Business Process Specification Research Articles

EXPRESS: Generative AI in Marketing: Promises, Perils, and Public Policy Implications

By evaluating the use pattern of GAI by businesses in marketing, this study aims to understand the subsequent impact on society and develop policy implications that promote its beneficial use. To this end, we develop an organizing framework that contends that the usage of GAI models by businesses for marketing purposes creates promises and perils for society through a specific business process. This business process is represented by the action → capabilities → transformation → impact link in the proposed framework. Additionally, we find that the level of technology infrastructure, skilled personnel, and data access moderates the influence of GAI on businesses’ ability to develop technology-driven capabilities. Furthermore, adaptive leadership and management strategies moderate the impact of these capabilities on technology-enabled business transformations. In doing so, this is the first study to critically evaluate the use of GAI in marketing from a public policy perspective. The study concludes with an agenda for future research.

Barriers to Digital Transformation in SMEs: Insights from a Bibliometric Analysis

This paper presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the current research landscape concerning digital transformation in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Through a series of VOSviewer visualizations, we identify major thematic clusters, emerging research trends, unexplored opportunities, and patterns of author collaboration within the field. Our findings reveal a strong initial focus on crisis management in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which gradually shifted towards long-term strategic issues such as business model innovation, digitalization strategies, and international market expansion. The analysis highlights under-researched areas including specific business processes and implications of digital transformation in the manufacturing sector, suggesting fruitful avenues for future research. Additionally, the study maps the collaboration networks among scholars, uncovering both strong interconnections and potential gaps that offer opportunities for new scholarly partnerships. This paper contributes to the strategic knowledge on digital transformation in SMEs by outlining the evolution of research themes over time and suggesting directions for future research collaborations to enhance the digital resilience and competitiveness of SMEs.

Graphical Specification of Sensitive Business Processes

This paper aims at developing a new BPMN extension, called “BPMN4SBP”, supporting the multi-dimensional modeling of Sensitive Business Processes (SBPs) (i.e., the knowledge, functional, organizational, behavioral, informational and intentional dimensions). It aims to explicitly integrate all the relevant issues and aspects relevant at the coupling of the business process modeling (BPM) domain and the knowledge management (KM) domain for improving the identification and management of crucial knowledge which are mobilized and created by these processes. This paper provides the analysis of requirements and relevant concepts for modeling SBP. Based on a core domain ontology, need for extension is identified and the valid BPMN4SBP extension is designed (according to the BPMN extension mechanism) by the construction of a conceptional domain model and the corresponding BPMN extension model. This extended BPMN4SBP meta-model is derived by applying model transformation rules and by adapting, also, the UML profile mechanism to BPMN. The applicability of the proposed BPMN extension is demonstrated by modeling an SBP in a real case study in the healthcare domain.

Smart technologies in banking

The article is aimed at the current issues of using smart technologies and innovative approach during evolution and transformation processes in banking. The study identifies the special place of this topic for achieving a high level of efficiency and competitiveness of banks and characterizes the impact of the introduction of technological approaches on the customer base and its perception of banking products. The main functions of banking innovations in this area are analyzed and the justification of their feasibility at the present stage of economic development is provided. A number of the most promising technologies and approaches to banking activities are allocated, namely: contactless payment, digital wallets, biometric identification, person-to-person payments, collective financing, omnichannel banking, interaction with FinTech companies, blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence, smart machines, Internet of Things, behavioral banking, retail bank, application programming interfaces, multi-component bank, open banking, augmented reality, robotic automation, hybrid clouds. The relevance of the identified areas is proved based on their perception by analyzing the popularity of the identified topics in Google search queries using the Google Trends tool. The perception of smart technologies in banking by Internet users in the world and specifically in Ukraine is investigated, which gave grounds to conclude that there is a significant interest in them, and therefore the expediency of further study and implementation in the activities of banks. It is identified that the most perspective technologies are biometric identification, blockchain, Internet of Things, big data analysis, artificial intelligence, etc. Several technologies have been identified, namely, collective financing (crowdfunding), application programming interfaces (APIs) and digital wallets, which are less popular in Ukraine than in the world in general, and therefore require detailed research and study of the relevance of their application in the domestic banking market. Possible directions for further innovative development of banking institutions based on the use of smart technologies are proposed. Based on panel data for 60 banks of Ukraine for the period 2014-2022, the author analyzes the correlations between the indicators of the use of digital technologies and the financial performance of banks and builds regression dependencies of financial indicators of banks on the indicator of the number of electronic means of payment in active circulation. The theoretical value of the study is to identify the most promising smart technologies and innovative approaches to banking business in modern conditions. The practical value lies in studying the level of perception of high-tech innovations in the field of banking services by the active public and identifying further directions for the development of this process. We consider it advisable to direct further research in the context of a detailed study of the possibilities of applying the identified technologies in specific banking products or business processes.

Application of artificial intelligence to personalize user content in the company’s marketing offers

The growing interest of business in the use of artificial intelligence is determined by the enormous optimization, analytical, predictive and generative capabilities. A pressing issue in these conditions is determining the features of the use of artificial intelligence in specific tasks, operations and business processes of the company. The article reveals aspects of the use of artificial intelligence to personalize user content in the company’s marketing offers. An analysis of modern research on personalization and the use of artificial intelligence tools in marketing is carried out. A list of areas, tools and operations necessary to personalize a company’s marketing based on artificial intelligence is identified. Based on the results of the study, a list of tasks in the company’s marketing is provided that can be solved by modern artificial intelligence tools.

Місце лідерства, командоутворення та корпоративної етики як критеріїв у формуванні бізнес-команд: рішення HR при організації рекрутингу як підприємницького процесу

The article considers the place of leadership, team building and corporate ethics as criteria in the formation of business teams, pays attention to the role of HR in the organization of recruiting as an entrepreneurial process. A team of professionals is able to quickly and efficiently solve a problem that usually takes a significant amount of time, and has the ability to generate non-standard solutions. It is only natural that there is an ever-growing interest in the fundamentals and problematic issues of leadership. The mechanisms of advancement to leadership, the main theories of leadership, the principles of team building, the features of interaction between people in the group, the methods of personal effectiveness of the leader, the features of various national management models are considered. Having an effective team creates a favorable image for the business and inspires trust among customers. If there is a team, the company has advantages in obtaining profitable orders in the market. Working in a team always contributes to the personal and professional growth of its members, forms leadership qualities, creates conditions for innovation and creativity. Teamwork also forms a system of values for each team member and implements corporate ethics, which means it increases the effectiveness of the team as a whole. It is important for a leader to understand and be able to apply modern technologies for creating teams. Leadership extends to people who interact within a specific business process. However, in this case, the participants in the interaction may be psychologically incompatible with each other, be prone to apathy and lack of interest in what they are professionally called to do. In the Central European region and in Eastern Europe, research on teamwork in business has been conducted over the past two decades. To understand the system, organization and implementation of teamwork in organizations, it is necessary to determine the criteria for the formation of business teams, first of all, to find answers regarding the needs of team formation, their effectiveness, internal organization, distribution of roles and tasks. One of the prospects for further research in this direction is to determine the most important thing in leadership – to know when to start moving. It’s about feeling the situation. After all, if the leader chooses the wrong moment, he will certainly doom the group he leads to failure. The inability to feel the situation, to choose the exact moment to start moving can negatively affect the reputation of the leader. Therefore, the formation of appropriate skills through the development of intuition and time management training are key priorities for a team leader.

КЛЮЧОВІ АСПЕКТИ МОДЕЛЮВАННЯ БІЗНЕС-ПРОЦЕСІВ У СФЕРІ ГОТЕЛЬНО-РЕСТОРАННОЇ ІНДУСТРІЇ В УМОВАХ НЕВИЗНАЧЕНОСТІ

The article examines modern approaches to modeling business processes in the hotel and restaurant industry in Ukraine. It emphasizes that over the past three decades, strategy has been the primary building block of competitiveness, but in the future, the search for sustainable advantage may shift to the processes of business model formation. The article describes various authors' approaches to this concept and the sequential stages of building a business model under unstable economic conditions. It characterizes the differences between business processes in the hotel and restaurant sectors and proposes an author's approach to the key elements of business modeling. Based on analyzed data, the article concludes that the leading hotel chain, Marriott International Inc., views sustainability as a key aspect of all business processes. Consequently, it highlights major development directions such as investing in the latest technologies, particularly in improving user digital platforms, developing the mid-price segment, and digital transformation, which could be relevant for other hotel and restaurant chains, including those in Ukraine. Different business models in the hotel and restaurant industry are shaped by commercial decisions made by hotel investors and hotel management companies regarding: оwnership of hotel premises and buildings; brand independence or affiliation with a larger hotel network operating under a unified brand; establishing and ensuring compliance with brand standards; risk distribution and profit-taking from hotel business operations; managing the team that makes daily operational decisions in the hotel (including staff recruitment and training). Thus, the further successful development and operation of enterprises in the hotel and restaurant industry will depend on their ability to adapt to changing market conditions, implement innovative solutions, and maintain sustainable development. The key aspects of business process modeling proposed in the article will introduce an element of certainty into the enterprise management process and integrate the latest management approaches into specific business processes, considering their specificity. Depending on the set goals, the methodology for modeling business processes can be narrowed or expanded.

РАЗРАБОТКА МОДЕЛЕЙ МАШИННОГО ОБУЧЕНИЯ ДЛЯ ПРОГНОЗИРОВАНИЯ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТИ БИЗНЕС-ПРОЦЕССОВ

The article discusses the development of machine learning models for predicting the economic efficiency of business processes in a rapidly changing economic environment and increasing competition in the market. The author pays special attention to machine learning models, such as linear regression, random forest, gradient boosting and neural networks, and the rationale for their selection and use in the context of economic efficiency forecasting. The stages of data processing, training models and assessing their quality using various metrics are described. The selection of key business processes for testing machine learning models, such as the production process, sales process, logistics process and financial process, is considered. The author analyzes the results and presents conclusions and recommendations based on the analysis of specific business processes.

The role of digital technologies in the management of international companies in the era of digital transformation

The article discusses trends, problems and prospects of rapid implementation and active use of digital technologies in all management processes of international companies. It analyzes the impact of digital transformation on changes in the overall organization of management of international companies, identifies the main trends in the digital transformation of specific business processes. The role of the ongoing digital transformation in the organization of international business management at the micro level, i.e., at the level of international companies themselves, is defined. The paper identifies the main advantages that increase the efficiency of their functioning and the ability to ensure competitiveness in the global market, as well as the challenges that international companies face in implementing digital technologies in their business processes and in the overall business management model.

Artificial intelligence as a tool for creating dynamic product descriptions in e-commerce

The aim of the article. The aim of the article is to search for existing services for writing product descriptions based on artificial intelligence and to compare them in terms of a factor evaluation of key functional and commercial indicators. The results of the analyses. An analysis of seven services utilizing artificial intelligence for automated product description writing has been conducted. The general conclusion is that the use of artificial intelligence for this purpose holds significant potential but poses certain challenges and issues that need to be considered. One notable aspect is the similarity in the quality level of the output text across these services. They all demonstrate approximately similar results, providing text that meets the required standards. This makes them effective tools for integration through APIs in large-scale e-commerce projects with extensive product catalogs. Chat GPT stands out with a high score, particularly due to the multitude of parameters available for use through its API, making it an attractive choice for projects requiring consideration of diverse product characteristics in generated text. Having highlighted the advantages, it is crucial to address the challenges posed by artificial intelligence in the context of writing product descriptions. The primary unresolved issue revolves around the similarity of generated texts for similar products. This problem requires further investigation. In summary, the utilization of artificial intelligence for crafting product descriptions in e-commerce is a promising development direction, enabling time and resource savings. With the right approach and consideration of the specific project's characteristics, services of this kind can become effective tools for optimizing the processes of writing product descriptions in e-commerce. Conclusions and direction for further research. With the rapid growth of the e-commerce market worldwide, the number of products requiring descriptions is increasing exponentially. These descriptions should be well-written to encourage website visitors to make purchases. Producing such a large volume of necessary texts solely by increasing the number of copywriters on a company's payroll is difficult and economically inefficient. Therefore, at this stage of artificial intelligence development, specialized tools have started to emerge that write product descriptions automatically. Although they still have some drawbacks, they are reliable assistants in saving resources for e-commerce enterprises and increasing economic efficiency. A comparison of such services has shown that they are roughly on the same level in terms of writing quality and effectively address the tasks assigned to them. The choice of a specific service will depend on the specific business processes of the enterprises, such as the importance of integrating functionality through APIs. Overall, the level of problem-solving for these services is high, except for one — they have not yet overcome uniformity in writing descriptions when similar product characteristics exist. This problem requires further study to find an appropriate practical solution. In addition to the challenges identified, it is essential to emphasize the ethical considerations associated with utilizing artificial intelligence in generating product descriptions. As these systems rely on vast datasets, there is a risk of unintentionally perpetuating biases present in the training data. Ensuring fairness and inclusivity in the language generated by these tools is a critical aspect that demands continuous attention and improvement.

Creativity development as an imperative for strategic human resource management

The article is devoted to the development of creativity using methods and tools of strategic human resource management. As a result of a number of factors, the need for every organization to create is increasing as the main source of its competitiveness and business success. The author examines different approaches to creativity and gives her own vision of its characteristics with other related concepts. With this in mind, creativity is not just any creative action, but creativity in the field of specific business processes, focused on profit (income) by satisfying certain needs of consumers, both real and potential. Unlike other manifestations of creativity, the article puts forward and substantiates the idea of creativity as a strategic imperative, the achievement of which requires a purposeful and coordinated interaction of all processes in the field of personnel management. To ensure the imperative, it is necessary to develop a human resource management strategy focused on the creative development of personnel and the organization in general. The strategy of managing the creative development of personnel allows you to build a cycle of creativity with a certain sequence of elements, as well as to develop a mechanism for reproducing this cycle. The article analyzes HR technologies that contribute to the development of creativity of human resources. A new look at the problem is the justification of the need for methods of “soft” creativity management by creating a favorable environment for its development.

Ensuring sustainable development of a region in the strategic period

The stability of the region's development, like any system, depends on the effective balance of its subsystems. The effectiveness of subsystems is enhanced by the effective performance of a set of their key components, which depends on the optimization of certain elements by establishing rational relationships between them. Accordingly, the object of the study is the process of rationalization of the constituent elements of territorial community development programs. To solve this issue, a methodical approach to determining the level of development of the region and ensuring its stability in the strategic period is proposed through the rationalization of the effects of mutually determined implementation of business processes of alternative development projects of territorial communities. The expediency of using the coefficient of synchronicity of business processes of certain regional development projects to determine the level of regional development was substantiated. The use of the synchronicity coefficient to ensure the stable development of the respective region is due to the obtained possibility of balancing the specific competitive advantages of territorial communities strengthened by certain effects. These effects are the results of the implementation of optimally formed portfolios of development projects through rational relationships between specific business processes based on the principle of maximum adaptability of their components. The value of the coefficient of synchronicity of the business processes of the portfolio of development projects of Zabolottivsʹka UTC (0.637) made it necessary to take possible measures for their rationalization by implementing individual effects from the interaction of specific business processes. That has made it possible to increase the synchronicity of these business processes to 0.816 and to determine the direction of the possible integration of the studied UTC with other communities with the help of the formed development potential reserves

Business Process Modeled with BPMN and CTL Model Checking

Despite the richness of the BPMN language and its advantages for the specification of business processes, it remains a semi-formal language that does not allow rigorous verification of the specifications produced with it, and does not offer any methodological support to cover the verification phase. Therefore, several works have been proposed with the aim of describing the semantics of the BPMN language by a mathematical formalism. In this paper we address the issue of verifying BPMN models with an approach based on model-checking, where we focus on soundness, fairness, and safety properties. Thus by having a business process modeled by BPMN, a formal semantics for BPMN models based on Kripke structure will be provided for a formal verification of correctness. The properties are expressed with CTL (Computation Tree Logic) formulas. At the end, the model checker NuSMV is used for the verification of the formula.

The construction of enterprise's financial supply chain management under blockchain technology

AbstractThis paper uses the advantages of blockchain technology to help construction enterprises obtain low‐interest bank loans, effectively reduce financing costs, thus improving the level of financial supply chain, innovating financial management (FM) of construction enterprises, solving the FM transformation problem of construction enterprises and promoting the sustainable development of construction enterprises, and thus doing the following work. First, this paper describes the concept and characteristics of BT and the motivation of FM of construction enterprises to use BT. Second, it analyses BT's three main application advantages in construction enterprise financing: reducing financial risks, improving the credit penetration of core enterprises, and reducing financing costs. Meanwhile, this paper summarizes the problems that should be paid attention to in implementing the current financial supply chain management strategy in enterprises. It provides a solid theoretical foundation for the research of FM transformation in construction enterprises. Finally, the overall design and functional analysis of the BT FM platform are carried out. The functions of the BT FM platform are divided into four modules: system management, credit management, contract management, and information management. Besides, their specific business processes are analysed. The research results show that BT is applicable in enterprises, and the value of each participant's financing platform can be clearly defined from the construction of BT‐based financing platform. The income quota of the owner's individual operation is 33%, and the income quota of the tripartite cooperation is also 33%, which further illustrates the effectiveness of the financial financing model of construction enterprises based on BT and the feasibility of its actual implementation in the future. In this paper, the related issues of financial supply chain management are systematically and comprehensively summarized, which has theoretical guiding significance for the research of FM transformation of construction enterprises based on BT.

Investigating ERP System Customization: A Focus on Cloud-ERP

This paper surveys the research on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems’ customization, focusing on Cloud-ERP. ERP system customization refers to the actual alterations of the system on a macro level to meet a specific business organizational requirement or business process. Currently, customization of ERP systems is considered by several researchers and practitioners as a double-edged sword. Hence, ERP systems’ customization is often perceived negatively in the ERP literature or as a challenging issue that might affect the system's future updates and upgrades during its life cycle. While the ERP literature is rich, the number of studies focusing on ERP customization is relatively low, and literature within the cloud context is scarce. Thus, this article intends to bridge the research gap and highlight the area around cloud-ERP customization. Based on a systematic review of literature, our main findings show that, while customizations are viewed negatively in general, they are inevitable for some organizations and may provide a competitive advantage when representing a non-standard competitive business process. In addition, most of the current literature argues that the major Cloud-ERP providers do not provide system customization possibilities to most of their clients. And finally, the findings of this research are presented and organized via the five ERP business benefits dimensions introduced by Shang & Seddon.

Improving corporative management in state companies: Prospects, distribution of power and collegial decision

This article presents a methodology for assessing corporate governance belonging to the quasi-public sector organisations. The article discusses the main prerequisites based on which a new methodology for assessing this type of corporate governance is developed and applied. The object of the study is the National Welfare Fund “Samruk-Kazyna". The analysis of corporate governance is considered from the perspective of an economic approach, within which three essential aspects are highlighted: structure, process and transparency. The work also presents a scale for assessing corporate governance, which allows performing a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of the management system within the organisation. The study presents the results of applying this method, which demonstrate that most companies in the quasi-public sector have already reached a certain level of development in corporate governance, which became the reason for the search for a new approach to assessing this system. The authors emphasise the importance of defining criteria for improving the effectiveness of corporate governance and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of this system. In this context, corporate governance assessment is based on professional assessments and expert opinions and not simply on the presence of specific business processes. Moreover, this assessment must be agreed with the principles and requirements established by the Corporate Governance Code.

Development Prospects of Accounting for IT-Organizations

The transition to the digital economy from the economy of production processes and resources requires changes in the accounting system, leads to the evolution of accounting in general and, as a result, to transformations in audit and internal control procedures. Today, the digital transformation of the Russian economy is carried out rapidly, covering also such infrastructure functions as accounting and reporting. It is known that accounting as a science and branch of human activity historically reflects all significant changes in the economy through the introduction of innovative methods for creating, storing and transferring information. Currently, the IT services market is actively expanding and improving in the Russian Federation, many organizations of this specialization have appeared. The study purpose is to develop recommendations and methods in the field of IT organizations accounting caused by insufficient regulatory and methodological support for this area by industry accounting standards. Modern accounting is maintained using special software products designed for convenient data storage, documents and reporting creation, accounting information analysis. They also enable accountants to maintain interconnected accounting areas, management personnel to have access to up-to-date information and make management decisions. The scientific novelty of the presented study results is the theoretical recommendations’ justification on improving accounting aimed at improving the efficiency of financial and economic activities of organizations providing information technology services. Particular attention is paid to the development of the responsibility distribution matrix for performing specific business processes in IT enterprises, their grouping and the defining the main steps of the accounting process. The article draws conclusions about the specific nature of accounting performed by IT organizations, proposes an option for reforming the accounting system by introducing business process technology into the practice of financial and economic activities with an emphasis on the industry characteristics of IT enterprises. The study showed the need to improve the existing accounting methods in the field of information technology, where the specific role is given to the formation of analytical data in the context of business processes.

Analyzing business process management capabilities of low‐code development platforms

AbstractLow‐code development platforms (LCDPs) aim to simplify software systems' development by providing easy‐to‐use graphical interfaces and drag‐and‐drop facilities. The system behaviors are defined through available data handling and workflow mechanisms enabling the specification of business processes from users that do not have strong programming skills. However, the number of LCDPs has grown significantly over the last few years. Consequently, it is not easy for inexpert users to understand their differences, especially in terms of provided modeling constructs. In this article, we analyze and compare eight low‐code development platforms by focusing on their capabilities for specifying business processes. The analysis exploits business process modeling and notation (BPMN) as a reference modeling language. Thus, the core elements of BPMN are leveraged to analyze the workflow mechanisms provided by each of the analyzed LCDP. The article explains different types of process flows and data handling means of the different LCDPs aiming to give potential users objective elements that can be used to make educated decisions when selecting LCDPs.

Study on the Covering Problem in Network Reliability for Precision Business Management

A new research area namely, precision business management, is quietly blooming through network theory. In precision business management, several new management tools can be developed to precisely adjust the behavior of the entities in the company to satisfy the management requirement. This paper deals with the situation when specific business process pattern should be recognized, and the related entities in the process have to be identified. It is referred to a kind of covering problem in network reliability. Minimal path set can be considered as a set of flow combinations. However, in some cases, a subset of the flow combination may be required for applications. Therefore, techniques for dealing such cases are needed. This paper proposes a heuristic approach to solve the covering problem in network reliability. Some numerical examples are presented for explanation. The results show that the cases are interesting in the discussion.

A Non-Deterministic Multiset Query Language

We develop a multiset query and update language executable in a term rewriting system. Its most remarkable feature, besides non-standard approach to quantification and introduction of fresh values, is non-determinism — a query result is not uniquely determined by the database. We argue that this feature is very useful, e.g., in modelling user choices during simulation or reachability analysis of a data-centric business process — the intended application of our work. Query evaluation is implemented by converting the query into a terminating term rewriting system and normalizing the initial term which encapsulates the current database. A normal form encapsulates a query result. We prove that our language can express any relational algebra query. Finally, we present a simple business process specification framework (and an example specification). Both syntax and semantics of our query language is implemented in Maude.