Determinants of Controlling in a Non-Public Higher Education Institution in Poland

The basis of any business, including non-public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), is financial security, which is ensured by achieving sufficiently high profits and financial liquidity. Especially in these times, a rapidly changing market, the competition, and the upcoming birth rate forces HEIs to optimize operational and strategic decisions. On one hand, it creates new opportunities for non-public HEIs, but on the other, it is a source of danger for the future of their operations. Therefore, they must not only overcome the difficulties encountered in everyday life but also try to respond to the challenges posed by their environment, demonstrating the special care to ensure the efficiency of their operations. They must not only try to increase the quality of offered services or manage their funds rationally but with equal attention should “invest” in modern management methods and concepts. Through the use of controlling, contemporary non-public HEIs are able to choose an optimum variant of decision facilitating the achievement of their goals. In view of the above, this chapter discusses the special considerations relating to controlling HEIs from the point of view of increasing their effectiveness.

The Business World as a Battlefield

The aim of this chapter is to evaluate the business world as a battlefield by establishing a contact between the basic characteristics of the competition strategies and Sun Tzu’s principles. In order to fulfill this aim, qualitative research method was used and Sun Tzu’s book The Art of War was investigated in respect of competition, and the studies on this subject were comprehensively evaluated. As a result, a conceptual fragment was formed for the terms used in the book so as to adapt Sun Tzu’s principles to the study. According to this conceptual fragment, the matching is as follows: war – competition; enemies – competitors; environmental conditions – elements affecting the competition environment and the management and decisions of the company; battlefield – business world/market; weapons - means used in the strategy construction of the organization and in the implementation of the strategies.

From Local Information Systems to Global Customer Relationship Management

Advances in computer and information technologies have been utilized by companies all over the world since the 1990s. Corresponding roughly to the same period, global trade has increased dramatically. The opening up of large markets like China and the Eastern Europe contributed to this trend. National companies turned global and had to manage operations in a number of different countries. Companies strived to maintain better customer relationships through CRM programs aimed at managing the flow of information, interacting with the customers, and in the end, formulating individualized offerings for them. Globalization has led to the development of the new notion of Global Customer Relationship Management as opposed to having independent local CRM programs operating in the subsidiaries. This chapter presents the issues facing the implementation of such Global CRM programs and provides the important conceptual frameworks proposed in the literature.

Doha Development Round

More than 11 years have passed and Doha Development Round (DDR) has been in the doldrums, having full uncertainties that may result in closure. Trade negotiations are at a standstill, resulting in revivalism of trade protectionism in the name of “new regionalism” or preferential agreements (India-Japan, India-EU). This would lead to dismantling multilateral trading system for which World Trade Organization was created in January 1995. It is vital to protect and preserve the gains of the WTO in a variety of related areas. Therefore, the success of a multilateral trading system is imperative, and this could only be possible when DDR is successful and revivalism takes place. If impasse is continued, the concept and practices of free trade would be transformed into trade protectionism in the name of new regionalism. If it happens, then the future of global trade is uncertain and there would be enormous loss of potential and opportunities of creation of trade, and no country could afford it. Doha is stuck. Where do we go from here? The present chapter analyses the issues relating to the closure vs. success of the DDR. Every effort must be made to keep it alive both in the interest of mankind and the globe. If in 12th round, nothing concrete comes up, then the member countries are thinking and planning to replace it by Global Recovery Round (GRR), which is becoming more significant to deal with. Hence, this chapter attempts to examine the three options, namely closure, revival, and replace.

Significant Role of Religion in Influencing Consumer Behavior

In a constantly changing and increasingly globalised world, religion still plays a significant role in influencing consumer behavior. The intent behind this study is to scrutinize the effect of normative factors on Muslim consumers’ apparel purchasing decisions. The survey was comprised of a sample of 500 Muslim consumers from the universities and shopping malls in Faisalabad city of Pakistan. Correlation was used to analyze the sample. The findings indicate that consumers in Faisalabad (Pakistan) area consider Islam their source of reference, and they prefer to wear clothing as commanded by Islamic Shriah. This study confirms that normative factors had a highly significant relationship with consumer buying behavior. The chapter’s interesting findings serve to remind organizations that they cannot neglect the element of religion in their marketing activities, particularly when operating in the vicinity of Islamic countries.

Customer Relations Management Applications in the Tourism Industry

In recent years, all information about customers can be shared with employees by customer relations management in tourism establishments, and accordingly, all customer expectations can be met. As a result, producing customer loyalty can be possible. Customer relations management applications in tourism establishments is crucial with regards to competing with other establishments. The most important factor for customers to be pleased with the tourism establishments and prefer the same establishment again is the qualities of front office employees who are directly in relation with customers because front office is the first department that customers interact with. Information about front office is provided and application circumstances of the front office are explained in this research. The population consists of managers of 4-star and 5-star hotels operating in Turkey. In this research, contributions of the front office employees in providing customer loyalty, preventing customer complaints, and customer relations applications of the establishment are examined.

Cultural Values and Motivation in Nigeria Work Settings

There has been general upsurge in cultures and management research in the last decades. Despite this fact, empirical studies on culture dimensions to management practices in Sub-Saharan Africa have been limited in numbers and scope. In Africa, there is very limited knowledge about cultural values and the consequences they pose for employee motivation. A major research question this study tries to address is whether the results could help to explain the disappointing economic development of Nigeria. The findings do confirm profound employee motivational values with the family collective interests playing a very important role in Nigeria. The study challenges the validity of the dominant Western universal perspectives in employee motivation in traditional African organizations. The study suggests that elements of traditional values pose serious challenges to African managers’ abilities to adopt local cultural and traditional values practices that can improve the effectiveness of employee motivation in their organizations.

Women’s Entrepreneurship Development in Bangladesh

Women’s entrepreneurship is important for women’s position in society and for economic development of a country. It opens up new avenues for creating employment opportunities for women and men. It is a matter of encouraging that a good number of women are contributing in the economic progress of Bangladesh, making them involved in medium and small enterprises. In this process, policy-related factors and institutional factors play a vital role. Government agencies provide policy, legal, and financial support, taking active support from non-state actors. Specially, NGOs have been working in Bangladesh from 1980s to create a viable social environment for business women. Though more women are now involved in economic activities than in the past, women constitute less than 10 percent of the country's total business entrepreneurs. Women do business in a masculine society where they encounter policy-related problems, and they do not get proper supports from all respective institutions because of corruption and lack of information. It is assumed that combined initiatives of government and non-government institutes will be successful in encountering the changes of business women in Bangladesh.

The State-Based Factors Affecting Inward FDI Employment in the U.S.

The descriptive part of this research focuses on the latest trends in U.S. inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and describes the U.S. inward FDI flows and stock as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and includes geographic and sectoral distribution of inward U.S. FDI. The important part of U.S. inward FDI profile relates to inward U.S. FDI employment and inward U.S. FDI financial flows, which include equity, reinvested earnings, and intercompany debt. The corporate players, Mergers and Acquisitions(M&A’s) and green field investment are discussed briefly. The empirical part of this research investigates state-based factors affecting the inward FDI employment among 50 states of the United States and is based on data collected by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). This study identifies several state-specific determinants of FDI employment. The results indicate that the major factors exerting positive impact on inward U.S. FDI employment are: real wages, infrastructure, unionization level, educational attainment, FDI stock, and manufacturing density. In addition, the results show that gross state product growth rate, real per capita taxes has negative impact on FDI employment.

Economic and Other Determinants of Political Trust

Political trust is important for the effective functioning of government. This chapter uses cross country regression analysis to see whether three different measures of economic performance matter for political trust. In this chapter, an economic approach to politics has been developed. The results lend support to the hypothesis that political trust is influenced by economic growth, the standard of living, and the appropriate use of government spending.