Technology Transfer Steps Towards the Commercialization of Research Results for Universities

Apart from educating students and conducting scientific research, technology transfer (TT) is the third “mission pillar” of modern universities. TT from universities to business as a source of innovations and inventions is, on the one hand, an important factor in socio-economic development, on the other hand, it generates income for universities and, by creating links with market practice, also affects their scientific development and quality of teaching. However, due to its complexity and due to the pluralism and heterogeneity of the approaches involved in TT processes at a country (or even regional) level, participation is a difficult challenge for the academic community. In the article the main factors influencing TT between universities and business are identified and a relevant process emphasizing into the requirements of universities being freshmen in this field is presented. In the frame of the current work a two-fold approach was applied: (a) a literature collection and review were undertaken aiming at identifying TT-related methods, tools, procedures and best practices across universities at an international level and (b) an detailed analysis of the TT-related procedures at the four European universities participating in the study.

The relationship between personnel empowerment and social loafing in hotel businesses

The human factor plays a very important role, especially in terms of the efficiency of businesses operating in the service sector. Talented, self-confident and therefore empowered employees contribute to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organizations. At this point, personnel empowerment is an application and a process that has vital importance in terms of the continuity and efficiency of businesses. On the other hand, some organizational problems can endanger the efficiency of the business and the organization. One of the most important of these problems is the tendency of employees to avoid work, that is, to engage in social loafing behaviour. From this point of view, the aim of this research is to determine the relationship between employee empowerment perceptions and perceptions of social loafing behaviour of employees working in hotel businesses. In line with the purpose of the research, data were collected on the employees working in the hotel businesses operating in the province of Istanbul by using the survey technique. In this direction, a total of 391 usable data questionnaires were obtained. According to the results of the analysis of the data obtained, it has been determined that there are negative and moderately significant relationships between personnel empowerment levels and social loafing levels of hotel business employees.

Ukraine’s Gradual Westernization - the Eastern Dimension of the European Integration

The research is aimed at identifying the prospects related to select areas of integration of Ukraine with the countries of the European Union, in the context of their choice of civilisational identity in the 21st century. The identity is understood as a civilisational category, hence it equally refers to spiritual culture (history and related fields) and material culture (first of all: technology and economy). The proper understanding of a dilemma faced by Eastern Europeans requires references to the sources of cultural legacy which shape social emotions significant for that region, in order to outline the prospects for the ongoing processes, with the use of the adequate political analysis. Considering relations between academic activities and practice, the research is of applied character, and its aim is to increase scientific knowledge of European legacy of Ukraine with regard to the processes of European integration. The systemisation of the current knowledge of the process of integration taking place in Eastern Europe is to provide a diagnosis oriented towards identification of a place and an attitude towards the contemporary European integration processes represented by Ukraine. The subject of the research is the process of social and political European integration and the place of Eastern Europe in a system perceived as such. The authors present their attempts at providing an answer to the following question: Do – and to what extent - Ukraine tend to follow the pro-Western orientation in the selected areas of their operations and do this country develop their institutional cooperation with the European Union?

General Government Debt and Budget Deficit as Threats to Economic Security of the European Union Countries

The aim of the article is to present budget deficit and government debt in the European Union member states, with particular consideration of the countries that belong to the PIIGS group. This paper has focused on the scale of these phenomena, on their reasons and on some attempts made to improve the unfavourable situation. In the main thesis presented in the article, it is stated that budget deficit and general government debt come as significant threats to economic security of the European Union (EU) countries. The research methods that have been applied in the study involve descriptive analysis and statistical data analysis.

Innovation strategies in SME’s economic growth and job creation in economy

SMEs and entrepreneurship are key to ensuring economic growth, innovation, job creation, and social integration in the EU. The SME sector has a crucial role to play in creating new jobs, economic growth and innovation in socioeconomic development. The paper aims to address the critical role of small and medium-sized companies by investigating innovation management strategies in the SME sector. The goal of the present paper is to analyze the innovation strategies of SMEs and to provide an overview of the performance of Polish SMEs against those in the European Union. The main method in the study is desk research based on secondary statistic data. The method made it possible to prove that innovative strategy is a necessary condition to improve the competitiveness level in the SME sector. The main contribution of this research is to highlight the impact of innovation strategies on the competitive level of the researched entities for SMEs. The linear model developed for the “innovation expenditure” factor and forecast for 2-year period amply make it clear that SMEs continue to tread a positive growth trend.

Determinants of marketing and logistics management in a micro-enterprise

At present, under the conditions of some turbulent changes observed in our environment, micro-enterprises seek for opportunities to win their competitive positions in the market and in the sectors in which they operate The aim of the article is to present marketing and logistics management as one of the methods applied to achieve the market objectives of micro-enterprises. As an integrated method, marketing and logistics management may contribute to the improvement in competitiveness; hence, the recognition of conditions required for the application of this method may also contribute to the improvement in competitiveness. In the article, a review of literature related to the discussed problems is presented. The expert literature on the analysed subject does not provide any publications on micro-enterprise management, and scientific research in that sector is very scarce and provides only some general data. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse the processes taking place in the micro-enterprise sector in more detail, especially in the field of modern methods of management. In the article, some considerations on the specificity of integrated logistics and marketing processes are presented. Research methods: a review of expert literature and the Author’s own case-study research. The research was carried out in the years 2015-2018 among a group of micro-enterprises in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province, Łódzkie Province, Mazowieckie Province and Wielkopolskie Province. The aim of the research was to identify conditions required for marketing and logistics management in micro-enterprises and to define the impact exerted by the factors that determine the implementation of that process. Recognising knowledge as a fundamental determinant of the implementation of modern management methods in the aspect of micro-enterprise operation requires some in-depth analysis. The article presents the results of the research based on the case-study of integrated marketing and logistics management, on the example of a virtual micro-enterprise. The main conclusions: In a virtual micro-enterprise, it is possible to indicate the field of integration of marketing and logistics processes and to define their courses and conditions. Knowledge of logistics and marketing allows us to extend the field referring to the environment of the analysed company in virtual space.

Economic and operational impact of the MRV implementation on maritime transport processes

The European Union (EU) and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) strongly feel the need for initiating measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping lines regionally and globally using a package of tools called Green Shipping Practices (GSP). The GSP includes the use of global market-based mechanisms (MBMs), adoption of the energy efficiency design index (EEDI), establishing compulsory energy efficiency standards for all new ships, and the ship energy efficiency management plan (SEEMP) recommended as a new management tool for ship owners. Furthermore, the European Commission (EC) has proposed that owners of large ships using EU ports should report their verified emissions (Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (MRV)) from 2018. In addition, IMO has introduced collection and reporting of ship fuel consumption data (SFCD) under the IMO SFCD scheme based on similar conditions, but related to global shipping. By providing a holistic analysis of the above-mentioned tools with a special focus on MRV and SFCD, this paper presents their economical and operational implications on the maritime transport processes. The working hypothesis that there is a correlation between the introduction of MRV and SFCD tools and reduction of maritime transport anthropopresure has been proved.

The importance of organisational climate and commitment of knowledge workers for increasing the competitive advantage of enterprises

As a result of socio-economic transformations and development of the Information Era, the competitive advantage of enterprises is based on intellectual capital. Competent employees as owners of knowledge, skills and creativity, essentially contribute to the strengthening of the position taken by their organisation on the market. In order to allow employees to use their capabilities in an effective way, it is crucial to provide them with favourable organisational conditions, which constitute organisational climate. The concept of organisational climate refers to employees’ perception of organisational conditions, which can be combined with the first level of economic analysis in the approach presented by New Institutional Economics, according to the model presented by O. Williamson (2000, p. 597). It is assumed that the employees’ positive assessment of the organisational climate is correlated with a higher level of the employees’ commitment, which leads to an increase in the competitive advantage of an organisation. In order to verify the hypothesis, some quantitative surveys have been carried out among knowledge workers (N = 639). In the research, two questionnaires have been used: the Organisational Climate Questionnaire (authors: L. Rosenstiel and R. Bögel) and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI developed by E. Demerouti), which examine the level of burnout and commitment to work. The results of the statistical analysis have shown a significant, strong relationship between the assessment of organisational climate dimensions and the level of employees’ commitment to work, which contributes to an increase in the competitive advantage of an enterprise.

Neighbouring countries – an important segment in inbound tourism An example of the European Union member states

The aim of the article is to present the significance of neighbouring countries in the structure of inbound tourism for the member countries of the European Union. In order to achieve this aim, some secondary materials presenting the volume and the structure of tourist traffic in the analysed countries have been referred to. The structure of the article allows the Author to provide a detailed analysis of the particular problems in the discussed field. Firstly, a review of scientific literature on tourist traffic and the significance of neighbouring countries for inbound tourism is provided. The next part of the text presents the countries adjacent to the European Union member states. Subsequently, the significance of these destinations is indicated, due to the data that present the structure of inbound tourism. It transpires that in most analysed countries, their neighbouring states come as a significant - and often even the most important - segment in inbound tourism. Furthermore, neighbouring countries often take the top positions on the list of the countries the citizens of which visit particular destinations most frequently. The analysis of the structure of inbound tourism in Poland in the years 2012-2016 also indicates that the neighbouring markets form the most important segment, regardless of some changes that took place during the analysed time period. Due to the review of some relevant documents, it is indicated (on the example of Poland) that neighbouring countries are often of priority significance in the assumptions and development plans for tourism, although the ranks of the particular countries can be different. On one hand, the considerations presented in the article allow the Author to evaluate the significance of neighbouring countries for inbound tourism in the particular countries; on the other hand, they indicate the necessity of including these countries into the tourism policy, along with promotion activities undertaken in the foreign markets.