological entrepreneurship is a problem both in theoretical and practical terms. Based on a review of the literature, the chapter has built a conceptual model of factors determining the risk of relation with the supplier of new technologies. The conceptual model was then verified empirically based on randomly selected small- and medium-sized companies involved in technological entrepreneurship. The empirical studies carried out using structural models confirm that the perception of internal threats, the financial result in the last 3 years, and the perception of competitiveness have a significant and direct impact on relationship risks. In addition, research shows that the perception of competitiveness has an indirect impact on relationship risk through the perception of internal threats. However, it was not possible to confirm the impact of the perception of cooperation opportunities on the perception of relationship risk from the literature.

A high-technology sector is developing rapidly in many countries, which is having great influence on key economic performance indicators and national competitiveness levels. Special contribution to economic growth is made by fast-growing companies which could become global leaders. The case of Russian high-tech business is discussed in this chapter. Key characteristics of companies operating in this sector are identified and attention is paid primarily to high-tech leaders. A special scheme for leadership analysis, which is based on the top groups’ comparison, is suggested and applied. Factors influencing companies’ performance indicators are analyzed with the help of regression models. Data provided by Russia’s Fast Growing High-Tech Companies’ National Rating (“TekhUspekh”) during 2012–2016 and by SPARK project were used. The results revealed that the Russian high-tech sector is characterized by a high level of uncertainty. A limited number of regions and sectors which form the basis for high-tech businesses were defined. The relationship between innovation activity’s indicators and export potential was determined.