<p>Globalna konkurencija u turizmu postala je izazov za mnoge zemlje koje se<br />takmiče da postanu poželjna turistička destinacija, te je razumevanje faktora koji<br />doprinose konkurentnosti destinacije od su&scaron;tinskog značaja za održavanje<br />postojećeg nivoa razvoja turističke destinacije, njenog rasta i vitalnosti. Zbog<br />toga, merenje konkurentnosti se može smatrati ključnim faktorom u<br />obezbeđivanju uspeha turističkih destinacija. Predmet doktorske disertacije je<br />identifikacija i utvrđivanje značaja faktora koji mogu imati uticaj na<br />konkurentnost ruralnog turizma Vojvodine. U radu su se, primenom anketnog<br />istraživanja, ispitivali stavovi interesnih grupa značajnih za razvoj ruralnog<br />turizma na strani ponude u Vojvodini i Mađarskoj (direktni pružaoci usluga u<br />ruralnom turizmu, zaposleni u turističkim organizacijama i turističkim<br />agencijama, zaposleni u op&scaron;tinskim i pokrajinskim službama, zaposleni u<br />ministarstvima, nastavno osoblje na fakultetima). Osnovni cilj istraživanja je da<br />se utvrdi koliko je Vojvodina konkurentna kao destinacija ruralnog turizma,<br />odnosno da se oceni trenutno stanje svih onih faktora koji utiču/mogu uticati na<br />konkurentnost Vojvodine. Naučni doprinos istraživanja doktorske disertacije<br />ogleda se u identifikaciji determinanti koje su od značaja za konkurentnost<br />destinacija ruralnog turizma. Kao rezultat toga, razviće se model za merenje<br />konkurentnosti destinacija ruralnog tuirzma koji će biti primenljiv na Vojvodinu<br />koja ima kapacitete da razvija ruralni turizam, ali i bilo koju drugu destinaciju<br />ruralnog turizma.</p> / <p>Global competition in the tourism industry has become a challenge for many countries that are competing to become a desirable tourist destination, so understanding the factors that contribute to the competitiveness of destinations is essential to maintain the current level of development of tourist destination, its growth and vitality. Therefore, measurement of competitiveness can be considered as a key factor in ensuring the success of tourist destinations. The subject of this dissertation is to identify and determine the significance of the factors that may have an impact on the competitiveness of rural tourism in Vojvodina. In the paper, survey research is used in order to investigate attitudes of stakeholders important for rural tourism development on the supply side in Vojvodina and Hungary (direct service providers in rural tourism, employees of tourist organizations and travel agencies, employees of municipal and provincial departments, employees of ministries, teaching staff at universities). The main objective of the research is to determine how much Vojvodina is a competitivedestination for rural tourism, or to assess the current state of all the factors that affect/could affect the competitiveness of Vojvodina. The scientific contribution of the&nbsp; doctoral dissertation research is reflected in the identification of determinants that are&nbsp; important for the competitiveness of rural tourism destination. As a result, the model will be developed to measure the competitiveness of rural tourism destinations, which will be applicable to Vojvodina, the province that has the capacity to develop rural tourism, or any other destination of rural tourism.</p>

The work is focused on the analysis of operational risks in a construction company, which are associated with the implementation of constructions. In the individual chapters, I focused on the definition of operational risks and counter-risk measures. I defined the project, types of projects, project management and principles of project management. I described the construction company, its organizational structure and operational activities. I analyzed the risks in the construction company, risk management and risk control. Finally, I listed the criteria and options for achieving the goals and success of the construction company. The output of the work are recommendations of procedures to eliminate risks and achieve business goals. The benefit is an increase in the company's competitiveness.

The thesis deals with the situation in public transport on public personal transport service between Prague and Brno. In the thesis, it is analysed the current situation between Prague – Brno from the technical and economic point of view. There is a public rail transport subsidized by Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic through payment of provable financial losses and private public coach services operated by private carriers on their own business risk. In the context of the current situation, the thesis suggests the focus of the basic parameters for a balanced assessment of the competitive environment for further development of passenger transport (rail, road) with regard to the existing demand and socio-economic aspects in the region.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(農学) / 甲第20004号 / 農博第2188号 / 新制||農||1044(附属図書館) / 学位論文||H28||N5013(農学部図書室) / 33100 / 京都大学大学院農学研究科生物資源経済学専攻 / (主査)教授 福井 清一, 教授 伊藤 順一, 教授 水野 広祐 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Agricultural Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Bakgrund: Sedan andra hälften av 1900-talet har företag börjat se kompetens som en investering jämfört med tidigare. Då sågs istället avkastning enbart från produkter och utrustning och inte från de anställda. Idag ses även kompetens som en avkastning samt att det genererar mervärde och konkurrensfördelar. Därför får humankapitalet en betydande roll när det kommer till hur det ska förvaltas, samt utvecklas på grund av att humankapitalet inte redovisas på samma sätt som de fysiska tillgångarna och resurserna. En viktig del av humankapitalet är arbetet med kompetensutveckling och dess avgörande roll för den innovativa utvecklingen. För att hantera dessa innovationer är en viktig komponent att kunna ha kompetent personal samt utbilda dem men också kunna fördela organisationens resurser. Vid ekonomiska nedgångar som vid lågkonjunkturer är det oftast kompetensutveckling och utbildningsinsatser som företag allt som oftast först avvecklar. Detta kan i sin tur medför att organisationer behöver utforma strategier och arbeta för förändringar inför en lågkonjunktur. Detta är nödvändigt för att företag fortfarande ska hålla sig levande på marknaden. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur industriföretag blir påverkade av en lågkonjunktur med deras investeringar av humankapital. Studien vill öka förståelsen kring kompetensutvecklingens betydelse för en innovativ utveckling och hur arbetet med det fungerar inför och under en lågkonjunktur. Metod: Studien har använt en kvalitativ metod i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer som utformades efter en intervjuguide. Detta sammanställdes sedan och transkriberades. Slutsats: Utifrån respondenternas svar tillsammans med teorin har studien visat att humankapitalet är en behovsanpassad resurs som med hjälp av åtgärder skapar möjligheter för att ständigt utvecklas. Behovet av en kontinuerlig kompetensutveckling skapar även möjligheter att utveckla en innovativ tillverkning för att stärka konkurrenskraften mot andra företag på marknaden. / Background: Since the second half of the 20th century, companies have started to see competence as an investment compared to before. Instead, returns were seen only from products and equipment and not from the personnel. Today, competence is also seen as a return that generates added value and competitive advantages. Therefore, human capital takes on a significant role when it comes to how it should be managed and developed due to the fact that human capital is not accounted for in the same way as the physical assets and resources. An important part of human capital is therefore related to how companies work with the development of personnel competence in an innovative way. In order to manage these innovations, an important component is to be able to have competent personnel and train them, but also to be able to allocate the organization's resources. In economic downturns and recessions, it is usually competence development and training efforts that companies most often phase out first, which in turn means that organizations need to design strategies and work for changes in spite of recessions. This is necessary for companies to still stay alive in the market. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate how industrial companies are affected by a recession in terms of their investments in human capital. The study wants to illustrate the importance of competence development for innovative development, and how organizations tackle this during economic downturn or recession.  Method: The study has used a qualitative method in the form of semi-structured interviews which were guided with the help of an interview guide and which later were compiled and transcribed. Conclusion: Based on the respondents' answers, the study has shown that human capital is a need-based resource that, with the help of measures, creates opportunities for continuous development. The need for continuous competence development also creates opportunities to develop innovative manufacturing to strengthen and behold competitive advantages.

The purpose of this dissertation study is to investigate the relationship among tourism competitiveness, quality of life, and freedom. The main premise is that the degree of freedom shapes the relationship between tourism development and quality of life. The study hypothesized that the greater the degree of freedom is, the greater impact tourism development will have on quality of life of residents of a destination. The theoretical framework of this study is based on combining Sen's capability approach with the tourism competitiveness theory. Tourism competitiveness aims at enhancing the quality of life, while Sen's capability approach provides the ingredients for how to improve quality of life through freedom. Thus, the main premise is that the combination of the two theoretical frameworks is possible through the construct of quality of life. The study is applied to the Central American region as tourism has become an important driver for socio-economic progress and growth. The study applied panel data analyses and comparative regression analyses to decipher and understand the context of tourism competitiveness and quality of life. The study built a tourism competitiveness index and investigated the intertemporal effects of tourism competitiveness, quality of life, and freedom. The major findings of this study are as follow. First, long term bi-directional causality was found between tourism competitiveness and quality of life. In other words, tourism not only positively impacts quality of life, but high levels of quality of life have positive influence on tourism competitiveness in the Central American region. This is a major contribution as such assumptions have been mainly hypothesized. Second, economic freedom was found to act as a moderating variable between tourism competitiveness and quality of life. This finding allows us to further understand what impact such relationship between tourism competitiveness and quality of life. Third, economic freedom was found not to have an impact on quality of life as originally thought. However, quality of life was found to have a short-term impact on economic freedom. Finally, economic freedom had a bi-directional relationship with tourism competitiveness. This is a major contribution as such relationship was not previously discussed in the academic literature. The theoretical implication of this study is in terms of combining the capability approach and the competitiveness theory. In terms of managerial implications, governments of the Central American region can work on strategies, such as marketing, to promote tourism which in turn will improve residents' quality of life. At the same time, the government can work on improving residents' well-being while impacting tourism competitiveness.

Changing the business operations and adopting new operational innovations, have become key features for a business solution approach. However, there are challenges for developing innovative operations due to a lack of the proper decision analysis tools, lack of understanding the impacts transition will have on operational models, and the time limits of the innovation life cycle. The cases of business failure in operational innovation (i.e. Eastman Kodak Company and Borders Group Inc.,) support the need for an investment decision framework. This research aims to develop a Real Option Dynamic Decision (RODD) framework for decision making, to support decision makers for operational innovation investments. This development will help the business/organization to recognize the need for change in operations, and quickly respond to market threats and customer needs. The RODD framework is developed by integrating a strategic investment method (Real Options Analysis), management transition evaluation (Matrix of Change), competitiveness evaluation (Lotka-Volterra), and dynamic behavior modeling (System Dynamics Modeling) to analyze the feasibility of the transformation, and to assess return on investment of new operation schemes. Two case studies are used: United Parcel Service of America, Inc., and Firefighting Operations to validate the RODD framework. The results show that the benefits of this decisionmaking framework are (1) to provide increased flexibility, improved predictions, and more information to decision makers; (2) to assess the value alternative option with regards to uncertainty and competitiveness; (3) to reduce complexity; and (4) to gain a new understanding of operational innovations.

Transportation and competitiveness practices of hardwood lumber exporters and other firms were studied and compared to determine the most important factors associated with exporting hardwood products. It was found that exporters differed significantly in their transportation methods, marketing activities, and production profiles from those other hardwood lumber firms. They also were significantly larger than expected in their total production and employment. As the forest products business continues to become more global, an analysis of the importance of these factors can be used how firms can begin exporting, or increase sales in international markets. It was found that certain elements of a sawmill's marketing strategy are a major determinant to the likelihood of its being an exporter. Results from logistic regression methods showed that transportation factors such as using intermodal transportation and inland port facilities and competitiveness factors such as species selection, marketing practices, and using government export assistance programs increased the probability of a firm's high involvement in international markets. Finally, data from exporting hardwood sawmills to Mexico, Europe, and Asia were analyzed to determine what makes successful exporting to these markets. Factors including export distribution methods, relationship with export distribution partner, competitiveness, transportation, and export assistance were analyzed. Such information might be useful for government agencies that wish to promote business commitment to sawmills throughout the United States for the following international markets. Hardwood sawmills should be encouraged by state officials to plan more aggressively to enter the Mexico market. Efforts are needed from U.S. trade associations to better identify the Mexican market segments, sources of market demand, and credit opportunities for US sawmills. / Ph. D.

This paper summarizes the theoretical and methodological approaches of Russian and foreign authors to disclose the concepts of "competitiveness of the enterprise" and "corporate social responsibility". Internal and external indicators of corporate social responsibility of enterprises for the purpose of installation of their impact on the competitiveness of enterprises were allocated. The conceptual model of enterprise competitiveness evaluation tool based on corporate social responsibility was built. The algorithm for using assessment tools taking into account the competitiveness of the enterprise with corporate social responsibility was developed and on the example of the enterprise of JSC "NK" Rosneft "was tested. / В данной статье обобщены теоретические и методологические подходы российских и зарубежных авторов к раскрытию понятий «конкурентоспособность предприятия» и «корпоративная социальная ответственность». Выделены внутренние и внешние показатели корпоративной социальной ответственности предприятий с целью установления их влияния на конкурентоспособность предприятий. Построена концептуальная модель инструмента оценки конкурентоспособности предприятия с учетом корпоративной социальной ответственности. Разработанный алгоритм использования инструментария оценки конкурентоспособности предприятия с учетом корпоративной социальной ответственности был апробирован на примере предприятия ОАО «НК «Роснефть».

Выпускная квалификационная работа (магистерская диссертация) посвящена исследованию оценке эффективности и финансовому обоснованию политики повышения конкурентоспособности промышленной компании. Предметом исследования выступают финансово-экономические отношения по поводу обеспечения конкурентоспособности производственной организации. Основная цель магистерской диссертации состоит в развитии теоретических и методических установок по оценке конкурентоспособности производственной компании, проведения анализа хозяйственной деятельности компании, предложить дополнение к существующим методам оценки конкурентоспособности. В заключении обозначены рекомендации по повышению конкурентоспособности для объекта исследования. / Final qualifying work (master's thesis) is devoted to the study of efficiency evaluation and financial justification of the policy of increasing the competitiveness of an industrial company. The subject of the study are the financial and economic relations on the competitiveness of the production organization. The main purpose of the master's thesis is to develop theoretical and methodological guidelines for assessing the competitiveness of the production company, the analysis of economic activity of the company, to offer an addition to the existing methods of assessing competitiveness. In conclusion, the recommendations to improve the competitiveness of the object of study.