Business Project Research Articles

Post-Pandemic Marketing: Use of Business Crisis Recovery Frameworks to Enhance Entrepreneurial Marketing Education

This article investigates entrepreneurial marketing (EM) and use of business recovery frameworks within experiential learning cycles (ELC)s to investigate post-Covid learning techniques during the learning process. Three distinct post-graduate learner cohorts took part in the study consisting of part-time MBA entrepreneurs from the United Kingdom, part-time upGrad MBA students from India (managers and marketers in large firms) and full-time MCom (Masters in Commerce) marketing students in New Zealand. This inductive study uses coursework artifacts, student feedback with thematic coding, and analysis from live business projects. Use of the post-disaster business recovery framework led to deeper learning, increased understanding, and generation of insights and new knowledge. Both student learner and entrepreneurial marketer skills and competencies are evidenced as essential for business resilience and growth in post-pandemic environments, while the framework aided co-creation of learning between the student and the focal business. Implications for marketing educators are offered together with future opportunities for education research in the EM education, entrepreneurship education and marketing fields. The study will allow educators to understand the three student typologies, leading to effective and impactful pedagogy in EM education.

Lean and Industry 4.0 mitigating common losses in Engineer-to-Order theory and practice: an exploratory study

Companies employing an Engineer-to-Order (ETO) manufacturing strategy often develop, design and produce complex goods in single or small batches based on an individual customer order. The increased complexity caused by project business multiplies the engineering, cost, and change management efforts that are often required, resulting in lost productivity and more non-value-adding activities. To improve efficiency and reduce losses, ETO organizations strive to implement Lean practices and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies, but the relevant literature in ETO industrial context is more exploratory and contains less empirical data. Building on the preliminary work categorizing the common losses in ETO organizations, the study examined how these can be reduced by Lean and I4.0 practices. Current literature was analyzed, and empirical data was collected using a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with 16 companies from the construction, shipbuilding, and machinery and plant manufacturing industries. The scientific literature was compared with the empirical data to find out whether Lean methods and I4.0 technologies are known in research but not applied in practice and vice versa. As a result, there are several practices from both domains applied in practice to reduce losses, but the analyzed literature indicates few successful implementations. Future research should aim to provide more empirical data on the application of Lean and I4.0 practices to mitigate losses in companies with an ETO strategy and provide best practices and guidelines.

ПРИЧИНИ ІНВЕСТИЦІЙНОГО ШАХРАЙСТВА І ПРОПОЗИЦІЇ ЩОДО ЙОГО УНЕМОЖЛИВЛЕННЯ

Висвітлено основні причини інвестиційного шахрайства, серед яких названо такі: бажання інвестувати й отримувати прибутки (зазвичай, маючи завищені вимоги до потенційних прибутків, нереалістично оцінюючи окупність вкладених коштів, імовірну рентабельність будь-яких інвестиційних проєктів); відсутність привабливих і зрозумілих пропозицій для вкладання власних коштів або відсутність чи недоступність інформації про об’єкти і проєкти для здійснення інвестування; відсутність знань щодо самостійного управління інвестиційними ресурсами. Досліджено алгоритм роботи інвестиційних шахраїв, який полягає в поетапному наданні інформації псевдоінвесторам і, відповідно, поетапному «витягуванні» коштів довірливих вкладників згідно із заздалегідь продуманими шахрайськими інструкціями. Проаналізовано наявні законні пропозиції вкладення коштів, які реалізуються сьогодні і які доцільно використовувати в майбутньому для збереження й примноження власних фінансових ресурсів. Серед них: розміщення коштів на депозитах у банках, купівля облігацій (у тому числі військових); започаткування, ведення, розвиток бізнесу. Зазначено, що потенційним інвесторам доцільно звернути увагу на «Інвестиційні паспорти територій і громад», «Інвестиційний атлас надрокористувача», які містять описи об’єктів для інвестування. Обґрунтовано, що для потенційних інвесторів, які з різних причин не можуть самостійно управляти бізнесом, інвестиційними проєктами, доцільно на державному рівні, на рівні органів місцевої влади організовувати проєкти, які й даватимуть позитивні результати інвесторам, й обумовлять синергетичні позитивні ефекти. Зазначено, що на державному рівні необхідно максимально швидко реагувати на появу незаконних, злочинних шахрайських схем, а всім громадянам, щоб не потрапляти на «гачок» шахраїв, доцільно підвищувати свою фінансово-економічну грамотність і психоемоційну стійкість.

Cross-functional collaboration in the early phases of capital projects: Barriers and contributing factors

In early project phases, cross-functional collaboration is required to lead a capital project from an investment option to a full definition before its design and construction commenced. Given that many capital projects are large, complex, and take years to develop, for stakeholders to realize effective project definition and development it is important that they identify—in the early phases—cross-functional collaboration barriers and their contributing factors. The current study conducted a total of 20 interviews with experts from both the business units and project teams in owner companies and Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractors. It identified 14 barriers to effective cross-functional collaboration and 43 associated contributing factors in the early phases of capital projects. To rank the barriers, researchers then applied the Delphi method with a panel of 12 subject matter experts (SMEs). The outcomes of this study can guide practitioners to improve the effectiveness of cross-functional collaboration in early project phases.

A Critical Autoethnography of Researching on Environmental Problems from Face Mask Disposal Problems on Malaysia

Sharer (referring to storyteller: Siyi Guan) has utilized autoethnography as a methodology to redact and share her own startup experience on the basis of personal business project. The first section comprises the narration of sharer’s personal startup experience, which is followed by the problem statement confronted during the project process, with the introduction of the research design of its methodology at the same time. There have been 5 interviewees participating in this research. Nvivo is utilized to extract the interview data along with its high-frequency words in written form after interviews. Ultimately, the overall project orientation process and future suggestions are elaborated.
 Keywords: Autoethnography; Startup experience; Environment; Face Masks

Learning by facilitating: A project-based interdisciplinary approach

Teamwork skills are an important part of business school curriculum typically taught using project-based experiential methods. This paper presents best practices for teaching teamwork skills to Gen Z students using a project-based learning, peer mentoring approach. With experiential learning theory as a guide, an interdisciplinary process was developed between an introductory programming course and a capstone business project management course to improve experiential learning and overcome issues like the free-rider problem. The opinions and sentiments of peer mentors were examined using text analysis and sentiment analysis. Peer mentoring between two interdisciplinary courses was found to reduce the free-rider problem and was beneficial for both classes.

Features of attracting investments and financing business projects

The article discusses the importance of attracting investments at every stage of project development: from its creation to the established business. In addition, the most popular methods of external financing of business projects are analyzed.

Future Arctic regulatory interventions: discussing the impact of banning the use of heavy fuel oil

ABSTRACT The on-going reduction of sea-ice in the Arctic is now facilitating maritime activities in areas previously considered inaccessible. Numerous statistics indicate that fishing and tourism are clearly gaining momentum within the wider region under discussion. Furthermore, a certain number of private companies and state-affiliated actors are setting into motion plans for promoting the use of the so-called arctic passages, while certain interesting business projects are already underway; the Yamal LNG Project is for example clearly standing out. As human presence and operations are expected to intensify within that inherently risky region, the first aim of this paper is to qualitatively identify certain business opportunities associated with the Arctic and then highlight their interrelation with the prevailing patterns of maritime traffic. Additionally, on the basis of the report titled ‘Arctic Shipping Status Report – Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) Use by Ships in the Arctic 2019' (ASSR #2) that was released during October 2020 by the Arctic Council's Working Group on the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME), it explains the use of the various types of fuels in the region under discussion and highlights certain environmental risks. Finally, it briefly assesses the overall effectiveness of a (proposed) regulatory intervention of completely banning the use of HFO in the Arctic. This initiative can indeed have a positive contribution to protecting the region's pristine environment, but any regulations of this type must also consider the issue of fishing vessels, which are not covered under the scope of International Maritime Organization's (IMO) International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).

On the Issue of the Formation of Football Infrastructure in Sofia in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

One of the main components of the football industry today is its infrastructure. Training facilities, stadiums with stands for spectators, sports bases, retail outlets, museums of various teams and clubs all play key roles in the sport. In Britain, such amenities began to appear in the first half of the 19th century, in continental Western Europe — around the mid-1800s, and in the central and eastern parts of the Old World — even later, at the turn of the 20th century. The development of football infrastructure in Sofia is an illustrative example not only in the context of one city or country, but also for the region as a whole. Since in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the capital of Bulgaria saw the formation of traditions which determined the subsequent development of the city’s sports infrastructure, through this case study we can trace from where the complex of ideas related to establishing suitable sports facilities spread to Bulgaria and Southeastern Europe, how the process of formation and accumulation of knowledge in this specialized sphere unfolded, and how such facilities were actually built. The initiative to set up sports grounds belonged to Bulgarian educational institutions and societies, and such projects were financed by club members. The social groups that played the decisive role in the transfer of knowledge to the sports industry, namely to the construction of football playing grounds, were local youth with the experience of studies abroad and foreign teachers who worked in Bulgaria. The main routes of diffusion of this type of information originated in Switzerland and the Ottoman Empire. It was from these countries that the capital of the Balkan state received knowledge about the existing norms and rules for the construction of football fields. However, unlike in other European cities during this period, the sports infrastructure in Sofia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries did not yet become a component of business projects aiming to make a profit from renting out such facilities or from selling tickets to football fans.

THE ROLE OF FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (SYRIAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A LIFESTYLE)

This study examines the effect of female business projects and their impact on women’s economic and social empowerment through increasing women’s contribution to income, their role in family decision-making, improving their standard of living, self-esteem, and self-confidence, eliminating poverty and unemployment that rural women suffer from. The gender gap in entrepreneurship persists despite the increasing number of public policies and institutional resources intended to promote women-led enterprises. A qualitative method was used to review the literature related to Women Entrepreneurship in Syria. The economic contribution of women in Syria is characterized by its diversity between agriculture, trade, and government jobs. However, the Syrian crisis has heavily affected the level of entrepreneurship. Data shows that the business performance index decreased to 41.6% in 2018, making Syria rank 174 out of 190 countries surveyed. Even though Syria has witnessed a great improvement in the level of women’s development in parallel with the development of the level of women’s education and their entry into the labour market within the public and private sectors alike, still the most recent Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) shows the relative gender gap in entrepreneurship index rate is currently at 0.2. The percentage of entrepreneurship was limited to 1% of working women, compared to 4.9% of men, meaning there are approximately five male entrepreneurs for every female entrepreneur which clearly highlight the need for support.

Development and justification of the system methodological approach to assessing the investment business project implementation efficiency under conditions of the external market environment factors impact

Evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of an investment project is a key issue when making management decisions both at the stage of setting up a startup and for expanding an existing business. This paper reports a systematic approach to building a mathematical model to solve the task of forecasting the effectiveness of business projects, taking into account the influence of factors of the external economic environment. Proposed factors include the impact of supply and demand on the price of goods, political and industry risks, the volume of commodity supply and sales. In view of this, a method for calculating the political component of the discount coefficient using the Fourier series has been proposed. Using the theory of differential equations, correlation and regression analysis, a mathematical model for forecasting indicators of efficiency of business project implementation taking into account the influence of factors of the external economic environment has been constructed. Based on it, a generalized algorithm for applying a mathematical model to predict the effectiveness of investment projects in various business sectors has been developed. The results from applying differential equations and variable discount coefficient showed a decrease in NPV by 14 %, and PI by 5.1 %, due to more accurate consideration of the political component in calculating the discount factor. Also, with the influence of supply and demand on the price of goods and nonlinear cash flows, it was found that the payback period does not clearly indicate the effectiveness of the implementation of an investment business project. Determining these factors provides more accurate information to the investor or business owner when forecasting the stability of a business project for making management decisions on its implementation

Managing the Company's Digital Capability

The framework for assessing the company's digital capability includes six key areasthat can be individually evaluated to consider the overall maturity of a company's digitalcapability. According to this framework key areas are innovation capability,transformation capability and IT excellence as digital transformation enablers andcustomer centricity, effective knowledge worker and operational excellence as digitaltransformation goals. The focus of this research is the area of operational excellence.The purpose of the paper is to assess how the manufacturing company manages thedigital transformation of the operational excellence. In the paper, the digital capabilitymaturity model (DCMM) and its corresponding business transformation managementmethodology (BTM2) are used for this assessment. The BTM2 includes ninemanagement disciplines and each of them is individually evaluated for the case of theoperational excellence. These are the following disciplines: strategy management,value management, risk management, business process management, IT management,change management, training management, project management and metamanagement. According to the obtained assessment results the maturity of managementdisciplines for the case of operational excellence within the examined company ismostly reactive (maturity level 2). In order to improve the digital transformation of thecompany's operational excellence, it is necessary to define digital use cases based onthe new technologies and map them to the existing maturity model of operationalexcellence of the company. It is necessary to consider the requirements of stakeholdersregarding the benefits and risks of new digital technologies to improve the operationalexcellence of the company. Accordingly, the company should to define a new strategicplan and align it with the new IT strategy. For this purpose, COBIT 5 framework isused in the paper. The contribution of this research is in the proposed and describedthree-step approach to managing the operational excellence of companies andimproving the level of digital capabilities of companies.

FUNDAMENTALS OF MANAGEMENT OF INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS STRUCTURES OF AGRIBUSINESS

Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in the development of agriculture. Its development in agricultural production requires a balanced approach to implementing agricultural and food policy. It is emphasized that an essential component of managing the inclusive development of agribusiness entrepreneurial structures is the control over implementing an investment business project in the inclusive sphere of activity. The need to establish an inefficient management method in months of a significant decrease in profitability was emphasized. The structure of socioeconomic standards for checking the methods of managing the inclusive development of enterprises on the example of an agricultural firm is considered. Management of the inclusive development of entrepreneurial structures of agribusiness involves the implementation of evaluation, restoration, and increase of its pace. The evaluation takes place with the help of the indicator of inclusive development and the restoration and increase of development rates – with the help of management technology by goals and a bank of methods and techniques for adjusting methods of managing agribusiness business structures. The scheme of using business methods and techniques for adjusting the methods of managing the inclusive development of enterprises is detailed. Examples of the restoration of inclusive development by the rings of the chain of adding consumer properties to the product and the components of the complex activity of the entrepreneurial structure of agribusiness are considered. The practical difficulties that today accompany the development of an inclusive model of economic growth in agribusiness are analyzed. It is proven that the management of an enterprise or business is more concrete and is explained as a purposeful management of all divisions and links of the enterprise for organization and coordination. The theoretical basis of the above provisions is the mechanism of transferring entrepreneurial structures of agribusiness to the state of inclusive development, which, unlike the existing one, is based on the coordination of the market signal (about the vector of the leading consumer property of the product) with a particular trajectory (attractor) of the inclusive development of the business entity.

Целевая аудитория предпринимательского проекта и анализ способов ее определения в рамках проектной деятельности

The correct and detailed definition of the target audience contributes to the success of the business project. Despite the fact that today they distinguish innovative entrepreneurial projects separately, calling them start-ups, competition in the market requires that they be innovative a priori. Considering that the life span of such projects in Russia is an average of three years, it is advisable to collect data on the potential client before launching it. Meanwhile, according to statistics, 35–42 % of failures in the implementation of innovative entre-preneurial projects are due to the reasons associated with the incorrect definition of the target audience. In this regard, the article presents the rationale for the importance of knowing the potential addressee of an entrepre-neurial project, considers ways of determining the target audience, gives a brief description of them as part of the project activities according to three criteria: the purpose of the toolkit, the complexity of the analysis and the method of obtaining the information used. Conclusion dwells upon the fact that without a preliminary assess-ment of the demand for the proposed product from the addressable consumer, entering the market with any business project is inexpedient because of the high risks.

Система поддержки выбора бизнес-проектов на основе автоматизированного управления бизнес-идеями

The article considers the development of a web service for business projects’ and business ideas’ management. The application allows to provide users with the opportunity to create their own business project and evaluate the solutions of other users. Main attention is made to take into account the categories of costs for the project associated with its feasibility study, as well as to track project versions in an automated mode. The subject area was analyzed, the design of the system and the data model necessary for the operation of the system were described. Based on the data obtained, the requirements for the system are formulated, which allowed the system to have been designed in detail. The selected technologies for program realization are described and the server and client parts are developed, the implementation results are presented. The web service has been tested for errors and they were fixed. The audience is middle-aged and young people who are interested in getting information and analytics on the Internet and who want to manage their money wisely. Among the expected observations, first of all, innovative projects, immunity, as well as purposeful projects, for which it is necessary to find tasks and sponsors, should be noted, given the convenient assessment of communication with information technology. The application also has the competitive advantage of offering the possibility of using standard categories of financial costs, as well as technical ones for the needs of an innovative project. Version tracking invokes easy navigation through changes to a project in terms of software requirements, by impact requirement, and by cost categories, realized functions.

Entrepreneurship in the age of the digital economy.

Entrepreneurship in the age of the digital economy.

КОМУНІКАЦІЙНА СКЛАДОВА ІНВЕСТИЦІЙНОГО ПРОЄКТУ В УМОВАХ ЗАГРОЗ ТА РИЗИКІВ

Investment activity makes it possible to provide the enterprise with sources of economic benefits. But finding good investors is impossible without the ability to communicate or negotiate. Implementation of an investment project is a complex process that includes pre-investment, actual investment and post-investment stages. Therefore, it is important to understand what communicative competences are necessary for a business manager/owner in order to implement an investment project and establish close relations with investors in conditions of threats and risks. The purpose of the research is to study the role and importance of communications and communicative competence of managers in the process of ensuring and implementing investment projects of enterprises in conditions of threats and risks. In the process of carrying out the research, general scientific theoretical methods were used: the abstract-logical method - to make theoretical generalizations about the essence of the investment project and the stages of its implementation; generalization - for the formation of communicative competences that provide all stages of the implementation of an investment project. ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT OF ENTERPR ISES ACCORD ING TO TYPES OF BUSINESS ACTIVITY Issue II (90), 2023 35 The article defines that the communicative competence of managers representing an investment project includes: the ability to communicate with people at different levels of the organization's structure: with subordinate employees, groups, units; outside the organization: with customers, suppliers, banks; investors; use of formalized communication at meetings, in the process of developing reports, proposals, presentation of business plans; use of informal communication in communicating with employees, consulting, getting to know investors; use of communication to search for information, control, participation in discussions; creation of contact bases of future investors, influence on other people. Based on the conducted research, three stages of investment project implementation were determined: pre-investment, investment and post-investment, and the proposed communicative competences that ensure their implementation. The proposed communicative competencies of the three stages of an investment project can form the basis of the basic competencies needed by modern business managers/executives for the implementation of their projects in conditions of threats and risks, and can also be modified, supplemented and improved depending on the type of activity of the enterprise, the competitive situation on the market, the period of implementation of the business project, etc.

Промышленное освоение территорий Арктической зоны Якутии и этнологическая экспертиза инвестиционных проектов

The purpose of the work is to assess the consequences of the industrial development of the territories of traditional nature management of the indigenous peoples of the North. In order to achieve the goal, the investment projects planned on the territory of the Arctic and considered in the ethnological expertise of the Yakutia are analyzed. The structure of the Yakutia economy is dominated by the mining industry. The Arctic and northern territories of Yakutia are characterized by high vulnerability to technogenic impacts. In 2012–2021, 39 investment business projects were considered in the republic’s ethnological expertise, including 12 ones in the Arctic and northern regions. In order to improve the health and quality of life of indigenous peoples in the areas of industrial development, it is necessary to conclude a trilateral Co-operation Agreement between the project customer, state authorities and authorized representatives of indigenous peoples. In order to monitor the quality of life of indigenous peoples, it is necessary to adopt the Program of ethno-ecological monitoring in the territories of traditional nature management. The study was carried out using historical-geographical, analytical, synthetic, statistical methods. The results of the work can be applied by specialists of state structures, scientists, students.

АДАПТАЦИЯ И ИНТЕГРАЦИЯ СОТРУДНИКОВ КАК ОДНА ИЗ КЛЮЧЕВыХ ЗАДАЧ СОВРЕМЕННОГО РУКОВОДИТЕЛЯ

In the conditions of the modern world, where new technologies are constantly appearing, new fi rms, organizations, companies are opening, more and more individual entrepreneurs are appearing, or existing business projects are simply expanding, the need for constant hiring of personnel is only increasing. The appearance of new employees in the organization, as a rule, slows down the activities of the organization, since each newly arrived employee comes with his own unique experience from other places of work or positions, someone comes fi rst (without work experience at all), everyone has their own views on professional activities and personal values, and not necessarily these views will coincide with the views of the organization as a whole and the team in particular. The adaptation of personnel in an organization is an important link in human resource management. In the end, when a person becomes an employee of an organization, he faces a number of diff erent organizational problems that cannot be solved without the help of colleagues and management. The beginner must accept and adapt to the new professional and socio-psychological conditions of work. Managing the adaptation of new employees in a team is an important link in the personnel management chain. Creation of an eff ective employee adaptation mechanism allows to reduce initial costs, reduce staff turnover, form a loyal attitude of an employee from the fi rst days of his work in the company, which creates incentives and a desire to work in the organization.

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES OF TEACHING “FUNDAMENTALS OF METROLOGY” IN THE PROCESS OF TRAINING METROLOGICAL ENGINEERS

The article reveals the relevance of introducing advanced technologies into the process of conducting theoretical and practical classes for metrologists in the light of a radical reform of the education system in Uzbekistan and the requirements for the competencies of graduates. The components of competencies of an engineer-metrologist are disclosed. The most effective methods and technologies for organizing theoretical and practical classes are described in detail: roleplaying and business games, trainings, projects, case methods, situation modelling and brainstorming. Today, the educational process must be continuous, flexible, intensive, multi-level and dynamic. In our opinion, the concept of professional training of metrologists in the field of design, creation and use of measuring instruments should be based on the ideas of forming a socially and professionally developed personality based on the use of practice.