The impact of human resources management and organizational culture on adaptability of Slovenian wood-industry firms

Ravnanje z zaposlenimi in njihovimi zmožnostmi ter organizacijska kultura imata pomemben vpliv na zagotavljanje (spremenljivemu) okolju prilagojenega in prilagodljivega poslovanja. To seveda velja tudi za (slovenska) lesnoindustrijska podjetja. Teoretično je ta vpliv povezan predvsem z znanjem,prek katerega je vzpostavljena (praktična) povezava z inovativno dejavnostjo, izrabo zmožnosti zaposlenih, njihovim izobraževanjem in usposabljanjem ter odnosi med njimi. S teoretično analizo smo ugotovili (potrebne) spremembe na obravnavanem organizacijskem področju, ki so predvsem posledica sprememb v okolju. Teh sprememb je veliko, niso pa vse enako pomembne. Glede na ugotovljene pomanjkljivosti v slovenskih lesnoindustrijskih podjetjih, ki smo jih ugotavljali s pomočjo metode klasičnega vprašalnika, smo poiskali in nakazali možne rešitve trenutnega stanja v teh podjetjih, kar je bil tudi eden izmed ciljev te raziskaveHuman resources management and organizational culture have a significant impact on assuring adapted and adaptable business operations due to (changeable) environment. This fact is also evident in (Slovenian) wood-industry firms. Theoretically, this impact is associated with knowledge, which is in practice closely linked with innovativeness, exploitation of the employees\u27 s abilities, their training and with relationships between employees in the firms. Thus, the theoretical analysis in this article shows (needed) organizational changes in discussed topics as a result of many changes in the environment. Many such changes were found which, however, are not equally important. In view of some deficiencies established in Slovenian wood industry firms with the aid of the opinion pool method, we have indicated possible solutions for the current situation in those firms. This wasone of the main objectives of the carried out research

Ravnanje s poslovno dokumentacijo glede na njeno informacijsko vrednost v slovenskih lesnoindustrijskih podjetjih

The present competitive business environment demands more documentation, whichis also more complex for the purpose of quality execution of business operations. Documents are no longer merely bearers of information among activesubjects in business processes but have certain information value in thearchives as well. For a better control of documentation and documents themselves, availability of data and information for the need of the decision-making process in the companies, the so-called contemporary documentation management systems (DMS) and e-archives have been introduced. During our research, the current state of use of contemporary technologies andapproaches to documentation management was assessed and the quantities and recording medium for documentation storage in Slovenian wood industry companies were analysed. Documentation was classified in view of its information value and a three-level proposal of e-archive organization based on information value of documents in wood industry companies was introduced.Današnje konkurenčno okolje zahteva vse več in vedno bolj kompleksno dokumentacijo pri poslovanju. Dokumenti pa niso več samo nosilci informacij med aktivnimi subjekti v nekem poslovnem sistemu, marveč imajo neko informacijsko vrednost tudi v arhivu. Da bi si podjetja zagotovila boljši pregled nad dokumentacijo in tudi boljši vpogled v podatke in informacije za potrebe odločanja, uvajajo sodobne sisteme ravnanja z dokumenti (angl. DMS - Document management systems) in shranjevanja dokumentov v elektronske arhive. V raziskavi smo preverjali trenutno stanje uporabe sodobnih tehnologij in pristopov pri ravnanju z dokumenti v slovenskih lesnoindustrijskih podjetjih, kjer smo opravili tudi analizo količin in medijev zapisa za shranjevanje dokumentov. Dokumentacijo smo tudi razporejali glede na njeno informacijsko vrednost in na podlagi tega pripravili predlog organizacije e-arhiva za potrebe lesnoindustrijskih podjetij

Organizacijski model globalno usmerjenega lesnoindustrijskega podjetja

The paper provides an answer to the question as to in what way and with which organizational steps a wood industry company can be (more) adaptable and successful in a rapidly changing (global) business environment. The purpose ofthe article is to form an organizational model of a globally oriented wood industry company, considering the three required model properties: repeatability, efficiency and productiveness, as well as practical applicability. Research is limited to actual state in Slovenian wood industry practice with some specifics that should be considered by other implications of the research. Practical applicability of the model is based on these findings and is ensured by making guidelines on the basis of which companies can organise their businesses. These guidelines include suggested measures forindividual areas of business organization with the intention of increasing adaptability and innovativeness of business operation, improving competitive ability, and the ability of constant improvement. The paper provides a new organizational approach, specialized for making wood industry companies successful in the changing business environment.Prispevek poskuša odgovoriti na vprašanje, na kakšen način in s katerimi organizacijskimi ukrepi je lahko lesnoindustrijsko podjetje (bolj) prilagodljivo in uspešno v hitro spreminjajočem se (globalnem) poslovnem okolju. Namen članka je oblikovati organizacijski model globalno usmerjenega lesnoindustrijskega podjetja, pri čemer smo poskušali zagotoviti tri zahtevanelastnosti modela: ponovljivost, učinkovitost in plodnost, pri čemer smo želeli zagotoviti predvsem njegovo praktično uporabnost. Razvoj tega modela je temeljil na analizi stanja v slovenskih lesnoindustrijskih podjetjih, pri čemer so bila upoštevane vse posebnosti lesarstva in ugotovitveiz teoretične obravnave vpliva globalizacije poslovnega okolja na spreminjanje organizacije podjetij. Praktična uporabnost v slovenski lesarski praksi je bila zagotovljena z oblikovanjem smernic, na podlagi katerih lahko podjetja organizirajo svoje poslovanje. Te smernice vključujejo predloge ukrepov na posameznih področjih organizacije poslovanja z namenom povečati prilagodljivost in inovativnost poslovanja ter izboljšati tekmovalno sposobnost in sposobnost nenehnega izboljševanja poslovanja. V prispevku je prikazan nov organizacijski pristop, ki dosledno upošteva posebnosti lesarstvain zagotavlja lesnim podjetjem dolgoročno uspešnost v spreminjajočem se poslovnem okolju

Konceptualni model digitalizacije izobraževanja: Primer visokošolskega izobraževanja v lesarstvu v Sloveniji

The development of digital society and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) brings many opportunities for progress, but is also very challenging. The main problem is a big gap in digital competences. In addition, the educational process, the results of which are competences adapted to digital era, needs to be adapted and changed because of this development. Digitalization of the educational process and the use of modern ICT in its implementation is one of the possible solutions to this problem. The goal of the research is to examine the best practices and technologies for digitalization of education and to develop a conceptual model for the digitalization of higher education with emphasis on higher education in the wood sector in Slovenia. Since digitalization of the educational process is a comprehensive project, it needs to be carried out at several levels with emphasis on the didactic, content, technological and organizational aspects. The state of digitalization of higher education in wood technology in Slovenia was studied in detail. The available ICT and technical support, as well as general digital literacy of both students and educators, are considered to be good, although there is still a lot to be improved

Dugoročna financijska analiza slovenske drvne industrije primjenom metode DEA

Long-term financial analysis is an important tool for assessing the financial position of a company and/or sector. The aim of the research was to analyze selected financial indicators of the Slovenian wood industry in sub-sectors C16 (wood processing – except furniture) and C31 (manufacture of furniture) for the last 10 years (from 2007-2016). The efficiency evaluation was performed by DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) window analysis. Other comparisons between two sub-sectors were performed by analysis of time series of financial indicators and by t-test. We have analyzed 40 financial indicators, 15 of which in more detail. Some models, analyzed by DEA method, show relative deterioration in efficiency in the years 2007-2010, but in most cases efficiency has increased in recent years. With this, we have proven that the efficiency of both sub-sectors is improving. For all models, the performance of the sub-sector C16 is better than that of C31. It has been proven by t-test that the difference between these two sub-sectors is statistically significant, as differences of more than half of the financial indicators between the two sub-sectors are statistically significant. Therefore, improvements in profitability ratios at the company’s level should be done and appropriate measures within the sectoral economic policies should be taken to achieve the conditions needed for greater efficiency and success.Dugoročna financijska analiza važan je alat za procjenu financijskog stanja poduzeća i/ili sektora. Cilj istraživanja bio je analizirati odabrane financijske pokazatelje slovenske drvne industrije posljednjih deset godina (2007. – 2016.) u podsektorima C16 (prerada drva – osim namještaja) i C31 (proizvodnja namještaja). Procjena učinkovitosti provedena je primjenom analize omeđivanja podataka (DEA – Data Envelopment Analysis). Ostale usporedbe dvaju podsektora obavljene su analizom vremenskih serija financijskih pokazatelja i t-testom. Analizirano je 40 financijskih pokazatelja, od kojih 15 detaljno. Neki modeli analizirani DEA metodom pokazuju relativno pogoršanje učinkovitosti u razdoblju 2007. – 2010., ali se u većini modela učinkovitost tijekom posljednjih nekoliko godina povećala. Time je dokazano da se učinkovitost obaju podsektora poboljšava. Za sve je modele učinak podsektora C16 bolji od učinka podsektora C31. Primjenom t-testa dokazana je statistički značajna razlika između dva promatrana podsektora jer su razlike statistički značajne za više od polovice financijskih pokazatelja koji se odnose na ta dva podsektora. Stoga je potrebno poboljšati omjer profitabilnosti na razini poduzeća i uvesti odgovarajuće mjere u sklopu sektorskih ekonomskih politika kako bi se postigli uvjeti za veću učinkovitost i uspjeh

Vpliv razvoja poslovne informatike na poslovanje slovenskih lesnoindustrijskih podjetjih

The rapid development of business informatics is greatly influencing (global) business environment formation, while informatisation of business has, at the same time, a significant impact on assuring adapted business operations due tothis (changeable) environment. Informatics is closely connected with almost every (business) field in companies. Thus, the theoretical analysis in the article shows business (and production) informatics course of development and its impact on business operations in (also) Slovenian wood industry companies.A practical analysis in those companies was made with the aid of theopinion pool method in the years 2000 in 2003. The major deficiencies were established first of all in the (contentual) coverage of business processes bythe information system. However, information technology in these companies seems to be relatively up-to-date. According to those (established) deficiencies, possible solutions were indicated to solve the current situationin Slovenian wood industry companies, which was one of the main objectives of the performed research.Nagli razvoj poslovne informatike ima velik vpliv na oblikovanje (globalnega) poslovnega okolja, hkrati pa informatizacija poslovanja pomembno vpliva na zagotavljanje temu (spremenljivemu) okolju prilagojenega poslovanja. Informatika je tesno povezana praktično z vsemi (poslovnimi) področji v podjetjih. V prispevku smo s teoretično analizo ugotovili smernice razvoja poslovne (in proizvodne) informatike in njihov vpliv na poslovanje (tudi) slovenskih lesnoindustrijskih podjetij. Iz analize stanja v teh podjetjih, ki smo jo opravljali s pomočjo metode klasičnega vprašalnika v letih 2000 in 2003, smo ugotovili večje pomanjkljivosti predvsem pri (vsebinski) informacijski podprtosti poslovnega procesa, medtem ko je informacijska tehnologija v teh podjetjih razmeroma sodobna. Glede na te pomanjkljivosti smopoiskali in nakazali možne rešitve trenutnega stanja v teh podjetjih, kar je bil tudi eden izmed ciljev te raziskave

Editorial

Dear readers! At the editorial board of the journal LES/WOOD, we are aware that two conditions are important for the success of every scientific journal: that it publishes high-quality scientific articles that show the advancement of the profession in fundamental and frontier areas, and that they reach as wide range of readers as possible, and thus disseminate new knowledge. If the first condition is fulfilled, then fulfilment of the second is easier, because with good articles the journal becomes more recognizable and is sought by more readers. Conversely, more scientific and professional readers also create a larger pool of potential authors for new scientific publications. The two are therefore interconnected. Bibliographic databases also play a key role in fulfilling these two conditions and promoting the scientific journal. Namely, by joining the databases, the journal gains reputation and visibility, while increasing search engine accessibility and readability, and the articles it publishes are cited more. This again attracts new authors and encourages them to publish better articles, which in turn enhances the reputation of the journal. In this issue of LES/WOOD, it is with the pleasure and pride that we take a look at the path of the journal’s development and highlight some turning points over the years: Since 1997, LES/WOOD has been listed in the CAB Abstracts database (https://www.cabi.org/publishing-products/cab-abstracts/), which is “the leading English-language bibliographic information service providing access to the world’s applied life sciences literature, giving users access to over 480,000 journal articles, conference papers and reports”. Being involved in this database has been crucial to the development of the journal, as it makes it one of the most important publications in the life sciences. Today, it is crucial that the journal is being digitized. Until 2012, LES/WOOD was published in printed form only. With its revival in 2017, in addition to the printed version, we introduced an electronic version and offered it to readers via web services. The ISSN number for the electronic version of the journal was obtained, and at the same time a website was set up (http://www.les-wood.si). For greater visibility, the journal was incorporated into the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) system in 2017. Since then, each article in LES/WOOD has been signed with its own Digital Object Identifier (DOI) name, while the publisher has become a member of the CrossRef organization. Different formal, technical, substantive and design amendments are required before the journal is published in international bibliographic databases, as different bibliographic databases set clear (minimum) technical and content requirements. Of particular importance is regular publication, a clear editorial policy, the redesign (and digitization) of the editorial process, and the online publication of articles in a readable form. Especially in recent years, ethical rules of operation, a plagiarism prevention policy and clear rules on the management of intellectual property are also important, which mainly apply to the electronic version of the journal. To this end, the website of LES/WOOD journal was completely updated in the first half of 2019. The last important turning point happened during the summer of 2019 when LES/WOOD was included in the DOAJ database (the Directory of Open Access Journals). DOAJ is a white list of open access journals and aims to be the starting point for all information searches for quality, peer reviewed open access material. Being included in DOAJ also increases the visibility and ease of use of articles, and that of LES/WOOD as a whole. The DOAJ aims to be comprehensive and cover all open access scientific and scholarly journals that use a quality control system to guarantee the content that they publish meets high standards (https://doaj.org/). Further development of LES/WOOD will move in the direction of indexing in the Scopus database, which will hopefully increase international visibility, widen the readership and increase the interest of authors in publishing in the journal. In this process, collaboration, the creative exchange of knowledge, new ideas and initiatives, are crucial, which will lead all the journal’s contributors to new successes. Therefore, I warmly invite you to contribute to the promotion of the journal and its development. Thanks in advance for your support

Entrepreneurship in wood economy and a proposition for an entrepreneurial model

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activity of the population are of key importance for economic development, creation of new jobs and rise of the public welfare level. Some general researches (for example GEM - Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) showed that the entrepreneurial potential in Slovenia has not been completely maximized. Considering the findings from the research into entrepreneurship in wood economy we can claim the same also for the domain of wood, since we discovered numerous opportunities that are not being used at the moment. Research was made in small wood-industry companies with the help of questionnaires. On the basis of the established facts, a modern, future and development-orientated entrepreneurial model was elaborated, which is based on internal and external factors of entrepreneurship efficiency. Entrepreneurial activity is based on constant, planned and goal orientated learning and transfer (and use) of this knowledge in the business process

Editorial

The year 2020, which is slowly coming to an end, was special in several respects. First and foremost, it was marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, which severely limited physical contact and, more importantly, completely changed our work and business habits. Literally overnight, we were forced to switch to (almost) entirely digital communications and telecommuting. As it turned out, we were obviously working in the right direction in the past, because this transition did not stop us completely. We also proved our digital competence in the editorial board of Les/Wood and continued our work smoothly, and already in late spring, when the first wave of the epidemic was just ending, published the spring issue, as planned for that time. It was a similar story for this issue. All the editorial meetings, the work on common documents, all the communication with authors and reviewers went online without major issues. Many thanks to all those involved in this process for their willingness to take on new challenges. The year 2020 will also be remembered for its resounding events, which were very important for Slovenian wood science, as it gained recognition for its excellence and general social importance. The Zois Prize, the highest state award of the Republic of Slovenia for the most important scientific research achievements of the year, was at the end of 2020 awarded to Prof. Dr. Katarina Čufar for her achievements in the development of dendrochronology and wood science, which is a great confirmation of her excellence and years of hard work in these fields. At the same time, this was proof that achievements in wood science can compete with the most important achievements in other scientific fields, such as physics and chemistry. Prof. Dr. Katarina Čufar also received the Golden Plaque from the University of Ljubljana for outstanding scientific research, exemplary teaching and achievements in enhancing the university's reputation, a recognition that only confirmed her outstanding abilities. Another important recognition of Slovenian wood science was demonstrated by the appointment of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Nikolaj Torelli with the title "Professor Emeritus of the University of Ljubljana", which is awarded by to retired professors for their recognizable contributions to the operation, reputation and development of the University of Ljubljana. Of course, we also need to mention the prestigious "Donald Michie - Alan Turing" award received by Prof. Dr. Lidija Zadnik Stirn. As a proof of the excellence of our students, we are especially pleased to point to Eli Keržič,, who received the Jesenko Award for the best Master's student 2019 at the Biotechnical Faculty, which is also an important recognition of the high quality of study programmes related to wood science. All these awards and recognitions are presented in detail in this issue, as they are important evidence of the current academic excellence of Slovenian wood science, and also present a firm basis for its future development. At the Department of Wood Science and Technology, a number of very good, if not exceptional, diplomas were defended in September 2020. However, two graduates – Katarina Remic (Academic Study Programme in Wood Science and Technology) and Toni Šauperl (Professional Study Programme in Wood Engineering) – prepared the main findings of their diploma theses and co-authored them with their mentors in the form of scientific articles to be published in this issue. The articles are both extremely interesting. Among the co-authors of the scientific articles in this issue are some of our PhD students, Nina Škrk, Vanja Turičnik, Rožle Repič, Jaša Saražin and Jure Žigon. We are very happy when young people start writing articles, because it shows, on the one hand, the potential for scientific excellence in research, and it also represents a solid basis for the further development of technical terminology in Slovenian. Additionally, another event is undoubtedly important for the development of the journal Les/Wood. After pioneering the publication of original data and photographs at the Repository of the University of Ljubljana (RUL) in an earlier issue, Sebastian Dahle and co-authors, as well as Nina Škrk and co-authors, also used this practice in their articles in this issue. Thus, this approach seems to have caught on, keeping Les/Wood in step with the leading international journals.I am thus confident that you will find a lot of interesting reading in this issue. You are also welcome to prepare and submit your articles for publication in future issues so that Les/Wood can continue to develop. Thank you in advance

Setup time reduction on four-side planing machine with the SMED method

Zaradi čedalje hitrejšega naraščanja raznolikosti proizvodov in manjšanja velikosti izdelavnih serij je skrajšanje nastavitvenih časov na strojih ključnega pomena za dobičkonosnost podjetja. V članku smo obravnavali problem dolgih nastavitvenih časov na strojih v lesnoindustrijskem podjetju in možnosti za reševanje tega problema z metodo SMED. Kot primer smo analizirali skrajšanje nastavitvenega časa na štiristranskem skobeljnem stroju.Due to the rapidly increasing diversity of products and smaller batch sizes, the setup time reduction is of crucial importance for the profitability of a company. The article deals with the problem of long setup times in a wood company and possibilities for the solution with the SMED method. On a practical case, the setup time reduction on four-side planing machine was analysed