Influence of Practice Management Software on Dental Services

In the 21st century, the main focus of technological advances is on data. Practice management software (PMS) is having its highest demand in the international market as a tool helping dental services operate in a better way. The main focus of this research is on analyzing the role of the implementation of PMS in dental clinics in Tirana, capital city of Albania. Qualitative and quantitative data through semi-structured interviews and surveys was collected to analyze the case. Low purchasing power, lack of knowledge, and informality in Albania are some of the limitations that restrain dentists implement new technologies. The results show that PMS implementation adds value to dental clinics through more effective and efficient services and improved customer relationship management.

Circularity in Portugal

The use of renewable energy and recycling products is one of the main achievements of organizations. The circular economy (CE) is a new concept which evolves out of a new management assumption in organizations based on recycling, reuse, and repurposing of products. The circular economy provides a framework for facing challenges and a guide for rethinking and redesigning the future. This chapter analyzes the Portuguese market for circular economy organizations based on discussion of the CE conceptual model. The circular economy is expected to contribute positively by introducing new methodologies for the production of raw materials, with new production processes and giving value to eco products. The challenge for Portuguese organizations is to create management “vectors” which promote networking innovation, labor, capital, and eco products. Overall, the conceptual model presented gives importance to Portuguese business decision making for sustainable consumption, which provides advancements in business for the green supply chain.

Redesigning Business Models With Circular Economy

In the last decades, circular economy has become a key in the academic and managerial studies. While there are plenty of contributions on circular economy like environmental strategy, a less developed line of studies is that analyzing circular economy as a new way of doing business. In this context, Italy has initiated the necessary reforms for the transition to the circular economy in 1997, but it is only in 2017 that it has adopted a work plan on that. The chapter presents the evidence of a CAWI interview investigating if the Italian firms are adopting the principles of circular economy and if this affects their competitiveness and business performance. The research contributes to the understanding of this new paradigm by getting into detail with the motivations that drive Italian enterprise to adopt the principles of circular economy, the actions they are taking to be circular economy-oriented, and the possible relationship between the adoption of the circular economy principles and their business performance.

Competences of Startups as Entities Operating in Network Structures

The chapter indicates the most important changes in the organizations caused by technological progress. The development of the network business model, according to which both very large and very small organizations are starting to function, have been emphasized. The main attention has been focused on startup entities due to their specific character and more and more dynamic development. Firstly, the issues well recognized in science, enabling the creation of a picture of both startups and their ecosystems, have been presented. Then the considerations have been narrowed down to the issue of the startup competences. The basic/key startup competences in organizational and individual dimension, which are the contribution to the startup market success, have been defined. It was based on literature analysis and primary research results. The empirical part concerns Polish startups. The main goal of this chapter is to define the key competences of a startup that will allow to distinguish it from other entities in the searching for an investor or business partner process.

Sharing Economy and Applications

Sharing economy has emerged as influential economic model in the last decades. A considerable literature has grown up around the sub-themes of sharing economy including business-related, system-related, and other context-related studies. Examining a general phenomenon in a limited scope is a strategy for specific perspective and conclusions. Therefore, examining sharing economy phenomenon in a business and marketing perspective can be useful for business related viewpoint. The study is composed of three parts and begins with a theorotical review of conceptual background. It will then go on to three level structures for this study, including consumer level, business and brand level, and system levels. The remaining part includes context-based studies about level structure. After reviewing topics in contexts, there are presented selected studies about related contexts. The study aims to research sharing economy in a general view and review business- and marketing-related topics and studies.

A Sustainable Business Model in the Functioning of Enterprises as the Base for Creating Circular Economy

Circular economy was the subject of interest for many researchers and is currently an inherent part of the sustainable growth concept. Shifting the economy to circular will require transformations in the field of competence, development, innovations, and organizational governance, as well as public awareness. Circular economy creates opportunities for achieving benefits in the economy (the efficiency of production processes, innovations, power safety) as well as in the social and environmental fields (shaping ecological safety). In the chapter, the authors describe such issues as theoretical foundations of the circular economy concept; European guidelines in the field of circular economy; problems and benefits associated with the implementation of circular economy, in light of compliance with sustainable development principles; business solution models together with the prospects for further sustainable development of a company, based on assumptions and models of circular economy.

Legal and Ethical Aspects of CSR

The increasingly important role of sustainability issues and CSR in business activity has been widely recognized. In order to promote socially responsible decisions, changes in the macro- and micro-environment should be examined. The study offers insight into different aspects of CSR and defines those whose importance is growing, discusses trends, reasons for the state of affairs, and formulates conclusions of possible effects. The focus is on ethical values, in particular trust, and their changing perception which may lead to new business models strengthening and further development.

Spiral Management

Spiral management and its principles are based on the long-term successful existence of living systems. The principles can be applied to the enterprise and organization management. Living systems manage long-term success by acquiring energy from their surroundings (through nutrition), while enterprises acquire customers and employees' energy in order to eliminate entropy (in enterprises manifested as economic losses). Spiral management is based on the synergy of living systems. It describes behavior patterns in the cyclical development of enterprises as well as the ability of the latter to diagnose their own strategic decisions, including the instructions of how to drive an enterprise towards a long-term success. The chapter describes theoretical basis of spiral management while providing a novel insight into this unique managerial approach and emphasizing its importance for the human resources management. Also introduced are the elements of spiral management applied in the enterprises that want to be competitive and survive turbulent periods.

The Use of Sustainable Business Model Archetypes in the Design of Circular Business Models in the Digital Economy

Archetypes of sustainable business models can be used to the elaboration of archetypes of business models that combine the assumptions of sharing economy and circular economy as part of their categorization. The chapter presents the assumptions of conceptualization and operationalization of potential model solutions in the field of using archetypes of sustainable business models in the design of circular business models in digital economy. The chapter has an epistemological character described in ontological, epistemological, and methodological categories, but also with the use of an axiological sense. The aim of the chapter is to develop and indicate the principles of designing business models based on the concepts of sharing economy and circular economy using archetypes of sustainable business models in range of digital environment of business.

An Approach to Solve Fuzzy Knapsack Problem in Investment and Business Model

In this chapter, the author studies the knapsack problem with fuzzy weights for single and bi-objective function. The knapsack problem has been widely used in the investment and business model. In real-world decision-making situations, the existence of fuzziness of the weights and the profit is a common requirement. To overcome this difficulty, these weights and profit can be considered as a triangular fuzzy number. Thus, a fuzzy knapsack problem is introduced. The author introduces the possibility index which gives the possibility of choosing the items with fuzzy weights for knapsack with crisp capacity. The possibility index gives an idea to choose the solution according to the decision maker's choice. The dynamic programming approach using multi-stage decision making has been given for the different type of decision makers to find the solution. An investment problem in an imprecise environment has been defined as a fuzzy knapsack problem and the solution procedure is given to demonstrate the methodology.