Large International Companies Research Articles

PISRA: privacy considered information security risk assessment model

The security threats related to personally identifiable information are increasing dramatically. In addition to government agencies, large international companies are potential victims. To comply with regulations such as the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, organizations are required to carry out a privacy impact assessment. However, the conventional information security risk assessment model does not provide a clear methodology for conducting privacy impact assessments. In this paper, we propose a privacy-considered information security risk assessment (pISRA) model, which can take both a privacy impact analysis and risk assessment into consideration. Our proposed model can help risk assessors achieve a comparable and reproducible approach for the entire risk assessment process. Additionally, pISRA can assist organizations to select high-risk items for further action.

Development of cleaning methods complex of industrial gas pipelines based on the analysis of their hydraulic efficiency

The majority of gas and gas condensate fields of Ukraine are developed by pressure depletion, which makes it possible to stabilize production only in conditions of low working pressures at the wellhead. In turn, the working pressure values significantly depend on the pressure at the inlet to the gas gathering stations and pressure loss in the gas gathering and transportation process. Consequently, their reduction will lead to an increase in natural gas production from depleted fields. The main idea of the work is to offer continuous monitoring of the gas gathering system in order to detect changes in the thermobaric operation mode. Such changes can signal the high probability of liquid accumulation, which will produce additional friction. The results of monitoring changes in pressure, temperature, dew points and natural gas composition allow carrying out their complex analysis and evaluating the possibility of liquid mass formation in certain areas of the gas pipeline system with an acceptable accuracy, which at once excludes a more detailed recording of their presence by means of instrument equipment and human resources, as well as reduces the time of non-response to a problem. The works may be fully executed by the operations technician or the dispatch service. After detecting potentially hazardous places, they are analyzed for confirmation of the presence of liquid and the decision to clean them with one of the proposed methods is made. This approach will be very interesting to large international companies, since natural gas reserves are constantly exhausted, and withdrawal of the remaining gas from depleted fields is an attractive target for producing companies. In addition, the use of simple pigging methods based on the analysis of the hydraulic efficiency of pipelines can significantly reduce both time and material resources.

Psychological processes linking organizational commitment and change-supportive intentions

PurposeWith employees’ support of organizational changes being vital for today’s organizations, the purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of how organizational commitment is linked to change-supportive intentions. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB, Ajzen, 1991), mediated effects of affective organizational commitment were empirically tested to explore the underlying psychological processes.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in the context of a complex change process at a production facility of a large international manufacturing company (n=667). Data from the change survey were analyzed employing Hayes’ (2012) PROCESS macro.FindingsThe results showed that organizational commitment relates to change-supportive intentions directly and, as suggested by the TPB, its effects are mediated via change-related attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Furthermore, results suggest additional effects of change recipients’ age and occupational status.Practical implicationsEmploying the TPB offers specific insights for tailored interventions to create conditions facilitating organizational changes. The results indicate that commitment lays the ground for employees’ change reactions. Moreover, the psychological processes suggested by the TPB serve as additional levers for explaining change-supportive intentions.Originality/valueThe study provides valuable information on the relationship between commitment and change-supportive intentions. Specifically, affective organizational commitment is shown to be an important resource in times of change, as it relates to more positive psychological reactions to change.

Effectiveness study on the system for gas gathering, treatment and transportations from gas production company

Results of the analysis of gathering and processing and transmission systems efficiency are presented in work for Opishnia, Kotelva and Zakhidna-Berezivska gas-condensate fields of the UkrGasVydobuvannya, Joint-Stock Company ( Kyiv, Ukraine) . The main complications of gas-gathering system at the final stage of fields’ development are revealed and some meanings for estimation of their negative impact on volume of production are proposed. At the first stage of the research, field measurements were made of the operating modes of the system in summer and winter. It has been experimentally established that during the winter period of operation the process of gas separation on separation equipment is performed more qualitatively than in summer operation. This is due to the effect of low temperatures on the process of precipitation of the liquid phase from natural gas. The main idea of work lays in introduction of continuous monitoring of gas-gathering system operating with identification of changes of the thermobaric modes. Such changes can signal high probability of liquid accumulations that creates additional hydraulic resistance. Results of monitoring of P–T profile, changes in dew points and natural gas composition allow to carry out complex analysis with acceptable accuracy to estimate a possibility of liquid accumulation in certain points of the piping system. This excludes need of confirmation of their existence by means of the instrument metering and additional human resources and reduces time needed for problem identification. Such approach will be rather interesting also to the large international companies as reserves of natural gas are constantly decline, and recovery of residual reserves from the depleted fields in gas drive mechanism is the attractive purpose for the gas productions companies. Furthermore, application of easy ways of cleaning based on the analysis of hydraulic efficiency of pipelines allows to reduce significantly both timing, and material resources.

Реформенные трансформации и их результаты в минеральном секторе Дальнего Востока

The article studies the most significant changes in the mineral sector of the Far East that occurred during the years of reform – dynamic, structural, reproduction and others, defined by the depth of reform novelties and forming of a new institutional environment. The author divides the reproduction of mineral and raw materials base (MRMB) during 1991–2016 into stages by the depth of reform transformations and by their results for the Russian base as a whole. The article shows absolute, relative and structural changes that happened with the MRMB of the Far East because of formation of a new finance-managerial model of reproduction of a resource base in Russia and its reassessment according to the demands of the world market. The author studies the different dynamics of development of key branches of mineral and raw materials industry of the Far East during 1990–2016 and determines the corresponding changes in the industrial and spatial structure of the mining industry of the region. The paper shows the results of reforms of the corporate structure of the mineral sector in the Far East based on the division of ownership of depths and ownership of the products mined from the depths between the state and the users of the depths. The author shows technological changes in the key branches of the mineral and raw materials industry of the region and makes a conclusion about the changes of technological availability of the Far Eastern mineral resources because of large national and international companies coming to the region

The importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for branding and business success in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in a business-to-distributor (B2D) context

ABSTRACTIntegrating corporate social responsibility into brand positioning strategies has become a key concept for the brand marketing of many companies. There is a wealth of studies focusing on the effects of CSR for large international brands and companies operating in business-to-consumer markets. However, there is only limited empirical evidence about the relevance of CSR for sales and branding strategies of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a business-to-distributor (B2D) context. Using a qualitative research design based on an exploratory case study approach, this paper therefore explores how CSR can be incorporated into the brand marketing strategy of a SME in the B2D sector and how CSR is evaluated in terms of brand perceptions and purchase intentions of business partners (n = 25). The findings suggest that although industrial buyers attribute a certain importance to CSR, product design and perceived product quality are nevertheless the main purchase reasons. The paper concludes with discussing practical and theoretical implications.

Co-branding Strategy as a Source of Innovation on International Market

Abstract The aim of this paper is to identify the impact of a co-branding strategy on the innovations development on international market. The research has been conducted in 2013–2015, and has been targeting 50 large international companies which operated in minimum 3 countries of Europe and have implemented a co-branding strategy for 3 years. The analysis of findings has shown that the possibility of use of the new technologies and the use of knowledge and experience of partner’s through technical knowledge exchange are rated at the low level in case of implementation of co-branding strategy. These findings suggest that co-branding is not a source of innovation on international market due to the fact of the limited trust in the foreign partner and the protection of own’s know-how by the companies. These outcomes confirm also that today the managerial actions should focus mainly on the symbolic dimension of brands.

On the interest of architectural technical debt: Uncovering the contagious debt phenomenon

AbstractA known problem in large software companies is to balance the prioritization of short‐term and long‐term business goals. As an example, architecture suboptimality (Architectural Technical Debt), incurred to deliver fast, might hinder future feature development. However, some technical debt generates more interest to be paid than other. We conducted a multi‐phase, multiple‐case embedded case study comprehending 9 sites at 6 large international software companies. We have investigated which architectural technical debt items generate more interest , how the interest occurs during software development and which costly extra‐activities are triggered as a result. We presented a taxonomy of the most dangerous items identified during the qualitative investigation and a model of their effects that can be used for prioritization, for further investigation and as a quality model for extracting more precise and context‐specific metrics. We found that some architectural technical debt items are contagious, causing the interest to be not only fixed, but potentially compound, which leads to the hidden growth of interest (possibly exponential). We found important factors to be monitored to refactor the debt before it becomes too costly. Instances of these phenomena need to be identified and stopped before the development reaches a crises.

A necessidade das relações interorganizacionais frente à atual estrutura de mercado

This empirical article objective is to analyze and to identify advantages of the cooperation between the new businesses and the incubator of companies (Inovates) and the technology park (Tecnovates). For this, theoretical references of the Brazilian capitalist structure and regarding inter-organizational relations were presented as a mechanism to obtain competitiveness. In order to reach the objective, methodologically the study used the qualitative and quantitative descriptive exploratory approach, through in-depth interviews conducted with the incubator managers and the technology park, as well as a survey through questionnaires answered by the entrepreneurs. The results allowed us to identify and analyze the advantages of cooperation through these inter-organizational relationships, as a way to enable the development of new businesses and new technologies. The involvement of university-business-government actors is of fundamental importance in preparing micro and small businesses for competition of large national and international companies.

Company Criminal Liability for Unlawful Attacks against Information Systems within the Scope of EU Law

Unlawful attacks against information systems are everyday reality for large international companies such as Apple or Facebook as well as for SMEs, national information systems and individuals who are more and more often objects of such attacks. This thesis carries out an analysis of the most important legal instruments primarily at the level of the European Union in the field of cybercrime committed by companies and other legal persons. It explores the history of regulation of cybercrime and it especially analysis crimes of illegal access to information systems and illegal system interference governed above all by the Directive 2013/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 August 2013 on attacks against information systems and replacing Council Framework Decision 2005/222/JHA. It also looks at corporate criminal liability in this field and at sanctions which can be applied on legal entities according to the EU and Czech regulation for committing unlawful attacks against information systems. At the same time this thesis concerns with the implementation of the Directive on attacks against information systems into the Czech legal framework, i.e. Act No. 40/2009 Coll., the Criminal Code, also it concerns with the regulation of criminal liability of legal persons by Czech Act No. 418/2011 Coll., on Criminal Liability of Legal Entities and their Prosecution, and it critically evaluates these legal instruments.

Embedding carbon impact assessment in multi-criteria supplier segmentation using ELECTRE TRI-rC

In the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in green supply chain management, which integrates environmental thinking into supply chain management. Assessing a supplier’s potential for improvement is very important when an organization wants to achieve certain environmental targets concerning their supply base, taking into account the limited resources available. In this paper, incorporating environmental evaluation criteria into a comprehensive supplier segmentation approach called ‘supplier potential matrix’ (SPM), a green supplier segmentation is proposed to segment the suppliers. Two overarching dimensions—supplier’s capabilities and supplier’s willingness—are used to evaluate the supplier’s green potential. The two dimensions are measured by multiple criteria. A sorting method called ELECTRE TRI-rC is used to solve the resulted multi-criteria decision-making problem. In order to make a more meaningful distinction, a simple method is also proposed to assess the suppliers with respect to the carbon footprint of the raw materials they supply. The results of this assessment are combined with the ones of the SPM, resulting in a more useful segmentation. The proposed model is applied to a sample containing the suppliers of a large international company.

Customer experience in international fast food restaurants

StarbucksTMCoffee Company has more than 25,000 retail stores in 75 countries and is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Starbucks’ mission is „to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time” and its slogan has been to bring their customers exceptional experiences. McDonald'sTM, in turn, is one of the world's largest fast-food restaurant chains, serving approximately 69 million customers daily in over 120 countries across approximately 36,900 outlets. McDonald’s doesn’t mention any real mission in their company profile, but the strong slogan “I am loving it” describes well the company’s mission as well as the customer experience they hope to give their customers. The new trend in large international companies is that it is no longer customer satisfaction that is important, but customer experience, which along with products or services carries a lot of weight in customers’ final decision making. The purpose of this research was to examine the formation of and to measure customers’ conscious experience of products and services in the business to consumer environment with two student groups in Poznan, Poland. The research was carried out in a Starbucks coffee shop as well as in a McDonald’s fast food restaurant in Poznan, Poland with a fuzzy logic based customer experience application. The research clearly shows the possibilities to monitor, develop and improve the degree of conscious as well as unconscious areas of customer experience. Furthermore, the test results were used to verify and validate the usability and structure of the ontology and the used application. The application operated well, and the test groups were satisfied with both the operation of the application as well as the collective results, which are presented in this article. Finally, some possible future actions related to the customers’ conscious and unconscious experiences are suggested.

Cost estimating of company’s good standing with consideration of correspondence of real estate objects to the «green building» standard

Article presents method of assessment of the value of the construction company’s goodwill based on the analysis of the current value of the company shares and value of its depositary receipts. Here analyzed main principles of the “green” building and problems of increasing of the levels of the construction company’s goodwill for assessment of which system of indicators, considering current trends and correspondence of the real estate objects to the standards of the “green” building was developed. The result of approbation of this method is calculation of cost of the business reputation of the large international construction-development company.

Methodology and Tool Support for Adaptive Idea Exploitation in Open Innovation

The lack of efficiency and transparency regarding cross-company collaboration in the field of open innovation often leads to cost intensive and unsuccessful products and services. This is because traditional approaches fail to cope with emerging requirements in innovation projects, e.g., the vertical and horizontal integration of strategic partners within and across the company’s value network. However, to maintain their competitive advantage, companies seek a constant and sustainable development of their product and service portfolio. In this context, knowledge work plays an important role in the collaborative development of innovative product and service ideas. For that reason, knowledge workers need systematic support regarding both methodological and operational challenges. The concept of Adaptive Case Management emerged from the necessity to support knowledge workers in unpredictable and highly creative working environments, especially in the field of Business Process Management. Therefore, the contribution shows, both from a conceptual and technological point of view, how to combine those approaches to support knowledge workers in dynamic innovation projects. To test the validity of the concept, a software prototype serves as the foundation for interviews with experts of the innovation department of a large international industrial company.

On tackling quality threats for the assessment of measurement programs: A case study on the distribution of metric usage and knowledge

Context: Measurement programs are subject to changing requirements, causing the need for a robustness to compensate these changes. Existing methods enable the assessment of measurement programs and their robustness with the help of company representatives. Goal: However, it is not clear how much the spread of knowledge among roles and differences between company internal organizations influence the result and quality of the assessment. Thus, it is not known today who and how many representatives should be interviewed to get reliable results. Method: To address these points we performed a case study on the assessment method MeSRAM, spanning 18 interviews with 14 representatives of 4 different organizations within a large international communication company. Results: Managers are able to answer more questions and their answers are more often correct than those of engineers. Furthermore, most errors occur for questions about the use of concrete metrics, while for aspects about the metrics' infrastructure no conflicting answers occurred. We also identified 6 reasons for gaining incorrect answers. Conclusion: The assessment of measurement programs requires additional care to ensure the quality of the results. • A case study on the assessment of software measurement programs. • Investigation of quality threats to that arise due to knowledge distribution. • A first list of reasons for assessment mistakes and lessons learned.

“M-Tailing” – The New Buzz Word in Retailing

Objectives: This paper is on the concept of M-Tailing wherein the power of the mobile phone technology is harnessed in retailing. With the exponential increase in communication technology and penetration of mobile phones, M-Tailing will be the future-retailing model. This paper traces the evolution of M-Tailing, the drivers, the hurdles and its future in the country. The explosive growth of E-commerce bodes well for the future of M-Tailing. The retail sector growth in today’s India is considered to be the major driver of M-Tailing India is seen today as the organized retail destination and the GRDI has placed India as number two developing retail market in the world. Organized retail and mall development have gone hand in hand in the country and today we have both large international and local companies making their foray into retail. One other driver is the changing Indian demographics. The increasing upward mobile urban youth market that is very tech savvy will be the future hunting ground for M-Tailers. Applications: The growth of mobile technology i.e. the launch of the 3G in India will be one of the key factors, which will further fuel the growth of M-Tailing. Every coin has the other side. The hurdles to M-Tailing are also examined in this paper. Findings: The paper concludes with what the future model should be and how retailers should design and develop their offering for the future.

AN ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN INDIA

Over the years Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a concept comparatively new to India, is rapidly picking up pace. CSR has become a fundamental business practice and has gained much attention from the management of large international companies. It facilitates the alignment of business operations with social values. CSR is deemed as a point of convergence of various initiatives aimed at ensuring socio-economic development of the community. Acknowledging the fact that mainstreaming CSR into businesses could be instrumental in delivering societal value, especially in a developing country like India, this paper specifically aims at providing an understanding of concept of CSR and analyses the development of CSR in India. It highlights the policies governing CSR in India and discusses the cases of CSR initiatives in Indian firms including SMEs role in CSR. There are several challenges facing CSR in India and the paper provides suggestions to overcome them and accelerate the CSR initiatives in India.

Competitive Strategic Performance Benchmarking (CSPB) model for international construction companies

Strategic performance management is an important tool in acquiring managerial superiority that affects international construction companies' success. Most comparative analysis of company performance focus on construction site productivity or project management processes, while only few studies focuses on the issues of competitiveness. In this context the objective of this study is to develop a Competitive Strategic Performance Benchmarking (CSPB) model for large international construction companies. The model was developed in two stages. In the first stage, the key parameters of the strategic performance measurement system were developed. In the second state, international construction companies performed self-assessments of their strategic performances on the bases of the key parameters defined in the first stage. Binary logistic regression analysis was employed to develop the strategic performance scale. The findings of this research indicate that a company's competitiveness based on profitability and sales growth are affected by the strength of strategies at the functional level whereas market share is influenced at the competitive level. Finally, a case study was conducted in order to present the applicability of the model for the practitioners. The CSPB model contributes to the managerial decision making process in construction companies and can be used as a tool for strategy formulation.

An investigation of development appraisal methods employed by valuers and appraisers in small and medium sized practices in Brazil

Purpose– Whilst the real estate development appraisal practices of large national and international real estate companies are well understood, relatively little is known about how development appraisals are conducted by indigenous appraisers and valuers in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how development appraisal is conducted in Brazil, compared to the UK, focusing primarily on the methods employed by small- and medium-sized real estate practices and their appraisers to appraise the viability of commercial real estate developments in the State of Sao Paulo.Design/methodology/approach– The study employs a two phase Delphi Method to capture and analyse empirical data from small- and medium-sized real estate appraisers in Brazil. Using the long established and relatively transparent UK Residual Method of development appraisal as a template against which to compare Brazilian appraisal methods, guidance and practice. To understand how indigenous development appraisers operate the Brazilian development appraisal methods, the research was conducted in Portuguese by a bi-lingual real estate expert who was familiar with both UK and Brazilian practice.Findings– The research establishes that appraisers working for small- and medium -sized real estate practices in Brazil rarely use the Residual Method. Instead, they employ a range of methods, the choice of which is heavily influenced by the availability of comparable market data, with Direct Comparison of market data and the Capitalisation of Income being the methods of choice. Appraisers rarely employ the Residual Method as the principal development appraisal technique, using instead the Comparative Method and Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis. Land prices are usually agreed or already known and developer’s profit is usually determined using DCF analysis and is highly sensitive to fluctuations in construction costs.Research limitations/implications– The research engaged with a small number of appraisers and valuers in small- and medium-sized practices in the State of Sao Paulo using a two-phase Delphi Method. The long established UK Residual Method of development appraisal was used as a template against which to compare practice in Sao Paulo State. There is potential therefore to replicate the research in other Brazilian States and transfer the methodology to other developing countries.Practical implications– In Brazil, when development land in urban areas is acquired on the basis of plot exchange, land is often sold at less than market value and the original landowner retains an equity stake in the development and shares in the development overage. The practice of “permuta física”, giving landowners the freehold of part of the development, or “permuta financeira”, whereby the landowner receives an enhanced land price, indexed against development value, is of potential relevance to the UK and other developed countries that need help in urban unlocking land markets.Originality/value– The research is a unique comparative study of development appraisal methods employed by small- and medium-sized practices in Brazil. It contributes to the limited literature that has so far been published in English on Brazilian development appraisal methods and reveals the similarities and differences with the Residual Method of development appraisal that is widely used in the UK and other developed countries.

Obesity, International Food and Beverage Industries, and Self‐Regulation: The Fragmentation of Information Strategies

This article explores how large international companies in the breakfast cereal, snack, and beverage industries address the issue of obesity, and how their strategies are governed by various forms of self‐regulation. In a first step, we study websites of ten companies and identify five different dimensions: (i) mission statements, (ii) educational commitment statements, (iii) nutrition labeling, (iv) marketing code of conduct, and (v) education initiatives aimed at professionals. Based on a coding of these activities, we conducted hierarchical cluster analysis and selected five case companies for in‐depth investigation. This analysis reveals different types of self‐regulation strategies, reflecting differences in levels of commitment and instrumentation. Some companies pursue defensive strategies, some with an element of “blame‐control,” whereas others adopt offensive strategies to promote their products. Differences in market communication strategies can be attributed to variations in product portfolio and market orientation, and can also be seen as attempts to forestall public regulation.