Business strategies of companies and local production systems in Bulgarian dairy industry

Rozdział z: Functioning of the Local Production Systems in Central and Eastern European Countries and Siberia. Case Studies and Comparative Studies, ed. Mariusz E. Sokołowicz.The following paper examines the issues related to product-market business strategies. They are considered in the case of nonbusiness organizations and local production systems (LPS), which operate in the sector of milk and dairy products in Bulgaria. For the purpose of estimating the intensity of competition the number of competitors was computated, including these which are of paramount importance for the industry. The paper outlines some basic types of LPS within the industry. It also disscusses the assertion that a presence of enhanced vertical integration is identified within the sector, where the producers of milk and dairy products have a leading role. On this basis, the product market business strategies for the development of manufacturing companies and for the LPS as a whole appear to play a key role in the sector.Monograph financed under a contract of execution of the international scientific project within 7th Framework Programme of the European Union, co-financed by Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (title: “Functioning of the Local Production Systems in the Conditions of Economic Crisis (Comparative Analysis and Benchmarking for the EU and Beyond”)). Monografia sfinansowana w oparciu o umowę o wykonanie projektu między narodowego w ramach 7. Programu Ramowego UE, współfinansowanego ze środków Ministerstwa Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego (tytuł projektu: „Funkcjonowanie lokalnych systemów produkcyjnych w warunkach kryzysu gospodarczego (analiza porównawcza i benchmarking w wybranych krajach UE oraz krajach trzecich”))

Meaningful aggregation functions mapping ordinal scales into an ordinal scale: a state of the art

We present an overview of the meaningful aggregation functions mapping ordinal scales into an ordinal scale. Three main classes are discussed, namely order invariant functions, comparison meaningful functions on a single ordinal scale, and comparison meaningful functions on independent ordinal scales. It appears that the most prominent meaningful aggregation functions are lattice polynomial functions, that is, functions built only on projections and minimum and maximum operations