The role of work-integrated learning in preparing students for a corporate entrepreneurial career

PurposeIn the literature there is limited knowledge about how to prepare students for a corporate entrepreneurial career. The purpose is therefore to develop a framework for understanding the role corporate development projects play in corporate entrepreneurship education, and to examine the potential role of the design of the project. The study defines a corporate development project as a project being part of an academic education to provide students with working experiences situated in an experiential learning process.Design/methodology/approachBased on work-integrated learning literature, the authors first develop a conceptual framework. Thereafter, they undertake a multiple case study using data from a Master's Program in Corporate Entrepreneurship. Starting from the conceptual framework, the authors employ deductive thematic analysis in order to analyze data and finally to develop an elaborated framework.FindingsIn the framework, the authors identify and label five categories of learning outcomes from the corporate development project. The framework helps understand the interplay between the different learning outcomes in students' learning process and shows how the design of the project shapes the learning process.Practical implicationsThe framework can assist educators in designing and integrating the corporate development project as a key module within a corporate entrepreneurship academic program.Originality/valueBased on the framework, the study develops the knowledge about the design of corporate entrepreneurship education. Future research should test the framework using data from other academic programs in corporate entrepreneurship.

Citations or dollars? Early signals of a firm's research success

Scientific and technological progress is largely driven by firms in many domains, including artificial intelligence and vaccine development. However, we do not know yet whether the success of firms’ research activities exhibits dynamic regularities and some degree of predictability. By inspecting the research lifecycles of 7,440 publicly listed firms, we find that the economic value of a firm’s early patents is an accurate predictor of various dimensions of a firm’s future research success. At the same time, a smaller set of future top-performers do not generate early patents of high economic value, but they are detectable via the technological value of their early patents. Importantly, the observed predictability cannot be explained by a cumulative advantage mechanism, and the observed heterogeneity of the firms’ temporal success patterns markedly differs from patterns previously observed for individuals’ research careers. Our results uncover the dynamical regularities of the research success of firms, and they could inform managerial strategies as well as policies to promote corporate development and accelerate human progress.

The development of industrial enterprises in Ukraine in 2016-2020: assessment and analysis

The article describes a methodical approach to assessing the level of and prospects for the development of industrial enterprises based on results of a study investigating the dynamics of economic indicators of production and economic activity. The author presents determinants of productivity, efficiency and effectiveness which affect corporate development of enterprises and explains how they stimulate innovative organizational and economic changes in production and economic activity.

Investment Appeal of Modern Electric Power Generating Companies

Nowadays, the conditions for the further reforming of Russian electric power industry and developing its generating companies are changing. However, the problems of attracting investments into this sphere and increasing the investment appeal of the involved companies remain unsolved. The purpose of the research is to assess the investment appeal of the modern wholesale and territorial companies generating electric power, mainly for portfolio investors. The assessment was primarily conducted using the method of financial ratios, taking into consideration the approach used by A. Zaporozhan, A. Petrova and M. Kalvarskaya for assessing investment appeal of generating companies at the initial stage of the reforming of Russian electric power sector. Specific amendments to this approach are suggested. These amendments concern the increase of the number of the assessed objective financial indicators and specification of their content. Componentwise ranking of companies according to their investment appeal was conducted. It allowed the author to identify leaders and outsiders. One can observe comparability of the obtained results with the assessment of the investment appeal of generating companies as far as the quality of their corporate management is concerned, conducted by the center for corporate development ТopCompetence, Association of Independent Directors and National Research University «Higher School of Economics».

WAYS TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT OF THE RESTAURANT ENTERPRISE

The article is devoted to outlining ways to improve the personnel management system in the field of corporate development of restaurant enterprises, which includes the introduction of innovative technologies of restaurant service, employee training programs to grow professional competencies and personal psychological characteristics, career advancement for the best employees. It is determined that the basic principle of personnel management in restaurants is systemic, so the search for ways to improve management should include consideration of this process as a holistic system, taking into account the relationships between its elements. It is offered to pay special attention to management of processes of communication of the personnel with clients, development of adequate professional behavior in conflict situations. It is proposed to take into account the requirements for staff from the standpoint of consumers, which provide speed and high quality service and the appropriate level of communication, from the standpoint of owners – competencies and knowledge, personal qualities and consumer-oriented behavior, from the standpoint of staff – skills, abilities and motivation. Motivational programs are proposed to focus on the formation of employees’ desire to acquire new knowledge and acquire new skills. To increase the efficiency of personnel management, it is proposed to develop strategies for personnel development and differentiate by strategic and tactical goals. It is proposed to introduce a system of key performance indicators for control in terms of tactical and strategic plans for staff development and the establishment of intermediate control with control points of assessment. It is proposed to evaluate the performance of each category of employees within their functional responsibilities, as well as indicators of staff development of the enterprise as a whole. It is proposed to include qualification, personal, competence and value characteristics, efficiency of activity, reserves of growth of production and social efficiency in the assessment of the efficiency of personnel management of restaurant enterprises. Further research should focus on the study of customer management of restaurant staff.

Arctic Corporations and Development Risks: Challenge and Response

The realities of the Russian Arctic in recent decades make it possible to determine a special phenomenon of corporate development risks, which can be structured into resource, institutional and ecosystem risks. The resource risk reflects the contradiction between the conjuncture of the global resource markets and the specific conditions for the development of unique deposits located in the Arctic zone; institutional risk — between federal norms and rules for the development of natural resource deposits and local specific conditions for the construction and operation of resource facilities in the Arctic; ecosystem risk reflects the contradiction between large-scale economic activity and the fragility of Arctic natural systems. As a result of a comparative assessment of the development risks of three Arctic corporations in Russia, it was found that the highest risk is typical for the facilities of Norilsk Nickel, the lowest — for NovaTEK, and Gaz-promneft is in the middle. Using the OLI paradigm of John Dunning, it can be argued that Arctic corpora-tions respond to the challenge of development risks by adapting their spatial, institutional and organiza-tional structure to the conditions for the development of resources and resource territories. The spatial factor is most efficiently used by Norilsk Nickel, then NovaTEK, in the strategy of adaptation to develop-ment risks, with the receipt of benefits from localization and the creation of a regional cluster, while Gaz-promneft is the least effective. The institutional factor is most effectively used by NovaTEK and Gazprom-neft, and the least by Norilsk Nickel. The organizational and structural factor as a tool for adapting to risks is most skillfully used by Gazpromneft, weaker — by NovaTEK and Norilsk Nickel. Integrally, the best positions in the strategy of adaptation to development risks are held by Gazpromneft, and the worst positions by Norilsk Nickel, which has the most significant contrast between the size of development risks and the means of adaptation to them. Strengthening the internal competencies of the company and its corporate innovation system is the most important way to successfully cope with the high risks of corporate development of resources and spaces of the Arctic.

Top Trends for Talent Management

Since McKinsey’s 1998 report on “better talent is worth fighting for” which formally introduced the term “the war for talent,” talent management (TM) has been attracting strong attention from industries and academia throughout the world. Talents are seen as the critical determinant of organizational success and a necessity for sustainable corporate development. To be successful, companies need to identify and manage talents effectively. However, the dilemma faced by companies are the uncertainty of the external environment which makes it difficult for them to predict the supply and demand of talents in the external labor market as well as the difficulty to attract the needed talents and retaining the skills that they have spent abundant resources to cultivate. This article aims to summarize the top trends of talent management (TM) in the contemporary society and offers a comprehensive explanation as well as corresponding suggestions in response to these trends so as to provide the best way to build a multi-dimensional and comprehensive team to meet the new requirements in the infobahn era, thus enhancing the operation and management capabilities for optimizing human capital.

Run or hide: changes in acquisition behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeMergers and acquisitions (M&As) are an important strategic tool for continuous adaptation, sustainable corporate development and external growth. At the same time, M&As involve high levels of risk with mixed performance results even under normal circumstances. Even though the M&A market was continuously growing for the last decade, it was abruptly ended by the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as executives were more concerned about liquidity than with long-term growth strategies. This raises the question how M&A behaviour is affected by the economic fall-out of the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe mixed method research design was employed in this study.FindingsThe authors particularly investigate how target selection as well as synergy management are affected by the pandemic. The study analysis reveals four archetypical responses to the COVID-19 crisis. The authors describe those responses in detail and analyse antecedents that seem to influence firms' acquisition behaviour during the pandemic.Originality/valueThe paper draws on survey and interview data of M&A practitioners.

THEORETICAL DISCOURSE OF CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT IN THE XXI CENTURY

Background. Development of the theoretical concept of corporate entrepreneurship is determined by the intensification of research in modern conditions. The main subject of scientific research is the analysis of the evolution of corporate relations, their organi­zational forms and interaction ways of the main subjects, i.e. owners, managers and the state, as well as the relationship of corporations structural elements. The lack of a holistic concept of corporations’ role substantiation in modern system of economic relations and the scien­tific significance of this issue have led to the relevance of the article. The analysis of recent research and publications shows that theoretical matrix of corporate entrepreneurship research is at the stage of active transformation of its research field. The aim of the article is to systematize and generalize theoretical approaches to the analysis of corporate development vectors in the XXI century and also to identify the latest institutional determinants of their functioning. Materials and methods. The works of Ukrainian and foreign scientists are the theo­retical and methodological basis of the article. The institutional and evolutionary approach is methodological basis of the paper. General scientific research methods such as abstract­tion, analysis and synthesis, systematization, analytical, logical and historical generaliza­tions were also used. Results. Corporate enterprises in modern conditions of civilizational development are the basis of economic activity, which is based on the use of market relations. It involves the continuous accumulation of extremely large amounts of capital to finance programs and develop technical and technological basis of their operation. Modern corporation is a specific form of organization of economic activity and economic agent, a separate format of social nature of economic relations, which provides deepening social division of labor through horizontal and vertical integration, reproduction of capital, formation of stable integration network relations and institutionalizes socio-economic relations in all dimensions. Conclusion. The main advantages of the corporate form of entrepreneurship are wide opportunities to attract financial resources, implementation of innovative projects, etc. Corporations are hierarchical network meta-organizations, a form of institutional support for systemic competitiveness and innovative development of the socio-economic system with an integrated model of capital reproduction into organizational terms. Corporation is a social institution of collective action into institutional terms. The corporate form of entre­preneurship makes it possible to increase international competitiveness of the national economy and creates a basis for its development on the basis of neo-industrialization in the context of effective public, social and collective institutions.