Search

This paper explores the theoretical review of technological innovation on SME survival by looking at literature review with SME studies. Previous reference on survival is still scarce even it is the key benchmark to measure business performance. It has been demonstrated within the literature that the practice of technological innovation is significantly associated with business performance but its effect towards SME survival is underexplored. SME survival refers to the year of business operation, availability of future plans and diversity of product/service range. According to social scientists and management experts, among the main technological innovations highlighted in literatures are namely sophisticated machines and equipments, fusion of different technologies, gadgets machines and equipments, fusion of different technologies, and gadgets as tools of innovation. By looking at the technological innovation scope by Diaconu (2011) ; social networking, computerized record, online marketing can be categorized under the current technological innovation as these mediums are based on technology and influence the development intensity with new or improved process or products. Apart from this justification, among other approaches, these three mediums are close to the business and its potentials are yet to be optimized. In short, the critical discussion provided in this paper would help to strengthen the body of knowledge on SME studies, besides to act as a reference for research in other countries. Findings from this review shed some lights on the potential of social networking as part of online marketing; as the online customers are greater than the typical offline customers. Also, the effect of online marketing via social media is more powerful and diverse due to its ability to reach customers regardless of geographical locations.

This conceptual research paper is about Malaysians’ perceptions toward products made in Malaysia versus products made in China. Local products are generally perceived as being of lesser quality compared to others. It is now common for most products to have the label “Made in China”; unfortunately, products made in China are also not renowned for their quality. With this in mind, what would Malaysians’ choices be? Products made in China are often cheaper compared to locally made products, mainly due to China's massive production industry. Apart from price, other factors that will be tested in this study are ethnocentrism and product quality (including aesthetics, performance and durability) that might affect consumers’ purchase decisions toward products made in China or Malaysia.

SMEs in Malaysia are an important segment of the nation s wealth creation and for employment. Approximately 99.2% of the total established businesses in Malaysia are SMEs and the total employment share is 59.5%. The Malaysian government is confident that the Economic Transformation Plan framework will boost the SMEs to become the driving force in building the nation. In view of this, the primary aim of this research is to delve into the predictor that encourages the practice of market orientation from the perspective of entrepreneurial attitude orientation of the Malaysian entrepreneurs. This research contributes to the body of knowledge on market orientation by having a better understanding of the specific factors which are crucial for SMEs to assist in the nation wealth creation.

Thus far no effort has been undertaken to facilitate foodservice operators to measure their performance, identify and deploy appropriate measures to improve the requirements and expectations of a Halalan Toyyiban Foodservice modus operandi. This paper looks into developing the tools to measure the Halal Foodservice Service Quality based on previous literature and in-depth interviews to be conducted among selected Muslim Clergies and the general public followed by validation process using statistical analysis. This tool could be used to minimize the occurrence of halal service failures, improve recovery efforts, increase customer satisfaction, and generate positive re-patronage behaviour at food service establishments.

The rise of the Internet has drastically changed the means by which people obtain information and communicate in the Malaysian society. The Internet has become possibly the most popular medium to connect with others particularly through social networking tools, like Facebook, Twitter and other. For the field of counseling, the Internet offers a new way to reach, facilitate and communicate with individuals who need help from all over the world. Little is known, however, about the implications of interacting with clients online. The purpose of this writing, therefore, is to address the possible advantages and disadvantages of online counseling, as well as ethical and legal considerations in the use of online counseling by summarizing the past research. Additionally, suggestions for better practice are also discussed so that counselors and therapists are able to have a better preparation before practicing online counseling. Overall, this writing has several important implications for counseling practitioners in Malaysia and beyond. It contributes to a better understanding of the role of the Internet in counseling practice in an increasingly electronic world.

Today's highly competitive and rapidly changing environment makes innovation more challenging, costly and risky for companies. To overcome these challenges and to decrease the cost and the risk of innovation, companies, including SMEs, have adopted a new approach called Open Innovation, which was proven by academic studies to be useful for SMEs to improve their innovativeness. However, studies about the openness of SMEs or the adoption level of open innovation approach by SMEs give conflicting results. We argue that these conflicting results stem from the different conditions in developing countries and developed countries. Main aim of this paper is to define factors that motivate or prevent the adoption of open innovation approach by SMEs operating in developing countries, and to suggest policy requirements and actions need to be taken to ease the creation of an open innovation ecosystems that support SMEs. Incentive to leverage SME-university and SME-LE collaboration, creating innovation hubs to improve networking ability of SMEs, free IP consulting, conducting external search on behalf of SMEs are some of the actions suggested in this paper.

Strategic planning in higher education has become one of the most important factors of today's education system. State of the Republic of Turkey, which is aware of importance of this trend in the world, made the preparation and implementation of five-year strategic plans mandatory for higher education institutions. However, when examining the strategic plans made by universities in Turkey in general, it draws attention that strategy development techniques are not used in development processes. Strategies at different levels in universities are not taken in consideration, and strategies are not determined by high participation and not formed and implemented in a conscious way. Marmara University has developed a different and unique approach by considering these facts when doing researches to develop strategies to be effective in the next five-year period. In this notification, it is aimed to reveal strategical approach developed exclusive to universities in 2017-2021 strategic plan of Marmara University, and strategy development process model formed for the purpose of being internalized of strategy in institution. In this respect, in study; it is mentioned how participation of academic and administrative personnel is provided, in which way it is focused on creating value for all stakeholders, how internal and external environment analysis are made with which scientific research projects and how corporate learning is supported in every stage of the process. This paper tries to highlight a case from Marmara University's strategy development process indicating how strategic plan on “the paper” can be changed into internalized strategy creating change, momentum and dynamism trough the both implementation of a new approach to strategy and strategy development process.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the forms of economic challenges for the joint venture infrastructure projects. Economic challenges are divided into internal and external challenges. The methodology applied is quantitative approach. The outcome of the research indicates that the critical internal economic challenge is vague financial documentation and the external economic challenge was legal conditions. Thus, this paper encouraged the joint venture company to implement the post counteractive act plan as an innovative business tactic to continue the joint venture's survival to augment the quality of life among contractors that execute joint venture on the other.

In this paper are discussed the tools of marketing communication which the Department of communication of The Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications of Zilinska univerzita v Ziline uses in its activities. Specifically, we pay attention to various areas as advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion. The paper presents a survey of customer satisfaction with the presentation of the Department of communications. We have used a direct survey method, specifically the marketing research. The aim was to find out how students of selected classes perceive level of marketing activities in the field of communication at their department. This set out four key proposals arising from the previous stages of research and analysis. It is an informative brochure for potential students, informative board, innovation of the department's website, and suggestion for promotional products. Planning of marketing activities can be targeted at different defined objectives. In the case of the communication policy of the Department of Communications, this planning is designed to increase the effectiveness of marketing presentations. Through a detailed marketing plan drawn up by the various instruments of communication mix their introduction into the process of using will facilitate.

The essential part of the hotel that wants to be successful are satisfied and loyal employees. The role of management is to lead employees to the success of the progressive achievement of the hotels goals. To achieve the general goal of the hotel that is to increase profits and maximize employee performance is not possible without systematic process of motivation. In view of the singularity of each employee is motivating difficult but desirable process. It is important to know and examine motivation factors, based on which we can establish suitable motivation tools. The most applied tools are motivation programs. It is not enough to design, but also to apply program so that its components act positively on employees and motivate them to achieve maximum performance. This paper deals with clarification of tools and factors of work motivation in hotels in Slovakia. The aim of this paper is to present a model that will serve hotel managers in cooperation with experts and employees draw up motivation programs to improve work motivation of employees in hotels.

Project as an object of project management inevitably conceives a certain end goal to attain, which represents human dreams, hopes, and visions for the future. This paper attempts to offer a philosophical interpretation of project as a phenomenon that is open toward changeable and uncertain time and space that allows creative human intervention from the moment of its conception through its realization. A case study of Incheon Bridge, a national project in Incheon, South Korea, will elucidate how the phenomenal understanding of project can help project management create a sustainable source of future profits. In the first half of the paper, I will articulate a philosophical interpretation of project as a phenomenon. First, project will be conceived and situated within the world of phenomena that originate from the human mind. Secondly, the benefits of interchange between philosophy and project management studies will be shown to extend our understanding of various realms of human life including politics, economics, society, culture, diplomacy, and education. Ultimately, recasting project as a phenomenon will help broaden the conceptual reach of project management as a general process of realizing human dreams. In the second half of the paper, I will substantiate my conceptual argument with a case study of Incheon Bridge, an internationally acclaimed PM case. The success of Incheon Bridge project owes to the mechanism of translating a philosophical understanding of project as a phenomenon into a concrete matrix of numeric, which helped transparently visualize the whole PM process and further transform Incheon Bridge as a sustainable source of future profits.

The ever-changing business environment resulting from changing consumer behaviors, fierce competition and advances in technology affect the strategic positioning of a brand. Maintaining healthy brands or embarking on a rebranding or repositioning strategy calls for a more creative set of branding management competencies in order to respond to the marketing challenges of the 21st century. This research paper attempts to assess brand management competences, attitudes and knowledge important in current business environment, to further accurately design branding-related curricula that truly reflect needs in the contemporary business and professional environment. Using a qualitative research approach, the data was collected from focus group interviews and questionnaires with seventeen management people from the private sector. The results identify the top-rated knowledge and/or competencies needed in branding a business, which are competence in research development, knowledge of brand strategic planning, ability to communicate added value in a clear way, knowledge of brand identity development, and ability to manage and keep the brand management process ‘alive’, respectively. The paper concludes with a discussion of the underlying key implications for both academia and business.

This paper examines the handover process in Norwegian construction industry, focusing on commercial buildings. Improving handover processes reduces the number of conflicts, increases user value, improves indoor climate along with securing overall building performance, both in closing construction phases as well as throughout the building lifetime. As little research is found on the subject, a collective project was initiated by the municipality of Trondheim. This case study is limited to a single, environmentally certified, office building in Norway. The paper aims to determine main delay and defect causes. Finally, some countermeasures are identified. A literature review along with a document study was performed. Seven semi-structured, case specific interviews were conducted in addition to a pilot study consisting of three interviews on the same topic. The case respondents are project managers from contractor and client with extensive experience from the Norwegian construction industry. Several causes in contractor-client interfaces were identified. Among the most critical were late changes and decision-making, lacking understanding of limitations and potential in design-build contracts, conflicting interpretation of specification of work along with complex technical installations. Possible countermeasures are found to be strict decision planning, sufficient time buffers, early reconciliation of client expectations together with sufficiently detailed specification of work and significant specialist knowledge in complex technical coordination. This paper investigates a little scrutinized part of Norwegian construction projects in an effort to better commercial building performance and profitability. Future research on multiple construction projects would help confirm or disprove findings and the identified countermeasures.

Communicative city can be seen as interface to achieve urban development strategies. This paper focuses on the importance of increasing public awareness as agents of development through the development of communicative city elements where the community becomes more involved in city development process along with the increase and development of technological innovations, without forgetting the local cultural base. This paper focuses on the study of literature and related studies, and then analyze that before the agenda of the technopolis, or the development of cities based technology as the soul of development into growth centers that are innovative, it is necessary to create a conducive atmosphere in stakeholders interest at the municipal level, including the urban community itself to learn and innovate in a way to participate in urban development. Communication in the context of planning as the key to the creation of a coordination based on the development of science as a basis for competitiveness in sustainable city. Results of this paper show that the four keys of a communicative city have a big role to understand the concept of technopolis, and furthermore to make technopolis as the spirit of its development. The four keys of the comminicative city are; to develop condusive communication system between citizens, encouraging community participation, technology support (not limited to information and communication technology), and optimizing processes and procedures of city planning itself.

This paper analyses the current situation of small businesses, their outlook and their problems in Europe and in Russia. The number of small businesses opened, legislative system, number of self-employed without employees, influence of bureaucratic system on small business's life, unemployment and corruption are considered in this study. The object of this paper is understanding what can modify the life of small companies. Thus the analysis of every factor is useful to understand how the economy could change, what is correct and what resolutions make the life of small businesses better. The analysis is made using data from Eurostat, Rosstat, and Fedstat (an OECD institutional website), studying how values of indicators have changed during recent years. The results clearly show that the development of small companies is correlated with the development of good institutions, a sane community and trust and optimism in economy and small business sector.

Malaysian Small Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) is largest business establishment and vital component of the country's economic development. However, limited studies were examined on their development, challenges and future green prospects, especially in service sector. Therefore this article examines the development of SMEs in Malaysia, challenges and opportunities of green practices among SMEs which is play a vital role in the nation growth. The uniqueness of this paper focuses on green practices which is important for SMEs to progress and competitive in domestically and globally. The key messages from these studies examined in this paper are that Malaysian SMEs contribute to the largest business establishment in Malaysia especially service sector and majority of them are in micro size establishment. Nevertheless, there are wide recognition in the literature about the factors hinder SMEs from expanding, this is mainly because high cost of raw materials, high initial cost of investment and shortage of skilled labour. The concept of green environment is still at infancy stage in Malaysian SMEs. Environmental management literature mostly published in the developed countries has proven that ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) implementation has a positive and significant relationship with SMEs performance. This study is important indicator to encourage other SMEs which has no green practices in place to consider joining the green bandwagon, especially SMEs service sectors. The studies focused are conditioned by the search strategy used. In addition, other key words could be including in future studies such as performance, customer satisfaction, financial performance, environmental and green supply chain management in order to expand this search. The main contribution of this paper is to identify the development of SMEs in Malaysia and future research proposals with regards to the benefit of the green practices (ISO 14001 standards) in Malaysian SMEs service sector.

The objective of this exploratory paper is to analyse the innovations introduced by a small travel agency and their impact on the firm's business model in the specific context of a salt mine in Romania. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the business model of the small firm that did not introduce a single innovation. A case study provides rich data on “unbundling” made by the entrepreneur and the trade-offs decisions that affect the business model. The paper highlights the implications of the entrepreneur's decision to implement in a short period of time a “package” of product, process, marketing and organizational innovations and their impact upon the business model, and describes the transformation of the company due to changes in the environment (content and relationships among the building blocks of the business model).

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the service quality transformation opportunities currently offered to rural areas of ASEAN through innovative approaches in training and through widespread use of internet support. More than half of the population of ASEAN lives in rural areas, which have long been marginalized and left at the periphery of the recent economic development of the region. Despite multiple programmes and policies aimed at fostering tourism development opportunities, the gap remains between the tourism potential of the rural areas and the lack of service management expertise. Capacity building is seen as a crucial step towards the development of a trained labour force. This study explores different tourism capacity building cases across the ASEAN region. It reviews how innovative approaches have managed to connect the local community needs with the global tourism expectations. It analyses secondary data from three cases in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, looking at the relationship between the community, the capacity building process and the impact on tourism in the local area. The findings show contrasted results that nevertheless share common patterns where innovation has enabled participation and positive service involvement towards tourism. The paper argues for an integration of tourism service management capacity within a wider set of competences which actually empower the community while paradoxically providing higher satisfaction. This study refers to innovative practices initiated by specific community training projects that enhance socio-economic development of the community and appropriate positively tourism and build entrepreneurs. The results of this reflection and comparison provide researchers and practitioners, a matrix of initiatives that could be extended to other rural areas of the ASEAN region.

Shared services are a type of intra-corporate activity for support functions such as information technology, finance, purchasing, marketing. Out of these functions, the finance shared services are singled out in this paper. The activities pertaining to the finance department are analyzed according to The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants ACCA professional standard. Some of these activities are highly suitable to be managed as iterative back-office processes, such as the receivables account and the payables account. We propose several finance shared services business models which we have found evidence of in Romania. Finance shared services may be managed as pools of diversified activities, as simple iterative processes (such as invoices), as end to end accounting processes, or as inclusive solutions which involve other functional areas such as credit management and purchasing. Evidence of Romanian companies providing such services has been collected using Internet resources such as job advertising sites, company web sites and the media. In Romania, there are a variety of shared service and business process outsourcing providers, such as Continental Automotive, Hella, Oracle, British American Shared Services, Hewlett Packard, Bosch, Accenture, Genpact. The purpose of this paper is to exemplify the benefits brought by one type of shared service and its value proposition potential. This article is part of a research on value based management, in which the particular case of intra-corporate business value pattern is analyzed for production, research and development, and overheads (shared services). Intra-corporate business is managed using the transfer price which is different from the market price, and this is one reason why we call this business model “specific”. The other reason is that Romania as a location offers the very advantages shared service providers seek.

There is an increasing growth of customers and regulators requesting enterprises to adopt the Environmental Management Practices (EMP) over the last 15 years and because of this, researchers and practitioners are becoming more interested in this area of study. This paper proposed an integrated model that combines the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Technology-Organization-Environment Model (TOE), two theories that are most often used in environment and innovation studies. In this paper, a model is created to show the relationship between TOE model, TPB theory and EMP implementation. With 205 valid questionnaires from the Federation of Malaysian Freight Forwarders (FMFF), the author tested the model on SPSS and AMOS. It was found that the environmental factor was the most influential factor affecting the adoption of EMP followed by organizational and technological factors. The entire TOE dimension and TPB theory greatly determines the company's adaptation of EMP. Finally, this study presents some suggestions to make EMP adaptation easier.

In recent years, greater competition in banking industry has been driven by globalization. The growing diversity of customers’ demands and technology changes are expected to have a great impact on the management of the bank in order to retain and attract potential customer and investor into the banking industry. However, with the increase in income levels, status and number of bank branches, the bank management is driven to identify banking services to improve their bank performances. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influencing factors towards performance of the bank. Specifically, the paper aims to examine to which extent the bank performance is influenced by service quality, innovation, technology and employee commitment.

This paper aims to analyse the marketing practices embraced by SMEs managers to fulfil their organisation objectives in terms of profit. Based on a literature review, qualitative interviews and a quantitative research based on questionnaires implemented on Romanian and Maltese SMEs, we have acquired a broad imagine of the marketing practices used within these organisations. The primary pursued objective of the paper is to determine if the size of a SME (in terms of turnover and employee number), influences the marketing process. Moreover, the results of the case study (Romanian vs. Maltese SMEs) outline that SMEs managers, more or less, set short term marketing objectives based on “entrepreneurial instinct” or conjuncture, to overcome threats or to transform opportunities in short term profit. Thus, the study results represent a starting point for developing processes to help SMEs managers make a better use of the marketing orientation concept, in order to create long term business plans.

The first small and medium enterprises emerged in Romania in the early 1990s, having retail trade as their main business field. In time the situation evolved by the increase of the numbers of SMEs and by the business field diversification. The number of SMEs in Romania reported to the number of inhabitants is below the EU average. The objective of this paper is to identify the degree of implementation of the Marketing function in small and medium enterprises, in the western area of Romania, in order to identify solutions to improve the economic performance. By conducting an empirical research, the paper brings an insight into the economic reality in the western area of Romania.

Food safety has been fervently discussed throughout the world. Priority for food safety addresses issues in enhancing food safety systems in terms of exporting countries, contribution to consumers’ health and protection and advancement on food regulations and standards. Not all food industrial companies are able to follow demands highlighted by international bodies. Many developing countries lack the resources to participate in international trade because of the difficulties in complying with the requirements of the food safety standards. The underlying reasons for this are outdated laws, lack of knowledge in terms of limited coordination between organizations handling food safety issues, under-funding of national research institutes and lack of awareness for standards and quality. In moving towards the development of standards, consumer participation to demonstrate their concern over the quality and safety of food is correspondingly on the rise. In every aspect of food production, the company is required at each step in the food production chain to ensure food safety standards are not compromised and to show compliance with regulatory and customers’ requirement. In an attempt to address the issue of compliance with international standards, this paper will set to discuss international food chain perspective including food quality assurance in production processes, hazard characteristics in the production and distribution of food and generic food quality and safety standards. The aim of this paper is to identify public and private food safety and quality standard internationally and implementation of food quality standards in three different regions. At the end of this paper, the researchers seek to highlight some significant findings on quality assurance in the food industry and its benefits to consumers globally.

The Reputation Quotient is one of the popular measurements for corporate reputation. It has been tested within a cross-cultural setting among countries in the United States, Europe and Australia. However, there is no reliable evidence that the Reputation Quotient is fit for Malaysia. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the Reputation Quotient model when it was applied to measure corporate reputation for the Malaysian banking industry. We resort to the standard confirmatory factor analysis tests. Workplace environment dimension was found weaker in the second order test. This paper seeks to introduce Reputation Quotient studies in Malaysia.

Purpose. According to the author of the paper, the basic assumption of Corporate Social Responsibility as the management concept, is the conviction that it should be oriented towards not only its own profits but it also should take into consideration social interests and, simultaneously, bring about an increase in the value of the company. The main objective of the paper is to analyze the essence of Corporate Social Responsibility as the source of competitive advantage and innovation on the example of the selected company. Methodology. In the paper there are briefly presented the theoretical assumptions of the essence of Corporate Social Responsibility, followed by the analysis of its impact on the performance of the selected company. There is indicated some basic information on the selected company, with special consideration of the examples of initiatives in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility introduced by the enterprise. There is also made a comparison of the number of clients visiting one of the stores of the selected company and the amount of takings of that store in the selected month of 2013 and 2014. Results. The initiatives presented in the paper, undertaken by the selected company, among others, in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, so far, have resulted in the achievement of good financial results by them. The actions for the benefit of Corporate Social Responsibility are also reflected by numerous awards and distinctions, achieved by the company, in the categories of customer service and implementation of innovation. The conducted analysis allows for the conclusion that enterprises paying attention not only to the achieved profits but also taking into consideration the social aspect, are able to achieve the leading and competitive position on the market. Summing up, it is possible to conclude that running a socially responsible business, we help not only others but also ourselves. The theoretical contribution. The basic theoretical contribution of the paper is to indicate the essence of Corporate Social Responsibility, and then, to transfer the theoretical assumptions into the practical example reflecting the significance of initiatives of Corporate Social Responsibility developed by the selected company. Practical implications . In the paper, there is presented the practical example of the development of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility in the selected company. The indicated specific initiatives in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, undertaken by the selected company, may bring about the orientation of similar enterprises towards the opportunities to approach the development of the CSR strategy by appropriate social progress, investment of the resources, time and skills to provide the society with benefits. The analysis of the impact of these initiatives on the results achieved by the company, its performance, constitute an actual example of practical implication of the validity of the development of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility in this company. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Effectiveness, Business Management. Paper type : Research paper.

Purpose. Recent two decades of consumer research shifted from the paradigm of classical rational consumer who is making decision in a clearly prescribed sequence using accountable indicators for the assessment of alternatives and decision towards the paradigm of consumer whose decisions are irrational and affected by a number of contextual factors. One field of studies of consumer irrationality deal with consumer heuristics (Kahneman and Tversky, 2000; Ariely, 2010), that is, mental shortcuts made on the basis of selectively collected and weighted information pieces to ease the decision. Another wide field of studies is ambient marketing (part of sensory marketing) that researches how various ambient scent related conditions might influence consumer emotions and behaviour (Olahut and Plaias, 2013). However, no attempts have been made to relate these two fields to test whether ambient scent changes heuristic related decision making and behaviour. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship of ambient scents’ type and intensiveness with decision making heuristics. Methodology. Factorial 2x2 experimental design with control group was performed. Ambient scent type (vanilla vs. peppermint) and intensiveness (8 (1mg) vs. 16 sprays (2mg) of scent concentrate in the same room) were manipulated as between subject variables. Risk averse vs. risk seeking behavior, effect of anchoring heuristics and affect (risk and benefit) heuristics were tracked as dependent variables. Respondents were drawn from homogeneous students’ sample and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Results. Evidence suggests that there are effect of ambient scent on decision making heuristics, thus fulfilling the missing gap to relate ambient environment to decision making heuristics. However, not all heuristics were affected by experimental conditions. Subjects were bidding significantly lower amounts under low anchor conditions, when vanilla scent was around (if compared to peppermint and control group). Affect risk was perceived as lower in peppermint ambient scent conditions, if compared to control group. Intensity of ambient scent also had influence on affect risk: subjects perceived less risks under high scent intensity conditions. The theoretical contribution. Although there are a number of research on various heuristics effect on decision making, as well as a vast research in ambient scent effect field, the paper is among pioneering works that combine two types of non-cognitive factors on decision making, and test the results. Practical implications . By manipulating environmental scenting conditions, marketers may reduce or increase consumers risk perception and as a consequence influence their purchase decisions. Marketers could use peppermint scent in high intensiveness in the situations where they want consumers to undertake higher risks (expensive purchases, gambling, insurance), since stakes were higher under peppermint condition. Keywords: ambient scent type, ambient scent intensiveness, heuristics, risk averse-risk seeking, anchoring, affect. Paper type : Research paper.

Organizational change is a risky and challenging endeavor for any type of organization. There are many aspects to change management and one important aspect is persuasion. Persuasion helps to implement a successful change management program. A social hub is person who has social ties to many other people compared to most people. In popular culture, this type of person is also called a popular person. In organizations, there are popular employees who are in fact a social hub. These employees have influence on other employees and they can persuade others towards a particular belief. In this paper, we investigate the role of persuasive social hubs for organizational change. We believe persuasive social hubs can be used to achieve organizational change. In social studies, it is hard to replicate conditions and isolate certain factors. Therefore, in this paper, we benefit from computer simulations and isolate the effect of persuasion by stabilizing all other factors. Our analysis revealed that using social hubs increase the chance of success in organizational change.

Purpose. The aim of this paper is to present theoretical framework for measuring value of social innovations. The paper examines measurement of social innovations in the context of their multidimensionality and the triple bottom line (TBL) approach. Methodology. A scientific literature review and an analysis of international independent research projects on the topic of social innovations, developed by the European Commission, OECD, The Young Foundation and etc., has been done. The basis of the analysis are the theoretical frameworks for measuring value of social innovations and identification of key measurement indicators. Results. A theoretical framework for measuring social innovations’ value through the dimensions of social needs by adapting the TBL approach is presented. The theoretical contribution. Nowadays the relevance of innovation measurement has become a significant concern for both private and public sector not only at micro level but in mezo and macro levels as well. The core of social innovation is to meet the social needs by creating new or substantially and significantly improving or updating: products, services, processes, markets, platforms, organizational forms and business management models (Porter, Kramer, 2011; Caulier- Grice et al., 2012; Schmitz et al., 2013). Social innovation occurs within such dimensions as: demography, environment, new communities, poverty reduction, health care and welfare, ethical trade and service trends (European Commission, 2011, 2013). The value created by social innovation is shared in economical, social and environmental dimensions. The TBL was chosen as the basic approach for measuring value of social innovations because it covers all the above mentioned dimensions. Because of the same purpose “common good” the assignment of the appropriate measurement indicators can be integrated in measurement of the value of social innovation through TBL approach. The paper expands our understanding about measuring social innovations’ value on the theoretical basis. Our analysis contributes to the development of a universal measurement model for social innovations’ value with several insights. Practical implications . This paper presents the theoretical background that is needed in order to develop a measurement model for social innovations. The development of such framework would allow measuring value created by social innovations and its impact through the TBL approach dimensions. Keywords: Social Innovations, Measurement, Triple Bottom Line. Paper type : Theoretical paper.

The increasing globalization of the contemporary tourism economy is the cause, due to which, for many countries that want to be competitive on the international tourism market, the creation of a positive tourist image of the country and building a strong national brand is a major challenge. The process of creating the tourist image is very complex and requires the involvement and cooperation of many different actors (not just state institutions and organizations, but also local governments, tourism organizations and other public and private entities). Purpose. The aim of this article is to analyse the structure of the system of building the tourist brand of Poland, as well as the diagnosis of the current image of the country among the inhabitants of selected European countries. The adoption of such an objective will also allow to identify the main problems and challenges associated with the creation of a tourist image of a country and building a national brand. Methodology. The main research method used in the paper is a case study describing the system of building a tourist image of a particular country. The complementary method is the analysis of the existing data (desk research method), including the study of documents and reports from institutions and organizations involved in the promotion of Poland, among others, such as the Polish Tourist Organisation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Polish Brand Institute, as well as the research reports showing the current way of perceiving Poland as a tourist destination by the residents of certain countries of the European Union. Results. The analysis of the structure of the system of tourist promotion in the country will enable the identification of the role of different institutions and organizations in that system, present the relationship between them, identify the vulnerabilities of the system, and show the contemporary challenges faced by these entities (in particular, the need for cooperation and coordination). The analysis of the previous promotional activities undertaken to create the tourist image of the country and the evaluation of the current tourist image of Poland on selected European markets will enable the determination of the direction of future promotional activities and identify the main problems associated with this process. The preliminary analyses of the documents showed that Poland does not have a distinctive, coherent or attractive tourist image abroad. In this area, however, many positive changes occur that should be promoted on the international market. The theoretical contribution. Article is located in theoretical concept on place branding rapidly developing in the last decade, in particular, refers to the theory associated with the formation of the brand of the country as a tourist destination. Theoretical contribution of the paper is based on a synthesis of the literature, taking into account two perspectives - tourism and marketing – in the process of building nation brand. Practical implications . This article will present the examples of good practices in the field of tourist promotion of Poland, which can be used in other countries. Keywords: place marketing, country branding, nation branding, Poland as a tourist brand.

Purpose. This paper discusses the possibility of identifying weaknesses of information system management for support the company's sustainable performance. Obviously, as a result of the current fast development, each organization uses information and communication technologies. According to Hřebicek, Kubasek, 2011 nowadays, information systems are implemented for more and more enterprise activities. They are related not only to the company economic growth, also to the environment, social responsibility and corporate governance. Many advanced value indicators associated with the success of the company have been defined, for example, the Economic Value Added (1982, Joel Stern), the Market Value Added (1993, Stern Stewart Management Services), etc. In last years, the Sustainable Value Added (2004, 2005, Figge, Hahn) plays a key role. It links to the company's sustainable performance, and generally, it contributes to the sustainable development (1987, the Brundtland Report, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development; 1992, Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development; 2002, Johannesburg, the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development: RIO+10; 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development: Rio+20). The concept of sustainability is an important asset towards all stakeholders of every company. Katiliūtė, Daunorienė, Katkutė (2014) highlighted the importance of higher corporate sustainable performance. The company's strategic management should be able to identify areas with the lowest efficiency and look for ways to correct keeping the company sustainable success. In practice, this area is very often supported a corporate information system. Each strategic management of company should devote considerable attention to the implementation, lead and development of its information system supporting corporate sustainable performance. It should continuously measure its own effectiveness and efficiency. Inefficient information systems can result in the failure. Sustainable performance assessment should be challenges and inspirations for the appropriate corporate information systems innovation. Methodology. The corporate information system assessment is based on dispositions offered the Hardware, Orgware and Software (HOS) method (extended), which has been developing over twenty years, primarily, the co-author of this paper, at the Faculty of Business and Management of the Brno University of Technology. Results. This paper presents the verified methodology to indicate possible problem in several areas of the implementation and management of corporate information system to support its sustainable performance. The theoretical contribution. The theoretical contribution of our paper is the analysis and discussion possibilities of modification of the HOS methods with the aim to refine past results of HOS implementation and provide the greater variability of their subsequent use in the context of sustainable performance. Practical implications . This paper describes the new possibility of assessment of corporate information system for its support of corporate sustainable performance. Keywords: HOS method, information system, corporate information system, sustainable performance. Paper type : Theoretical paper.

In the article the urgency of revising the upper age limit of the target segment of the tourist business in the face of population aging is justified. It is proved that tourism must respond to the new demographic challenges in society, such as the aging population and active longevity, with new types and forms of tourism, and new service technologies. The paper presents the results of the survey of Russians aged “65 +”, which allow us to prove the relevance of tourist arrivals in the segment of senior tourism. The practice of domestic and foreign tourism industry businesses with “65+” consumers is reviewed. The survey has identified needs of the people of the 3rd age segment, “senior tourism”. In this paper we propose a model of consumer behavior which is based on the analysis of the specific needs of the elderly in Russia. The essential elements of the model needs will allow for personalized and focused marketing in the segment, « senior tourism».

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to present the factors affecting the implementation of the controlling in logistics enterprises in Poland and importance of this concept for this type of companies. Methodology. The objective has been achieved by obtaining the results of empirical research which was conducted in the years 2011 to 2013 among logistics companies in Poland by means of the questionnaire survey and the telephone interviews. To analyse the data and results descriptive statistics and selected statistical methods have been used. Results. The results of the empirical study showed that there is little difference between the implementation of controlling systems and its lack in logistics enterprises. Most often mentioned factors for implementation of controlling are: the size of businesses and insufficient performance measurement in different areas within a company. Furthermore, all the desirable effects from the implementation of controlling obtained, they were quite highly rated by the surveyed companies, but the most important is to obtain to improvement of activities within planning, organization and controlling. Generally, respondents perceive the controlling as an concept coordination and support in decision – making oriented. This also confirms the location of the controlling departments in the survyed companies, which is located near the main leadership (management board) taking the form of a unit at the headquarters. The theoretical contribution. The importance of controlling system is widely described in the literature in the context of the manufacturing companies, but rarely in the context to logistics enterprises, which currently play a special role in the process of creating value. In addition, the specificity of this type of business entities and allows indicating – concept of logistics controlling. Knowledge of the state of implementation of controlling in logistics enterprises, i.e. factors affecting this process and from this concept effects derived, taking into account the situational and constraints theory, it allows the author to deepen the analysis of this research problem in terms of measurement of cost, performance and other aspects of logistics. Practical implications. The research problem by the author undertaken is important for business practice. Despite a positive trend of the implementation of controlling in logistics enterprises in Poland, further analysis of research results shows that many of tasks of controlling are done in other departments e.g. logistics departments, and tools of controlling are often used occasionally. This may mean that the analyzed concept is not well known in the logistics business. Therefore, the scientists with practitioners together should develop effective tools and methods that would be useful within logistics controlling, taking into account the financial and non-financial aspects. Keywords: controlling, logistics enterprises, Poland Paper type : Research paper.

Performance Management System needs improvement in the face of the level of competition in the 21st century as increasingly stringent and urgent things need to be done by each company. This paper is a study to see how big a role fixes Performance Management System in improvement of performance family company. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the role of the dimensions that play a role in the Performance Management System. While the performance of the company as a form of evidence that the company uses resources efficiently, focus on continuous improvement and effectiveness organization.

This paper deals with our concept of teaching marketing at the University of Zilina – Faculty of management science and informatics. Our main educational goal toward the students is to teach them marketing approach and marketing way of thinking. The students work with real existing products. With study of market reality they try to understand strategic approaches. They work in teams. Single study groups deals with single products, which are direct competitors (e.g. Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's XBOX One…). At the end of the course students presents specific information and findings at a joint meeting. The results are also under discussion, which is necessary for a more comprehensive understanding of the market. Discussion results are generalized and confronted with theoretical knowledge. In our concept are crucial two factors: teamwork and the use of information-communication technologies that allow students to work better together. Our paper describes the concept of teaching the marketing course and its main meaning. Subsequently, we discuss a method of teamwork among students.

The main objective of the current paper is to investigate the effective factors on the farmers’ trust in trainers using structural equation modeling. the current paper is an applied one and it is also a descriptive-survey research regarding the data gathering methods. It is a correlative study and particularly it is based on structural equation modeling. the statistical population of the study includes all the farmers, gardeners, and poultry and livestock farmers (traditional and industrial) residing in Ilam Province which adds up to 58858 people. The sampling method is multi-step random sampling method and in order to calculate the size of the sample, the maximum variance and Morgan's table were used and determined the size to be 384 participants. in order to evaluate the validity of the questionnaire, context validity method was used and the questionnaire was confirmed by ten experts. In order to evaluate the stability the Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient was calculated to be 0.8824. the results of the study show that there is a positive significant relationship among the characteristics of the trusting party (farmers), the characteristics of the trusted party (trainers) and the environmental characteristics with the farmers’ trust in trainers and all the three hypotheses of the study were confirmed.

Innovative activity of companies differs due to their sphere. This paper will focus on companies operating in the IT (Information Technology) sphere, whose business success depends on innovations more than the success of companies in any other sector. Innovations for manufacturing hi-tech products, for example, computer equipment, demand more intense (narrower) focus on product innovations owing to the fact that the basis of viability and financial well-being of hi-tech companies is demand for their products. Therefore, innovations in such companies are mostly directed at creation of new products or modernization of the already existing ones. As a consequence, in order to define the activity of IT companies more precisely we should use specific classification of innovation strategies. The innovative behavior of IT-companies is one of the main sources of competitiveness, business survival and economic growth. It is therefore important to identify and understand the factors that determine innovation behavior among IT enterprises. Innovation behavior depends on innovation capacity and is realized in a particular innovation strategy. This paper attempts to show the mechanism of choosing the most appropriate innovation strategy and the most accurate project estimation. Using the data collected on IT companies, the correlation between innovation strategies and company's performance was found.

Technical vocational education and training (TVET) plays an important role in shaping a nation's intellectual human capital. In today's world, TVET has undergone several transformations in fulfilling its tasks to produce excellent, competitive and skilful human capital. The paper identifies strategies to be used in enhancing skills-acquisition of undergraduate TVET students through improved collaboration with industries in Nigeria. It reviewed two prominent forms of technical cooperation that exist between HEIs and industries in Nigeria, vis-a-vis endowment of chairs and other research positions to promote excellence and provision of Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) positions to undergraduate students. This practice is continuously yielding positive results within the mandate of Industrial Training Fund (ITF). The current trend in TVET places much emphasis on entrepreneurship education to promote creativity and poverty alleviation strategies that will generate job-creation avenues to Nigeria's teeming graduates. The paper discussed entrepreneurial education as an instrument per excellent to unlock economic potentials of Nigerian citizens through innovative collaboration with the industry. It advocated for a review of SIWES program to develop entrepreneurial skills that contributes to an individual's personal development, increase his productivity and income and facilitate participation in economic and social life. It was recommended that all hands should be on deck to help our youths mitigate poverty by providing them with skills; entrepreneurial attitude and knowledge to raise their output and generate income. This calls for continued lifelong learning and training to enable continuous relevance to the world of work. In conclusion, the authors stressed that the idea was to support practical acquisition of life skills, to make employees more aware of the context of their work and better able to seize opportunities, and to provide a foundation for entrepreneurs in setting up social or commercial activities.

The following paper analyzesthe most popular websites offering e-learning courses of currency trading or foreign exchange (forex). The characteristics of websites, for instance, number of page visits, time spent on the page, page rank, bounce rate, and other characteristics are presented. On the basis of these parameters and characteristics, a multi-criteria utility function was built, and the most popular and best-known e-learning providers in the field of currency trading were selected. Different approaches, techniques and tools used on these websites providing e-learning in the field of foreign exchange trading were analyzed. Providers and services of such courses differ in approaches and offer different e-learning techniques. The article also shows common features, peculiarities and deficiencies of learning approaches in the field of e-learning of currency trading. Some recommendations which can also be used in other areas of education, and learning approaches which can be used in the future, are given. The paper also fills a gap in the field of e-learning in foreign exchange trading, and contributes to ease the selection process of the forex e-learning provider.

This paper investigates whether environmental regulations become obstacles or a cause for innovation in Japan by examining some empirical evidences on how environmental regulations affect the course and character of technological change through innovative activities of the firms in Japan. Available literature shows that it is rather very difficult to measure the stringency of environmental regulations and its effects on subsequent innovations at aggregate levels. As a result, this study adopted detailed case studies to overcome the problems of previous empirical studies due to their aggregate nature and to understand well the nature of the relationship between environmental regulations and innovation. In this paper, we picked up the cases of Toyota Prius and Nissan Leaf to study and examine the impacts of environmental regulations on innovation.

Sustainable tourism development is now a necessity of time. All the parties involved in tourism should participate in efforts to sustainable tourism development. Sustainability, as the best way of doing business today, is a new concept in the tourism sector and sustainable tourism practices can be considered as a new type of innovation in the tourism industry. Therefore knowledge of the factors affecting tourism businesses to integrate sustainability in their activities is critical. Without this type of information, we are limited in our ability to design tools that work in the future to mitigate barriers and increase motivations tourism businesses to adopt sustainable tourism practices in their activity. Factors’ influencing in the integration of sustainable practices into business activities is very subject discussed in different industries and different scientific disciplines after the late 80's. However, a limited number of studies addressed perspective of tourism businesses to adopt sustainable tourism practices. These studies have used different theoretical models. This paper undertakes the analysis of these models from the review of literatures, giving their advantages and limitations in the study of the factors influencing businesses to adopt sustainable tourism practices. After analysis, the paper finally concludes that Rogers's theory on adaptation and diffusion of innovation is a suitable theoretical model in the study of factors influencing the adoption of sustainable tourism practices in tourism businesses.

The labor market in Romania is characterized by a strong contradiction: the population complains that there are not enough jobs, and the firms have problems with the recruitment of employees. The companies problems are related to the quality of human resources as well of economic and social factors that influence the recruitment process. This paper presents the results of a quantitative research on the internships importance in human resource training. To conduct this research the authors used the survey as research method and the research instrument was the questionnaire. In the first part of the paper the authors present the research methodology and the context in which it was conducted. In the second part of the paper, the research results are presented. In the end of the paper are presented conclusions and suggestions for increasing the quality of human resources.

There is a need to move from system flexibility to process flexibility with advancements of research in the niche field of flexible systems management. This paper analyses how much Indian organisational flexibility is aligned with employee expectations, greater workforce utilization and avoiding process failures amidst the process of globalization trends. The paper attempts to reduce risks and add up values in the business process flow. It maps key flexibility functions and expectations within the vast head of organisational flexibility. The paper works to find empirical links between employee reactions to Indian organisational flexibility and expanding business process optimization with globalization impacts and the responses towards organisational strategies. The paper also investigates on how exactly the dynamics of Indian organisational flexibility contributes to the economy and social stand points of a fast growing nation. Flexibility as a process is studied with challenges, positive trends, organizational abilities and reactions fitting well with global business environment.

Many entrepreneurs are really visionary game changers who believe both in their missions and values. These types of entrepreneurs use their mindsets and essential entrepreneurial thinking to build successful family businesses. The aim of this paper is to describe this special mindset, which manifests itself in entrepreneurial thinking, and offer a solution to help successors in family businesses to refresh and improve the core businesses given to them. Design thinking might be used as a method for helping successors to recognize new business opportunities and refresh the core business, creating new visions and values. This paper is divided into the following sections: introduction, the creation and definition of entrepreneur missions and values. A short description of the entrepreneurial thinking is in the third part. Part four focuses on the problem of succession in family businesses. In part five, the reason why the design thinking might be the right tool to help solve this problem is explained. Finally, a conclusion is offered. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Reverse logistics practices are gaining attention due to environmental concern, enforced legislation, rapid change in technology and corporate citizenship. Reverse logistics has been seen as a part of sustainable development due to reduction in pollution by using product again after end-of its life. The goal of this research paper is to identify and rank the barriers of RL adoption so organization can cultivate strategies to tackle them on priority. This paper proposes a methodology based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to prioritize the barriers of RL adoption. A numerical analysis of electronic industry of India is presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed method. This proposed method considered fuzzy framework that can handle impreciseness and uncertainty easily. This study identified 28 barriers through literature review and expert's opinion. These barriers were categorized into five major criteria. The result of the study indicates that Lack of coordination/collaboration with 3PL providers, Customer perception about RL and Lack of system to monitor returns are the three most important barriers of RL adoption. Electronics companies should overcome these barriers with higher priority for effective RL adoption. Finally sensitivity analysis is also performed to check changes in the ranking of RL adoption barriers by change in criteria weights.

Quality in E-Learning is a critical success factor that is not easy to determine and achieve. In this paper, we aim to describe the challenges in quality development and show as solution approach, an innovative process management for planning, production and application of e-learning and the importance of quality standards. We will focus especially on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), because in the SME sector, the special optimization potential is what the introduction of explicit quality strategies concerns. This paper illustrates at first the problematic and defines its quality development in education and training. Subsequently, appropriate tools and aids, used by both providers and users, will be demonstrated. The focus will be on quality standards and instruments for their application, which will be developed by the Quality Initiative E-Learning in Germany. In particular, the reference process model of PAS 1032-1 and the subsequent constructive first standard for quality management in education and training (ISO/IEC 19796-1) and the type of Quality Management Support Systems (QSS) are explained.

Sustainability has been becoming an imperative research agenda among the researchers/practitioners to achieve ecological, societal as well as financial benefits. As the moment, Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) practices are at very initial phase in developing countries like India due to existence of many hurdles. In present research, an effort has been made to identify and evaluate hurdles in implementing SSCM in Indian automobile sector. Literature review approach and experts’ inputs have been used to identify hurdles in implementing SSCM. Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) methodology has been utilized to understand the contextual relationships among these identified hurdles, their interdependence and hierarchy levels to implement SSCM practices in Indian automobile sector. MICMAC analysis has also been used to categorize identified hurdles according to their importance. ‘Political Instability’ has been reported as most driver hurdle in implementing SSCM. ‘Unawareness among society about social practices’ has been found as most dependent hurdle of the present study. We believe that, this paper will surely help business practitioners/researchers/scholars in broadening research in this emerging area and developing new theories/proposition. This paper may provide important future research directions towards increasing effectiveness of sustainability in the supply chains.

Food processing industries are assuming greater importance and processed food is now not a matter of choice but it is a necessity. As a result there is greater awareness of safety concerns, emerging risks and challenges in the context of food products. Consumers want guarantees for food characteristics, thus, calling for transparency and effective response in case of any food related health problem. This paper presents a framework for transparency, traceability and information flow for management of dairy supply chain networks. This paper follows a case study approach and presents findings from three types of dairy supply chains as prevalent in India. The paper analyses complexity of dairy products as well as processes in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic factors and their effects on the underlying dairy supply chain networks (DSCN). Governance mechanisms dovetailing various stages of the DSCN are presented in terms of their gaps and adequacy. Key components of the presented frameworks are harmonization of national standards with codex standards, hygiene control, strengthening quality control systems, enhancing information flow across stages, animal health care, disease free zones and formation of cooperatives of small dairy processors (CSDP) in line with the present dairy cooperative society (DCS). CSDP aims at collective action and public-private partnerships by the unorganized sector units to face the competition from large organized processors of dairy products in terms of quality, transparency, traceability and information flow. Transparency of a DSCN is the extent to which all its stakeholders have a shared understanding of and access to the product related information without loss, noise, delay and distortion. Given the perishable nature of dairy products, an effective traceability system is an important tool not only to manage food quality and safety risks, but also to promote the development of effective dairy supply chain management. This paper contributes to the nascent literature on transparency and traceability issues of dairy supply chain networks. Findings would be useful for policy makers in framing standards and effective regulations. Analysis of complexity would be useful for dairy industry managers.

This paper represents an analysis of the concepts of educational marketing and educational market offers in Romania. The paper intends to underline the main actors involved on the Romanian educational market and their predilect manners of presenting themselves on the market. We present the role of the marketing initiatives in the context of the management of the educational institutions, as marketing is an intrinsic component and a function of the institutional marketing. We make a distinction between the general marketing and the educationally focused marketing, on the bases of the market segmenting principles, that are traditional marketing principles, yet relatively new in the educational field. We present results of a research on the factors that lead to decisions in parents or students’ decision in choosing the school, in their relative order of importance. The research focused on the analysis of the factors which parents from Romania consider important when choosing a school in comparison with the factors recognized worldwide.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of companies operating in Greece in the field of CSR, which have voluntarily participated for evaluation under the international tool titled Corporate Responsibility Index (CR Index). CR Index assesses companies based on their performance in CSR activities related to society, environment, market and employees. A well defined period of 6 years since the adoption of CRI in Greece is examined for 26 participating companies, starting in 2008. The paper follows a content analysis approach. The findings shed light to the limited existing literature on the influence of the economic crisis of a country on the allocation of CSR activities. The findings indicate that the participating companies become more effective in regard to their CSR activities since there is a significant qualitative difference between pre-crisis CSR practices and the one reported after. Moreover, our study shows a bidirectional influence process between companies and the society in which they operate, if we take into consideration that, despite the economic crisis and the companies significant drop in profits, they become more efficient and are highly evaluated. Nonetheless, the content analysis illustrated that companies could further communicate and promote CSR activities to the society’ since they have not fully done so. This is so because the communication of the CRI in the companies’ corporate websites and the reference in the awards received appears to be limited in the companies’ corporate websites.