Management Decision-making Process Research Articles

A Management Decision Process for Corporate Action

Corporate Action namely every action of the issuer that gives equal rights to all shareholders such as Dividends, Right Issues and Stock Splits. Dividend is the distribution of company profits to shareholders based on the percentage of ownership of capital owners. Management decisions in seeking new capital or funds through the stock exchange floor are usually for debt repayment actions, company goals, expansion through product innovation in improving and maintaining company stability for better prospects in the future so as to encourage the government to build a better economy in the next period. Corporate action applies to all companies, not limited to public companies. Several forms of corporate action that are generally carried out by issuers include the distribution of dividends, both cash and shares,

Mapping Unmanned Aerial System Data onto Building Information Modeling Parameters for Highway Construction Progress Monitoring

The transportation infrastructure management sector lacks automated procedures that can help it find and resolve the performance deviations. The objective of this research is to illustrate the mapping of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) collected photogrammetric data to building information modeling (BIM) parameters, and their application for automated construction progress monitoring and the generation of as-built models. The goal is to support project managers to estimate project progress during highway construction. As a part of ongoing work, this paper takes into account 4D (3D + time) data that is acquired from 3D surface digital elevation models, point clouds, LiDAR data, and orthographic photos. It maps these 4D data onto BIM parameters to create as-built models of the project at different intervals. A comparison between as-planned and as-built models using the earned value management method is employed to develop metrics that can be used for indicating cost and schedule deviations during construction. The mapping methodology introduced in this paper is illustrated using an ongoing highway construction project case study. The main contribution of this paper is the organization, processing, and integration of UAS data with BIM data structures and project management workflows. The research outcomes will assist project managers in an easy and quick identification of potential performance problems and support the project management decision-making process.

Mathematical modeling and evaluation of the safety culture for the operating nuclear power plants in China: Critical review and multi-criteria decision analysis

The health and safety of an operating nuclear power plant (NPP/ONPP) is its important objective and task, which is usually accomplished by strengthening nuclear safety culture (NSC). With the objective to establishing an effective system of NSC assessment (NSCA) index, the present paper adopts the method of multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and constructs a NSCA model in order to rank the NSC level of different job positions. It first of all applies a combination of fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (FDEMATEL) and fuzzy network analytic process (FNAP) to determine the weights of the different indexes of the NSC, on the basis of which the NSC level of the selected seven job positions of an ONPP is ranked by employing the fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) method. The results thus obtained demonstrate that the safety culture level of general manager was the highest, whereas that level of field operator was the lowest. In addition, it was necessary to systematically strengthen employee responsibility awareness and scientific management decision-making process. In brief, the present research and procedure could facilitate the establishment of a healthy safety culture, and effectively improve organizational safety culture and become a bulwark against safety accidents in the ONPP.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ТА УМОВИ ПРИЙНЯТТЯ УПРАВЛІНСЬКИХ РІШЕНЬ НА ПІДПРИЄМСТВІ

The article identifies the features and conditions of management decisions at the enterprise. It is noted that today in the economic and managerial activities of Ukrainian enterprises one of the main tasks is to identify problem situations and find optimal ways of solving them. Irrational, suboptimal decisions can lead to loss of business stability, bankruptcy or other, even more threatening consequences. It is noted that one of the components of the control subsystem is the subsystem for developing management decisions to implement changes. It plays an important role in the enterprise. It is determined that the management hierarchy plays a significant role in the functioning of the enterprise, because close interaction and clear transfer of information at all levels of management allows to achieve a positive result and make a profit. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the concept of managerial decision-making should cover all changes in strategy, production, management of all processes in the enterprise. If the process approach has not yet become the norm of corporate culture, the transformation of enterprises is a consequence of the fact that they are re-experiencing the state in which they already were. It is noted that the organizational and managerial potential is crucial in the development and implementation of strategies for development and achievement of enterprise's goals. An algorithm for assessing the level of existing organizational and managerial potential of the enterprise is presented, providing an opportunity to determine the main indicators of organizational, informational and managerial potential by various methods, such as expert evaluation. It is concluded that in assessing the managerial capacity it is necessary to take into account not only quantitative indicators, but also qualitative ones, which are more characteristic of it. The study allowed to summarize the problematic aspects of the management decision-making process at the enterprise. This requires rethinking the decision support system, as well as the decision-making mechanism itself in the process of the business entity functioning. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that the decision-making process should, on one hand, have the characteristics of adaptability, adaptability to changes in the environment, and on the other – to ensure sustainable operation and development of the enterprise.

Ensuring the Long-Term Provision of Heathland Ecosystem Services—The Importance of a Functional Perspective in Management Decision Frameworks

The ecosystem services framework can be used as a way of balancing economic, ecological and societal drivers in land management decision-making processes. As heathland management is typically linked directly to services, the aim of this study was to quantify trade-offs related to the effects of five common heathland management measures (grazing, mowing, burning, choppering, and sod-cutting) using quantitative data from empirical studies within a northwestern heathland in Germany. Besides important services (groundwater recharge and quality, carbon stocks and appreciation by the general public) we included ecosystem functions (balances of nitrogen, phosphorus and major cations) and the net cost of management implementation as trade-off components. We found that all management practices have advantages and disadvantages leading to unavoidable trade-offs. The effect of a management practice on the trade-off components was often closely related to the amount of biomass and/or soil removed during a management cycle (Rannual). Choppering and sod-cutting (large Rannual by involving soil removal) were very good at maintaining a low N system whilst concurrently increasing groundwater recharge, albeit at the cost of all other components considered. If the aim is to preserve heathlands and their associated ecosystem services in the long-term this trade-off is inevitable, as currently only these high-intensity measures are capable of removing enough nitrogen from the system to prevent the transition to non-heather dominated habitat types. Our study, therefore, shows that in order to maintain structural integrity and thereby the service potential a habitat provides, management decision frameworks may need to prioritize ecosystem functioning over ecosystem services. Burning and mowing (low Rannual) were best at retaining phosphorus, cations and carbon and had the lowest costs. Grazing (intermediate Rannual) provided the highest relative benefit in terms of groundwater quality and appreciation. Together these results can help identify management combinations in both space and time, which will be more beneficial for functions and services than management practices considered in isolation. Furthermore, our study assists in recognizing key areas of action for the development of novel management practices and can help raise awareness of the diversity of rare species and potential benefits to people that protected cultural landscapes provide.

Functions and Meaning of “Materiality” in the Formation of Information in Financial Statements

The problem of materiality of information is related not only to audit, but also to financial, economic and managerial activities, including organization and maintenance of accounting, financial reports, analysis of an entity. The level of materiality of the information, including the materiality of deviations of the actual values of indicators from the specified parameters, predetermines the risk of uncertainty in making managerial decisions and decision-making processes as a whole. “Materiality” is unique for each entity or Group of Companies that generates IFRS reporting. That is why IFRS does not provide specific quantitative thresholds or clear rules for their determination. However, provides the qualitative factors that should be considered when assessing materiality: • Whether the misstatements allow demonstrating the compliance of the company's activities with financial forecasts - own, market, made by rating agencies or other independent analysts; • Whether the misstatements enable it to demonstrate compliance with regulations, debt or credit covenants, or other contractual requirements; • Whether misstatements convert net loss to net income or vice versa; • Whether misstatements affect key ratios or other disclosures in the financial statements to which users pay special attention; • Whether misstatements affect the size of bonuses for key management personnel; • Whether or not the segment disclosures are misstated; • Whether misstatements affect the disclosure of transactions with related parties. If a misstatement is intentional to achieve a particular disclosure option, then the misstatement is considered material, regardless of the amount. This is because the entity expected such misstatement to influence the decisions made by users of the financial statements. Keywords: Materiality; Financial statements; IFRS; Interim financial statements; Qualitative and quantitative indicators.

Evaluating the efficacy of GIS maps as boundary objects: unpacking the limits and opportunities of Indigenous knowledge in forest and natural resource management

ABSTRACT The meaningful inclusion of diverse forms of knowledge, such as Indigenous knowledge (IK), remain unrealized in many natural resource management decision-making processes. Innovative boundary objects could be used to facilitate the effective inclusion of IK in natural resource management decision-making processes. In this study, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps were used as boundary objects due to their ability to visually display IK across knowledge boundaries. Using a conceptual framework that combines the Six Faces of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) outlined by Houde (2007). “The Six Faces of Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Challenges and Opportunities for Canadian Co-Management Arrangements.” Ecology and Society 12 (2): 34–50. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss2/art34/) and boundary object criteria derived from the boundary science literature, our study investigated whether and how GIS maps could be used to increase the influence of IK on forest management. The four boundary object criteria (interpretive flexibility, accommodating concreteness, facilitating joint process, and satisfying information need) generated insight into specific ways to reduce the current barriers that may restrict greater use of IK within GIS and allow them to function more effectively as boundary objects.

Behavioural Aspects of Financial Decision-Making Process of Managers in Wood-Processing Enterprises

The study is focused on behavioural aspects in the financial decision-making process of wood-processing enterprises. The main aim was to map this topic and determine the key behavioural factors that lead management to make mistakes. Primary data on this issue were obtained from an empirical survey. The empirical survey was conducted through a questionnaire that contains questions focused on behavioural decision-making aspects. Using statistical methods, three key behavioural factors were determined. By selecting the given behavioural factors, it was established that love, hate, and sadness are the key factors that influence management behaviour and decision-making. In the real business environment, two managers working in a wood processing enterprise were chosen; they were willing to provide us with a review and opinion on the results of the survey. By analysing all the data, it has been concluded that, even though managers are trying to direct their behaviour and activities, they often do not notice the influence of these factors, and sometimes they are unable to make decisions. The managers should be able to direct their behaviour and activities, to provide self-control and take into consideration the fact that these factors are always present. Results determine the key and systematically occurring errors in the financial decision-making process, caused by the influence of the human factor. We have developed a model for activating the three key behavioural factors applied in the financial decision-making process as a tool that can help company managers not to make the wrong decisions.

Indexes to evaluate risk based metrological performance in companies in the energy sector

The metrological performance evaluation is a tool that allows feedback in the management of measurements and the monitoring of the results achieved by the organizations that apply it. In many companies this type of evaluation does not show relevant results, mainly due to limitations in the procedures and indicators used to carry it out. The objective of this work was to develop metrological risk indices for the evaluation of metrological performance in companies in the energy sector. For the development of the research, three organizations belonging to said sector are selected. From the use in the organizations of the risk approach and interviews, document review, brainstorming and mathematical statistical methods, the metrological risk index and the risk index in metrological management are defined for companies in the aforementioned sector. The results achieved showed that it is possible to create this prototype tool, as well as its usefulness to provide feedback on the management of measurements, in addition to guiding the management decision-making process in metrological matters.

Analysis of The Role of Management Information Systems in The Decision Making Process at PT. Indonesian Trading Company Medan

Every company will always be faced with uncertain situations that may support or hinder the company in achieving its goals. To be able to determine an attitude or take a decision in the face of a situation full of uncertainty, managers/managers need a variety of information. Good decisions can be made by managers at every level of management, if efficient, precise and direct information is available. How information is presented to managers depends on the merits of the management information system of the company. To discuss these problems, literature research and field research were carried out at PT. Indonesian Trading Company Medan. The results of research and discussion explain that a good management information system will have the ability to process data from all company activities into useful information and take over the management decision-making process. Although the supporting factors are adequate, there are still system errors and weaknesses in the design and implementation. These weaknesses are like processing data into information which takes a lot of time because information is processed in every part of the company so that it requires continuous supervision from the leaders. Information is distributed based on levels according to the organizational structure from superiors to subordinates. If circumstances force, the distribution of the information will no longer take place based on the level but directly to the superior, because the superior is obliged to make decisions that are exceptions to the problem.

Water efficiency management systems for transport drinking water supply

The quantity of management systems standards (MSSs) is increasing every year. Standards are significantly associated with common requirements and differences for many providers of services as well as for manufactures. The drinking water supply management system is certainly one of the important services. The aim of this article is to introduce a basic application of management system (MS) using visual management. The standard applied in a model, defined as a complex solitaire or “singlet”, is the Water Efficiency Management Systems (WEMS) standard. Visualised model is built by creating clusters using a software program designated for Small World Networks. This phase is preceded by the compilation of Excel spreadsheets, where requirements are divided into common and specific ones. The resulting cluster of selected areas includes the context of organizations that provide services, considering the common and specific requirements of interesting parties, managing their leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation and improvement. It could be very useful to extend the cluster by another standard depending on the needs of the drinking water supplier and the transport piping systems at the site. This approach to management systems intensively clarifies managerial decision-making processes related to the implementation of the WEMS.

Seismic risk assessment and intervention prioritization for Italian medieval churches

Rapid seismic risk assessments are critical to help practitioners, facility stakeholders, architectural heritage superintendence, and insurance companies in their asset management decision-making processes. In particular, the integrity of the Italian church portfolio has often been threatened by earthquakes. The Italian church portfolio includes thousands of religious buildings, representing pivotal facilities for the religious community, thus requiring an assessment methodology which accounts for the structural, architectural, cultural, and functional facets of churches. The methodology proposed herein combined both widely applied assessment techniques regarding structural vulnerability (e.g., “macro-blocks”) with a newly developed framework accounting for other important variables (e.g., the heritage significance of a church) to produce a rapid, quantifiable, and holistic approach to determine the relative seismic risk assessment of historic masonry churches. On-site surveys of 72 unreinforced masonry medieval churches across Italy were conducted. Following a hierarchical approach for the surveys, each risk component – hazard, vulnerability, exposure, and consequence – was defined throughout by the development of 13 different indices. Using the fuzzy set theory, the indices were aggregated into a final risk rating framework useful to provide stakeholders with a scientific-based prioritization list for the maintenance and strengthening intervention of their church portfolios.

Use of geographic information systems in crisis management

Key factor in the crisis management decision-making process is complete, easy-to-use, and quickly available spatial information on protected interests, preparedness, and vulnerability in the area. Technology progression of geographic information systems help us significantly simplify and speed up this process. It helps us to visualize this essential information for the strategic level of crisis management.

Toward the recognition and management of sarcopenia in routine clinical care

Sarcopenia, the age-associated decline in skeletal muscle mass and function, is a major cause of functional decline and mortality in older adults. Despite its importance, sarcopenia often remains unrecognized and inadequately managed in routine clinical care. A major hinderance to its clinical integration is the variation in diagnostic tools for sarcopenia. Diagnostic tools include those of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (versions 1 and 2), those of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (versions 1 and 2), and that of the Sarcopenia Definition and Outcomes Consortium. The management decision process of sarcopenia warrants an evaluation of risk factors such as a sedentary lifestyle, inadequate exercise, poor nutritional intake, smoking, depression and living circumstances. Herein, we provide an evidence-based update of the prevention and management of sarcopenia and propose practical information to facilitate the disease's adoption into routine care.

DIGITALIZATION OF THE PROCESSES OF PROVIDING SOCIAL SUPPORT MEASURES TO CITIZENS AS A FACTOR IN IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF STATE BUDGETARY ACTIVITIES

Relevance of the study. Given the significant budget expenditures on the digital transformation of government bodies and social policy, the large number of recipients of state support measures, the urgent need for digital services, the initiatives taken by the state to create a single platform for targeted social support of citizens (social treasury) within the emerging domestic ecosystem are of particular interest. Research objectives. The objectives of the study are to analyze the current state of digitalization of the processes of assigning and providing basic support measures, to establish and identify guidelines and needs of legal regulation, to study potential opportunities for implementing a platform approach in the field of social security to improve the efficiency of state budgetary activities. Conclusions. The legal guidelines for improving the processes of providing social support measures are strategic planning documents, the full implementation of which requires a comprehensive study and the creation of the necessary regulatory framework. To date, the principle of targeting and the targeted nature of budgetary funds in relation to the provision of social support measures has not been properly implemented, and therefore the comprehensive state social policy does not fully ensure the achievement of the goals and objectives. The introduction of an innovative model of the social treasury, the primary source of information for which will be the reference data of the federal population register, will bring the process of budget administration in the field of social security to a qualitatively new level, reduce the risks of non-fulfillment by the state of its obligations, will contribute to strengthening the culture of publicity and openness of management decision-making processes, the development of accountability of authorities at all levels to society for achieving national development goals.

TRG-DAtt: The Target Relational Graph and Double Attention Network Based Sentiment Analysis and Prediction for Supporting Decision Making

The management of public opinion and the use of big data monitoring to accurately judge and verify all kinds of information are valuable aspects in the enterprise management decision-making process. The sentiment analysis of reviews is a key decision-making tool for e-commerce development. Most existing review sentiment analysis methods involve sequential modeling but do not focus on the semantic relationships. However, Chinese semantics are different from English semantics in terms of the sentence structure. Irrelevant contextual words may be incorrectly identified as cues for sentiment prediction. The influence of the target words in reviews must be considered. Thus, this paper proposes the TRG-DAtt model for sentiment analysis based on target relational graph (TRG) and double attention network (DAtt) to analyze the emotional information to support decision making. First, dependency tree-based TRG is introduced to independently and fully mine the semantic relationships. We redefine and constrain the dependency and use it as the edges to connect the target and context words. Second, we design dependency graph attention network (DGAT) and interactive attention network (IAT) to form the DAtt and obtain the emotional features of the target words and reviews. DGAT models the dependency of the TRG by aggregating the semantic information. Next, the target emotional enhancement features obtained by the DGAT are input to the IAT. The influence of each target word on the review can be obtained through the interaction. Finally, the target emotional enhancement features are weighted by the impact factor to generate the review's emotional features. In this study, extensive experiments were conducted on the car and Meituan review data sets, which contain consumer reviews on cars and stores, respectively. The results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms the existing models.

How does knowledge affect IPO pricing? A new approach grounded in the knowledge-based view

PurposeThis study aims to empirically validate that a knowledge-based view (KBV) is an important framework to understand price discovery processes in initial public offerings (IPOs) by emphasizing the unique feature of knowledge creation jointly invoked by underwriters and institutional investors during the book building phase.Design/methodology/approachThe authors decompose underwriters’ incremental knowledge acquisition into objective knowledge – acquired from premarket bids – and subjective knowledge – which is orthogonal to the objective knowledge. The authors implement a multiplicative heteroscedasticity model to analyze how each knowledge component relates to the level and volatility (as a proxy of pricing uncertainty) of post-issue returns. The authors take the 2007 regulatory change as a quasi-natural experiment in which institutional investors were incentivized to provide true information.FindingsFor Korean IPOs, the authors find that the objective (subjective) knowledge component reduces (increases) both pricing uncertainty and underpricing. The authors also observe that the efficacy of the IPO knowledge creation critically depends on the quality of the information provided by institutional investors, as anticipated by the KBV literature.Originality/valueUsing fine-grained knowledge measures, the authors provide original, compelling evidence that objective (subjective) knowledge formulated from the IPO knowledge-creation processes de facto alleviates (worsens) underwriters’ pricing difficulties. This reinforces the importance of knowledge-based mechanisms in managerial decision-making processes.

Does perception of social issues affect portfolio choices? Evidence from the #MeToo movement

AbstractDid the #MeToo movement, inspired by a Twitter post in late 2017 following the Weinstein scandal, influence the asset allocation decision process of mutual fund managers intending to show support for women empowerment? We find evidence to support the influence of such attention. We utilize the breakout of the #MeToo movement as an exogenous shock to the perception of gender equity issues. Using a difference‐in‐differences framework, we show that, compared to passively managed mutual funds, actively managed mutual funds tilt their portfolios toward firms with greater female representation in the C‐suite, but only after the breakout. Our results are not explained by performance seeking, but are in part attributable to catering incentives. Moreover, the results become less significant when the marginal impact of changing perception is small. Using Google search volume to capture public sentiment closely tied to the perception of gender equality yields consistent results based on a larger sample. Our study sheds light on the recent rise of “gender lens investing” in the mutual fund industry.

Digital breakthrough: will public administration be smart enough in a digital state and how smart are the elite and citizens

The digital society is considered as a superintelligent society of a hybrid type, corresponding to the sixth technological order, in which the transgression of virtual relations into the real socio-cultural world is carried out, the hybrid collective mind is accumulated and intelligently used. The article raises the question – is it possible for subject-subject smart public administration in Russia, whether the subjects of management are smart and qualified enough in the context of digitalization, whether they will be able to effectively use smart technologies and smart services. To do this, the author discusses, first, the problem of what is a smart subject of management and how to measure the degree of smartness. In the discourse of digital society, the measurement of the degree of smartness of the subject of management is based on: the ability of an individual to perform managerial functions and on the possession of digital competencies. Secondly, the issue of assessing the current situation in Russia is investigated, i.e. to what extent digitalization creates conditions for the functioning of smart governance in Russia. The model of a centralized ecosystem of an IT-state of a service nature in Russia is implemented on a single architecture with the inclusion of components of state remote control of the objects of supervision, as well as on the principles of “human independence” and interdepartmental interaction. The model includes a set of public services of a consumer nature with multichannel access and the use of “intelligent agents”. Thirdly, to what extent the subjects of government, acting on behalf of the state, use the provided opportunities. It is concluded that modern official documents regulating the processes of building a digital state do not consider digitalization as a mechanism that ensures the humanization and democratization of relations between government and society. Fourthly, discussing the presence of subjects of government acting on behalf of citizens, the author emphasized that the state has provided for the availability of a barrier-free information environment that provides high-quality public, medical and social services, but the issue of citizens as subjects of governance in digitalization processes is not provided. They act as clients and a source of information. The signs of the subject of management among citizens in modern management practice are revealed in terms of the possibilities of expressing their position, recognizing the need for joint actions in collecting critical information and exercising control over the implementation of decisions, the presence of some partnership in the interaction of authorities with the public. It is shown that these processes are at the beginning of their development today, the underdevelopment of services for public participation in managerial decision-making processes is emphasized, while the results of the digitalization are disputable and contradictory both at the theoretical and practical levels.

DETERMINASI MANAJEMEN LABA PADA PERUSAHAAN DI BURSA EFEK INDONESIA

Financial statements are a source of information regarding the condition and performance of a company for external parties. Such information concerns the financial position, performance and changes in financial position of an enterprise, and is useful to a wide range of users in making economic decisions. One of the important elements in the financial statements used to measure management performance is profit. This study aims to determine the effect of dividend policy, leverage, firm size and free cash flow on earnings management. This type of research is causal associative. The research population is 40 Blue Chips companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2016-2020. The sampling method is purposive sampling, so the number of samples used is 200 observation data. Hypothesis testing is done by using multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed that dividend policy and free cash flow had a significant positive effect on earnings management, while leverage and firm size had no significant positive effect on earnings management. This is because earnings management is a management decision-making process in choosing accounting policies that will be used to achieve the desired goals, by increasing the earnings value of discretionary accruals.