Volume 5 Issue 2

The following paper presents the applicability of the “second curve” concept in the organizational environment, emphasizing the importance of coordinating the individual and organizational changes in a pre-established direction. Moreover, the aim is to offer a theoretical and practical basis for all the practitioners that need to control change and to plan any further next steps, being it either an individual career development or an organizational growth planning. In order to conclude this, the paper approaches organizational change as a constant necessity, willing to demonstrate that the individual controlled changes implemented at the correct moment will have a controlled organizational impact and will therefore lead to organizational change and development. Also, using the “second curve” as the representation of a change in the initial path (considered the “first curve”), the paper redefines change as a solution not only to problems and issues, but as well as a method of keeping the current momentum going, when the current path is already positive. In terms of methodology, the paper approaches a qualitative method, starting by identifying the preconditions of any change, both at individual and organizational level, and the whole environment where the change further develops. In the end, the research is able to offer a process model that can be followed in order to make changes in controlled environments and to reach desired results.

This research aims to investigate the different strategies adopted by the airline companies in adapting to the ongoing changes while developing products and services for passengers in order to increase their yield, load factor and passenger satisfaction. Finding a balance between costs and services quality in the airline industry is a crucial task for every airline wanting to gain a competitive advantage on the market. Also, the rise of the hybrid business operating model has brought up many challenges for airlines as the line between legacy carriers and low-cost carriers is getting thinner in terms of costs and innovative ideas to create a superior product for the passengers.

This research aims to understand and analyse the influence of working environment conditions and career development towards the improvement of employees' working motivation. This research is conducted at the Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Ltd. Tulungagung Jawa Timur Office Branch. The sample amount counted by census technique and acquired 91 responses. The sampling method used was census technique. The data collection instrument is a questionnaire which is analysed by path analysis. Findings in this research show significant direct influence of working environment, compensation, and career development towards employees' working motivation. This means that employee motivation will rise with the presence of delightful working environment, compensation, and career development. This research is contributing as a consideration and advice for BRI Tulungagung Office Branch management since working environment condition, compensation, and career development can positively influence the motivation of employees.

Managers operate in highly different fields. Decision-making can be based on models reflecting in part these differences. The challenge is to connect the respective models without too great a disruption. A threefold procedural approach is proposed by chaining a scheme of modeling in a complex field to an operationalized model to statistical multivariate methods. Multivariate pattern-detecting methods offer the chance to evaluate patterns within the complex field partly. This step completes the cycle of research and improved models can be used in a further cycle.

Indonesian beef market is very interesting considering the 250 million people residing in the country. In a year, around 670 million kg of beef are consumed; 440 million kg are supplied by local production and 230 million are imported. The price of beef in the Indonesian market (US$ 9.1) is about double that in Australia (US$ 4.2). The high price and the wide margin becomes an appeal for a deeper inquiry. This raises questions such as how does the supply chain look like, how is the distribution of the wide margin from importers to retailers, does corruption still exist due to the import licensed, and who really enjoys the profit. This study aims to analyze the supply chain of beef industry and the factors affecting meat prices in Indonesia. The data was collected through a survey of 134 respondents in seven districts and cities in Surakarta, Indonesia followed by in-depth interviews with breeders, slaughters, wholesalers, retailers and consumers. The results show that factors affecting meat prices are the bargaining power of several actors in the supply chain and the market structure discussed in this paper.

The necessary conditions of value creation are considered from the vantage point of innovation and entrepreneurship. Both demand side (basic needs, customer perceived value, and customer satisfaction) and supply side (science, technology, and knowledge) considerations of value creation are examined. The relationships between value creation and basic needs, customer perceived value, and knowledge are further examined. Although a number of factors are identified that impact value, only four are seen as primary factors of value: price, benefit, satisfaction, and experience. The innovator and entrepreneur can create value, and quantify the uniqueness of their value offerings, through these four primary factors. The study concludes that, on the demand side, basic needs may be an indirect driver of value creation, and customer perceived value as concept may be useful in the context of value creation. At the same time, it is believed that the four factors – price, benefit, satisfaction, and experience – can significantly explain value creation. On the supply side, innovation as the driver of value creation, is not necessarily confined to science and technology – business knowledge and acumen is an important avenue. In addition to existing knowledge and experience, factors like orientation (interests, passion, drive) and involvement also explain opportunity recognition.

The aim of this article is to provide first insights on how Consumer Psychology could enhance operational book marketing through book design in particular. After highlighting the current German book market and its highly competitive and fast transforming market situation, the article summarizes recent findings from the field of Consumer Psychology relevant for the book market. The focus lies in the book design which has a large influence on the buyer's decision making. Three facets of consumer psychological book design (text design, book body and cover design) will be the object of this research. Research from Consumer Psychology focuses on optimization of stimulus design in order to achieve better information perception, processing and memorization to gain better customer awareness and increase the likelihood of a positive buying decision. Overall, especially in such a highly competitive market as the book market, there is much to gain from applying findings from the field of Consumer Psychology.

Job satisfaction and employees' performance are important for the organization to improve the company’s competitive value. This research aims to know the influence of individual characteristic, employees' competency and organizational climate toward job satisfaction and its implication on employees' performance. The research method used in this research is cross sectional survey. The population of this research was from 4 cities with a total sample of 51 employees. Moreover, this research applied structural equation modeling with Partial Least Square approach for analyzing the data. The results showed that individual characteristics do not effect on job satisfaction, while employees' competency and organizational climate have a significant effect on job satisfaction. Then, job satisfaction has a significant effect on employees' performance. It is necessary to conduct training and education programs along with flexible structural support and adequate rewards for the employees to improve the job satisfaction. Those aspects are expected to improve the employees' performance.

Present research was aimed at analyzing the impact of brand image, product quality and self-efficacy on purchase decision on private label rights (PLR) products among Medan city community members. A hundred community members of Medan City were involved as the subjects of this research. The research results showed that the variable of product quality has a significant effect on consumer purchase decisions. It is concluded that good quality products in private label rights (PLR) products should be maintained and even improved, thus leading to more positive societal impression on private label rights (PLR) products. Some of the respondents consider private label rights (PLR) products with good product quality presents more interest to try or buy.

This scientific study is investigating the economic and success factors of success in negotiation in the world of trade and sale. In addition to the keynotes of the Harvard concept, my study focuses largely on trust and transparency at annual meetings or other meetings held throughout the year, strongly favouring a satisfactory result for both negotiating parties. A conceptual model has been proposed to merge the fundamental principles of the Harvard Negotiation Concept with the finding that trust and transparency in communication is a key factor in terms of economic success experiences and socio – mental satisfaction.

This research project considers Austrian enterprises, which have been pursuing business partnerships and relations with Chinese companies. One specific question of the research aimed at finding out which factors lead to pronounced difficulties experienced by companies having chosen a specific market entry strategies. This research question was explored through a primary research of 86 managers participating in an online survey in 2016. The data analysis implied an exploratory factor analysis of ten pre-defined factors that led to a new model of five components depicting narrow decision-making processes, namely: relying too much on company-related external expertise, national- or international-related external expertise, isolated practices like adopting what other companies do, purely financial-driven processes, or encapsulated decision processes. The factor scores' analysis shows that there are significant differences between companies from different economic sectors.

Knowledge management is deemed as an important tool for an array of firms across the globe to fortify their overall sustainability. In particular, the proper management of knowledge inside a firm should allow for better efficiency and effectiveness. One of the facets of knowledge management is that of knowledge sharing; better understood as the dissemination of knowledge (insight) to such an extent, and in such a manner, that it assists with the solving of problems and/or the creation of solutions within a firm. Albeit the aforementioned, is appears that small businesses (SMMEs) in South Africa do not make use of sound knowledge sharing initiatives as they have one of the worst sustainability rates in the world. Through the conduct of non-empirical research, this matter was theoretically investigated where it was found that the lack of knowledge sharing as a value-adding initiative within South African SMMEs is assumed to have a theoretically adverse influence on the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability in these firms. Taking into account the findings, it was concluded that ultimately, the knowledge sharing initiatives in South African SMMEs are incomprehensive in their coverage to provide general guidance as to how these firms can share knowledge as to provide reasonable assurance surrounding their effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability in the foreseeable future. Moreover, relevant hypotheses were developed as avenues for further empirical research.