Analytical Comparison of German Owner’s Budget Estimate and Chinese Contractor’s Bid: A Case Study for a Warehouse Building Project in China

Nowadays, the need for scientific and modernized engineering cost management has been increasingly prominent. Hence, this study compared the differences of the quantities’ terms, the management philosophy, the related institutions (or specifications), and other factors in engineering cost management between China and Germany accompanied by a case study for a warehouse building project in China. There are two main parts. Firstly, according to the literature research, the comparative analysis was conducted on the engineering cost-control mode, the list of bills of quantities, and other parameters between China and Germany. On the basis of this, the “differences” between China and Germany especially in the bidding process were further studied with the empirical analysis of engineering cases, which is a supplementary argument to the theoretical analysis. Finally, several related suggestions were put forward, including proposing a set of “universal” bills of quantities (which can be understood by Chinese enterprises and also accepted by foreign-funded enterprises), the establishment of the whole process, a dynamic and information-based project cost-management system, cultivation of talents with the advanced management concept, and the development of international engineering companies and project-management companies with core competitiveness. The conclusions are expected to provide some references for China’s construction industry to further expand the international market and to increase the influences in global markets.

ENTERPRISE COST MANAGEMENT METHODS

The article is devoted to the research analysis of current patterns in the methodology of cost management at the enterprise. Modern methods of production cost management are analyzed. Methods that take into account the influence of the internal and external environment on production costs are determined. It is established that each method used autonomously does not solve the entire complex of management tasks. Therefore, the improvement of cost management methods should be based on the synthesis of a new method that includes the advantages of existing cost methods and eliminates their disadvantages

МОДЕЛЬНИЙ ПІДХІД У МЕТОДОЛОГІЇ УПРАВЛІННЯ ПРОЕКТАМИ

Вступ. У деяких математичних моделях управління проектами виникає потреба встановлення максимального радіусу гіперсфери, зануреної в поліедральну галузь. Сучасний математичний апарат теорії оптимізації сумісно із застосуванням комп’ютерних технологій дає змогу розв’язувати нелінійні задачі оптимізації, але завжди існує доцільність лінеаризації складних нелінійних задач. Таке спрощення дає змогу використовувати точні класичні методи оптимізаційного розв’язку, на відміну від наближених, для нелінійної оптимізації. Поставимо завдання строгого математичного зведення (лінеаризації) багатовимірної нелінійної задачі оптимізації про занурення гіперсфери максимального радіусу в опуклу ділянку типу поліедру. Нехай маємо замкнений поліедр, поданий системою лінійних алгебраїчних нерівностей. У ділянці замкненого поліедру необхідно розмістити гіперсферу максимального радіусу. Мета. У статті проаналізовано модель установлення максимального радіусу гіперсфери, розміщеної (зануреної) у поліедральну ділянку (опуклу множину, обмежену прямими лініями), яка забезпечує врахування великої множини факторів, серед яких – управління інтеграцією (Project Integration Management); предметна ділянка проекту (Project Scope Management); управління якістю (Project Quality Management); управління часом (Project Time Management); управління вартістю (Project Cost Management); управління комунікаціями (Project Communication Management); управління контрактами (Project Procurement Management); управління ризиками (Project Risk Management). Результати. У моделі запропоновано строге математичне зведення (лінеаризація) нелінійної оптимізаційної задачі про розміщення гіперсфери максимального радіусу в опуклу ділянку типу поліедру до задачі лінійної оптимізації. Таким чином, задача про розміщення гіперсфери найбільшого радіусу в поліедрі формулюється як задача лінійної оптимізації. Висновки. Строго доведено можливість лінеаризації задачі про занурення гіперсфери максимального радіусу у поліедр. Задачу зведено до класичної задачі лінійної оптимізації, яка може бути розв’язана відомими методами. Запропонований підхід узагальнюється на задачі довільної скінченої вимірності.

CONTROL SUPPLY OF THE COST-MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF ENTERPRISES

In modern conditions, a number of factors affect the activities of enterprises, which include a tough competitive environment, limited material resources, and the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To improve its efficiency, it is necessary to minimize the costs of manufacturing products, performing work and providing services. Effective and rational internal control contributes to the solution of this task. In this regard, issues related to the organizational and methodological support of control over production costs are of particular relevance. The research was carried out in order to study organizational aspects and develop directions for improving the methodological support of internal control of production costs. As one of the internal control tools, it is advisable to use the internal control working document (ICWD) “Test for assessing the accounting system of production costs”, which allows you to collect information on the validity and reliability of accounting for production costs and calculating the cost of production; on the procedures used in the system of internal control over production costs and the effectiveness of these procedures; on the general principles of organizing the primary, synthetic and analytical accounting of production costs, on the rationing of material resources at the enterprise. To systematize the information collected during the internal control of primary accounting, the ICWD “Checking the primary accounting of production costs” is suitable. Using the ICWD developed within the framework of the study “Checking compliance with the norms of consumption of material assets in production”, it is possible to establish the validity of material costs and generalize the results of checking the norms of inventories for production. For internal control of work-in-progress, it is proposed to use the ICWD “Questionnaire for assessing the organization and accounting of inventory of work in progress”.

The Importance of Entrepreneurship in Micro and Small Enterprises in Uncertainty and Barrier Scenarios

Economic, political, and technological uncertainties require organizations to prepare adequately for new events that occur each day. Economic crisis, changes in the policies of each country and technological developments are classic examples of these changes in organizations. Seasonality is one of the economic phenomena that occur, and different forms of management are required. The seasonality that is described as a systematic and temporal imbalance of the tourist phenomenon that does not need to be regular, caused by the climate or by the vacation periods, and is based on the consumer behavior that can be expressed in terms of the number of visitors, traffic, highways, jobs, and tickets at attractions. Therefore, through a careful analysis of seasonality, it is possible that the losses are predicted, and the negative impact is not so grotesque on the company. For this, it is good that the manager uses the cost assessment methods to assume the seasonality of sales and thus be able to guard against the negative effects of the same. The objective of this research is to understand how owners of micro and small businesses in coastal cities consider themselves entrepreneurs or not and how they deal with obstacles such as seasonality through cost management. The methodology used was based on an exploratory and bibliographic research with a qualitative approach, seeking to analyze the triad: Entrepreneurship, Seasonality and Cost Management. The field research was applied through a semi-structured questionnaire to the sample of 100 Microentrepreneurs in the trade of goods and services in Caraguatatuba and São Sebastião, central cities of the North Coast of São Paulo. The main results show that most of the interviewed entrepreneurs perceive a certain impact caused by seasonality, understand the use of Cost Management to improve their processes and are adapted to one of the main costing methods highlighted by the bibliography.

СИСТЕМАТИЗАЦІЯ ВИТРАТОУТВОРЮЮЧИХ ЧИННИКІВ ДЛЯ УПРАВЛІННЯ ВИТРАТАМИ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА НА ТАКТИЧНОМУ ТА СТРАТЕГІЧНОМУ РІВНЯХ

The article attempts to substantiate the key approaches to the systematization of cost-driving factors from the enterprise cost management perspective (tactical and strategic) and offers a definition to a factor concept. The study presents the existing scientific approaches to the classification of cost drivers as well as an interpretation of cost-driving factors. Groups of structural factors within internal and external environment that affect enterprise costing have been identified along with revealing the character of such influence, i.e. whether they provide a direct indirect effect on the company expenditures. Given the tactical and strategic management objectives, the authors suggest systematization of all cost drivers into two groups. In particular, tactical management covers the following factors: output scale, product range, company cost management methods, qualification of personnel, and depreciation accrual. Within the scope of this study, strategically critical factors are represented by organizational business pattern of production, technology level, lack of brand awareness for domestic products, inflation rate, average salary range, low solvency, high costs for raw materials and energy, high tolls, import dependency, strong market competition, low demand, lack of government support, excessive tax burden, frequent changes in tax legislation, high loan interest rates, unfavourable investment environment, poor networking between domestic enterprises in complementary industries, small share of medium-sized businesses or small business alliances. In addition, in the frameworks of strategic cost management, the study offers to classify the cost drivers into the following groups: economic, market- or tax-based, financial and systemic. Apart from that, the relationship between individual cost-driving factors has been revealed. The findings argue that strategic cost management has a number of limitations associated with certain challenges to attain accuracy in forecasting change in factors for successive periods.