Today's Changing Business Environment Research Articles

Beyond Information Overload: Leveraging How the Brain Learns for Meaningful Impact

Abstract: This article discusses the importance of understanding neuroscience principles of how the brain learns and integrates new information with prior knowledge through its natural associative processes, as when new concepts are linked to past experiences through meaningful connections and context. Emotion is also key to effective memory and learning, as emotional experiences are more vividly remembered due to evolutionary priorities, yet interactions often lack meaning and human connection to optimize learning. Practical applications for organizations are suggested, such as frontloading context in new initiatives by relating them to past strategies and challenges faced, explicitly connecting new hire onboarding information to personal experiences, enhancing trainings with impactful real-world examples, and leveraging empathy during product development by mapping user needs and tying features back to core motivations. By consciously activating neural networks through association, emotion, context and meaning, organizations can optimize the brain's innate learning abilities compared to passive data consumption, forming deeper, more accessible insights through simple yet intentional techniques. This allows companies to cut through information overload and strategically leverage knowledge in today's changing business environment by operationalizing cognitive principles of learning.

The impact of financial risk management on firm performance: a study in financial management practices

In the framework of financial management techniques, this study explores the crucial link between financial risk management and corporate success. The study explores how effective risk management techniques have a direct impact on the overall performance of organizations via extensive research and analysis. The study highlights the important role that proactive risk management plays in boosting a firm's stability, profitability, and long-term growth by looking at a variety of risk reduction approaches and their results. The results highlight how crucial it is to implement effective financial risk management procedures in order to deal with uncertainties, allocate resources efficiently, and ultimately achieve sustained success in today's changing business environment.

An Examination of Customer Relationship Management and Business Sustainability in Small and Medium Enterprises

The aim of this paper was to investigate the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) dimensions on business sustainability in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A quantitative research approach was employed for data collection and fulfilling the objective of this study. In particular, the data was gathered through a survey instrument from 183 employees of SMEs in Saudi Arabia. The obtained responses were analyzed using the partial least square approach (PLS-SEM). The outcomes showed that customer orientation and CRM organization have significant positive effects on business sustainability. The results also verified that CRM technology and knowledge management play important roles in affecting business sustainability. These findings confirm the importance of customer relationship management and its dimensions in enabling firms to sustain their businesses and thrive in today's changing business environment.

ІНВЕСТИЦІЙНО-ІННОВАЦІЙНА ДІЯЛЬНІСТЬ ТРАНСПОРТНО-ЛОГІСТИЧНИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ В УМОВАХ СУЧАСНОГО БІЗНЕС-СЕРЕДОВИЩА

The urgency of researching the issue of investment and innovation activities of transport and logistics companies in today's changing business environment is due to a significant increase in competition in the transport market. The article examines the main types of innovations that can be implemented by domestic transport and logistics companies, in particular: modernization of the company's fleet, the transition to more economical and environmentally friendly fuels for rolling stock, maintenance of rolling stock in good working order, transportation of goods in multimodal and intermodal communications, use of bar codes, GPS-navigators, systems of tracking the location and movement of goods, telepathic technologies, electronic signatures. The innovative approach is used to address the issues of packaging, handling, loading and unloading, and transportation of non-standard and rare goods. The use of a customer service system allows you to constantly communicate with customers and speed up the response to the request. The implementation of innovations is carried out through investment. Transport and logistics companies can use different sources of funding, which include public, private and foreign investment resources. The main stages of making effective management decisions on the implementation of innovative projects are analyzed. At the preparatory stage, it is important to assess the state and potential of the enterprise, as well as institutional, meso- and macroeconomic factors that may affect the innovation and investment activities of transport and logistics companies. For selected investment projects, their strategic assessment of compliance with business development directions and long-term strategic goals of the company should be carried out. Further, the possibilities of the investment project implementing should be checked, as well as cash flow forecasting for the project should be carried out. At the next stage, based on the analysis of the balance sheet and report on the financial results of the enterprise, the calculation of financial ratios is carried out and a conclusion about the financial capacity of the project is made.The final stage is evaluation of the economic, social and ecologic effectiveness of selected projects. It is substantiated that at the level of the business entity it is necessary to clearly define the priority of investment and innovation development and its impact on performance indicators.

The limits of guanxi from the perspective of the Israeli diamond industry

PurposeRecognizing the significant impact of guanxi (the Chinese network of reciprocal business relations) and its influence on everyday dealings in China is important for Western firms. Researchers argue that social capital has limits and is not a commodity that has a place in China aspiring to be a global business hub. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to deal with the question of whether guanxi still matters in the Chinese business arena, and if so, to what extent.Design/methodology/approachTo illustrate the evolutional direction of the Chinese institutional system, the authors compare it to a similar system that went through the evolutionary cycle from a social to a rational institutional base of exchange and discuss what one can learn from the institutional evolution process of the global diamond industry and its implications for the current evolution of Chinese institutions. The authors compare two similar cultures/religions, Judaism and Confucianism.FindingsThis study found parallels between the evolution of the Israeli diamond industry, dominated by Orthodox Jews, from a social exchange mechanism to a transactional mechanism and the present ongoing rationalization of the Chinese economy, dominated by the Confucianism culture from a social to a transactional business mechanism.Originality/valueDespite the vast efforts of researchers in the area of guanxi, there is very little published knowledge about its limitations and its usefulness in today's changing business environment. This paper contributes to the existing literature on the future aspects of guanxi from a unique perspective – the evolution of the Israeli diamond industry.

The traditional industry sector in the changing business environment – a case study of the Finnish steel product industry

The emerging business paradigm agility, namely, the ability to rapidly respond to changes in market and customer demand, addresses new ways of running companies to meet the challenges of today's changing business environment. The need for agility has traditionally been associated with supply chains operating in high technology industries. However, more traditional industries such as in steel product manufacturing also face similar challenges in terms of speed, flexibility, increased product diversity and customisation. The main objective of this study is to identify those drivers that lead companies towards agility in the metal industry. The study analyses the driving forces and the ability for agility in two case networks. Both networks have their origin in the steel product manufacturing, but the changes in the business environment have led them to develop their ability for agility in different ways. Today, these networks represent two relatively different parts of the steel manufacturing industry. This paper concludes that the need for agility is clearly recognised in both case networks and has to seriously be taken into account in long-run strategy plans of companies.

In search of corporate renewal: focus on corporate venturing

Today's changing business environment forces companies to seek continuous corporate renewal and for its part drives the decision to engage in corporate venturing. However, when measured by financial terms, eight out of ten ventures fail. By studying corporate venturing through the management processes, this study defines a framework, which enhances our understanding of the non-financial mechanisms linking corporate venturing and corporate renewal. It defines a framework of strategic corporate venturing, which can help established corporations to use corporate venturing as an engine of corporate renewal.

SPI agility: How to navigate improvement projects

AbstractIn this study, we argue that today's changing business environment calls for agile Software Process Improvement (SPI) practices. The study combines experiences from 18 SPI projects executed from 1998 to 2002 at Ericsson in Gothenburg with insights from SPI and agility theory. We suggest that agile SPI practices are both effective and flexible; they employ adaptive governance mechanisms at the corporate level; and they combine different tactics on the project level. We identify and compare two different tactics for SPI projects. Inspired by procedural thinking, the first tactic, the supertanker, employs process‐push and aims for efficient process development and diffusion. On the basis of adaptive thinking, the second tactic, the motorboat, facilitates practice‐pull and aims for adaptive process development and diffusion. We also discuss how agile SPI practices require understanding of the different types of waters in which the two tactics navigate effectively. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evolving Business Arrangements in Local Grain Marketing Cooperatives

This article explores how local grain marketing cooperatives use such grain marketing services as cash contracts and brokerage services to meet the challenges of today's changing business environment. A review of the changes in the grain marketing industry is presented with particular emphasis on industry concentration and economies of size in transportation. We analyze information obtained from interviews with managers of twenty cooperatives with respect to contractual agreements with farmer/members and informal and formal agreements with other businesses. The results suggest that managers see grain marketing contracts with farmers as profitable in the short and long run. In addition, informal and formal agreements between cooperatives are profitable when transportation can be coordinated, economies of size are captured, and risk can be diversified.

Partner selection and group formation in cooperative benchmarking

This paper investigates partner selection and group formation in cooperative benchmarking, a practice of information sharing among firms to improve their operations. Firms gather preliminary information about potential partners only when the choice problem is difficult, and more information is gathered when there is more uncertainty. Based on an analysis of benchmarking benefits and costs, there is a unique equilibrium group structure characterized by a segregation of firms by their stock of technological information. It is argued that today's changing business environment tends to increase group size and the number of firms participating in cooperative benchmarking.

Strategic planning as an organizational change process—Some guidelines from practice

Learning to cope with the problems and uncertainties created by today's changing business environment is a task which faces ever company. Coping with the challenge of change is not just a question of adapting or reacting to the changes, it may also involve taking new initiatives in relation to the environment itself in order to exploit the opportunities which exist. A company may need to make fundamental adjustments to its philosophy, strategies, organization and practices in order to meet the newer demands of the environment. A prime difficulty is that companies are rarely in a position to start from scratch, they have existing organizational arrangements, power distributions, well established strategies and vested interests all of which tend to resist any kind of change which is likely to upset the ‘status quo’. They also have to overcome outdated beliefs and norms if they are to progress. This article considers the use of a modified approach to strategic planning as a mechanism for helping a company to acquire the norms, organization and strategies needed to cope with today's business environment. It is based on experience gained in helping to re-organize business enterprises engaged in textiles, steel tube manufacture, light engineering, distribution (world wide) and vehicle sales and servicing and also the Government of Jersey, Channel Islands.