Social Network Mixing Patterns in Mergers and Acquisitions-A Simulation Experiment

In the contemporary world of global business and continuously growing competition, organizations tend to use mergers and acquisitions to enforce their position on the market. The future organization’s design is a critical success factor in such undertakings. The field of social network analysis can enhance our uderstanding of these processes as it lets us reason about the development of networks, regardless of their origin. The analysis of mixing patterns is particularly useful as it provides an insight into how nodes in a network connect with each other. We hypothesize that organizational networks with compatible mixing patterns will be integrated more successfully. After conducting a simulation experiment, we suggest an integration model based on the analysis of network assortativity. The model can be a guideline for organizational integration, such as occurs in mergers and acquisitions.mergers & acquisition, social network,analysis, mixing patterns, assortativity, organizational design

Complexity in Organizations and Environment - Adaptive Changes and Adaptive Decision-Making

The features of complexity are ever more present in modern organizations and in environments in which they operate, trying to survive and be as competitive as possible.) In the processes of, the socalled emergence, the formal organizational structure, designed purposefully and with a plan, is going through a change due to complexity and the need for adaptation. As a result, there is a variety of new informal groups. At the same time, the intended structural changes and business process changes occur because of the perception that the leadership and senior organizational management have of the strategic situation. Managers in modern organizations often use business intelligence (BI) systems when making important business decisions. These systems offer support to the decision-making by gathering and processing relevant data and information about the company performance, but also about the data on conditions in close and remote environment. A modern company is characterized by the complex adaptive system, but the environment in which it operates together with other business subjects (agents) is also complex. Consequently, the requirements for appropriate or optimal decisions and successfully completed activities are hard to meet. Given that expected future events and circumstances often occur in nonlinear mechanisms, the decisions made by following the models of traditional predicting and planning are not satisfactory. This calls for new approaches to decision making and acting

Applying the modified SWOT–AHP method to the tourism of Gornje Međimurje

The development of tourism in rural areas supports economic development and growth of these areas. The prerequisite of successful development is the existence of strategic priorities in tourism. The Gornje Međimurje area has the characteristics of a rural region which generates recognizable successes in development of an authentic touristic attraction. Guidelines specified by the official Tourism Development Strategy (Ministry of Tourism, 2003) can serve as possible strategic orientations/options in that respect. In particular, the guidelines that refer to Central Croatia include: orientations toward rural tourism, health tourism, sport tourism, and congress tourism. This paper aims to contribute to the formulation of future tourist orientation of this region by the evaluation of strategic alternatives using the combined SWOT-AHP (short for Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats and Analytical Hierarchical Process) method. In this paper we propose a modified version of the method, so that the absolute values of SWOT factors coefficients are used as criteria previously specified by AHP, but with a different procedure of evaluating (strategic) alternatives. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for tourism were described, which was based on judgments of experts; the appropriate weight was given to SWOT groups and factors using the AHP method. The relevance of potential strategic alternatives was determined with regards to global values of elements (factors) contained in SWOT groups, while also taking into consideration negative contributions of Weaknesses and Threats to the strategic situation. Thus, the strategic priorities for tourism development of Gornje Međimurje were obtained and the option of rural tourism was estimated as being most attractive

Modeling Organizational Design - Applying A Formalism Model From Theoretical Physics

Modern organizations are exposed to diverse external environment influences. Currently accepted concepts of organizational design take into account structure, its interaction with strategy, processes, people, etc. Organization design and planning aims to align this key organizational design variables. At the higher conceptual level, however, completely satisfactory formulation for this alignment doesn’t exist. We develop an approach originating from the application of concepts of theoretical physics to social systems. Under this approach, the allocation of organizational resources is analyzed in terms of social entropy, social free energy and social temperature. This allows us to formalize the dynamic relationship between organizational design variables. In this paper we relate this model to Galbraith\u27s Star Model and we also suggest improvements in the procedure of the complex analytical method in organizational design

Project Management in Digital Disruption: Emergence of Digital Project Management Office

This review paper has been prepared to provide an overview of multidisciplinary research that combines recent findings in the fields that support digital transformation development. The potential impact of digital technologies on organizational performance is the leverage that enables changes in common elements of organizational design; such are strategy, structure, processes, or workforce. According to reports by various authors, choosing an approach to digital transformation potentially includes an emphasis on strategy, processes, a structural approach, a project approach, and other performances. Such transformation is often performed through a portfolio of interrelated projects that change the organization. Most contemporary organizations establish a project management office (PMO) as an organizational entity responsible for implementing digital transformation initiatives. In this article, PMO is highlighted as an element of organizational design that promises success in meeting the demands of digital transformation initiatives, such as digital agility or innovation project management, by introducing new digital competencies into its professional domains. Such extensions of PMO domain expertise may lead to the transformation of “traditional” PMOs into digital PMOs. The paper analyses the cases of application of structural elements of digital PMO and their characteristics in three Croatian companies. &nbs

Social Network Mixing Patterns In Mergers & Acquisitions - A Simulation Experiment

In the contemporary world of global business and continuously growing competition, organizations tend to use mergers and acquisitions to enforce their position on the market. The future organization’s design is a critical success factor in such undertakings. The field of social network analysis can enhance our uderstanding of these processes as it lets us reason about the development of networks, regardless of their origin. The analysis of mixing patterns is particularly useful as it provides an insight into how nodes in a network connect with each other. We hypothesize that organizational networks with compatible mixing patterns will be integrated more successfully. After conducting a simulation experiment, we suggest an integration model based on the analysis of network assortativity. The model can be a guideline for organizational integration, such as occurs in mergers and acquisitions

COOPERATION OF COMPETITIVE FIRMS WITH COMPLEMENTARY RESOURCES-BUSINESS STRENGTH FROM THE GAME THEORY PERSPECTIVE

U konkurentskom okruženju veći razvojni potencijal i više razine profita ostvaruju ona poduzeća koja imaju veću poslovnu snagu. Poslovna se snaga procjenjuje na osnovi vrednovanja razine dostupnih resursa i organizacijskih sposobnosti poduzeća. Jedan od načina da se poveća razina ključnih resursa i time ostvari konkurentska prednost, jest ulazak u savezništva ili koalicije sa drugim poduzećima. Strateška poslovna suradnja danas je veoma rasprostranjena. Procesom učenja u tzv. alijansama ostvaruje se transfer određenih značajnih neopipljivih resursa i sposobnosti. Poslovna snaga koja je funkcija resursa u tim uvjetima raste. Teorija igara na osnovi dvaju značajnih koncepata, korisnosti i indeksa snage, omogućuje analizu promjene poslovne snage kao posljedice ulaska poduzeća u koalicije. Pored tradicionalne definicije poslovne snage poduzeća, predlažemo dva nova pristupa određivanju konkurentnosti i potencijalne uspješnosti poduzeća. Riječ je o pokazateljima: “mrežnoj poslovnoj snazi” i “indeksu kooperativne snage”. Postupak određivanja tih veličina zasniva se na modelima kooperativne teorije igara i konceptu Shapleyeve vrijednosti.In the competitive environment, firms that have more business strength achieve increased profits and have bigger development potential. Evaluating the level of accessible company resources and organization capabilities does assessment of business strength. One way to improve resources base and develop a competitive advantage is by entering into alliances or coalitions with other companies. Nowadays, strategic cooperation is widespread in business practice. Through the learning process in alliances, companies accomplish transfer of intangible resources and capabilities, causing the growth of business strength as a function of resources. Game theory, which utilizes two important concepts of power index and utility function, makes possible to analyze the change of business strength caused by entering coalitions. Beside a traditional approach toward business strength definition, we propose new approaches to assess company competitiveness and success potential. Two notions are important: “network business strength” (NBS) and “cooperative strength index” (CSI). The procedure that determines these indicators is based on models of cooperative game theory and the Shapley value concept

Timsko vodstvo i timski rad u Hrvatskoj ratnoj mornarici – MIO boarding timovi

This paper deals with the topic of teamwork, and application of the theory of team leadership to the example of Maritime Interdiction Operations Teams (MIT) and transfer of teams, in composition of the Croatian Navy. The paper presents the key topics and issues of the theory of team leadership: influence of the leadership process on the team’s processes and ultimately on performance, distributed leadership within the team, influence of the context on leadership and success. By researching boarding teams, their structure, leadership processes of such teams, processes performed by teams and the way in which such teams carry out their tasks in context of the military organization, the Croatian Navy and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia were elaborated. Peculiarities of the team leadership and team processes from cognitive, motivational, coordination, and emotional categories were determined. Characteristic activities of the transition phase of the team as well as the action phase, and peculiarities of performance of the boarding teams, were determined. Scientific contributions of the work, and contribution to military organization, as well as a wider social contribution, are the result of the aforementioned findings.Ovaj rad bavi se temom timskog rada te primjene teorije timskog vodstva na primjer timova za presretanje plovila i prekrcaj (Maritime Interdiction Operations Teams - MIT), u sastavu Hrvatske ratne mornarice. Kroz rad su izložene ključne teme i problematika teorije timskog vodstva: utjecaj procesa vodstva na procese tima i u konačnici na performanse, raspodijeljeno vodstvo unutar tima, utjecaj konteksta na vodstvo i uspjeh. Zatim je istraživanjem boarding timova obrađen njihov ustroj, procesi vodstva ovakvih timova, procesi koje timovi izvode i način na koji ovakvi timovi provode svoje zadaće u kontekstu vojne organizacije, Hrvatske ratne mornarice i Oružanih snaga Republike Hrvatske. Utvrđene su osobitosti timskog vodstva i procesa tima iz kategorija spoznajnih, motivacijskih, koordinacijskih, emocionalnih. Utvrđene su i karakteristične aktivnosti tranzicijske faze tima kao i faze akcije, te osobitosti performansi boarding timova. Iz navedenih spoznaja slijede znanstveni doprinosi rada, te doprinos za vojno organiziranje kao i širi društveni doprinos

Organizing for Emergencies - Issues in Wildfire Fighting in Croatia

Croatia’s accession to the European Union implies inevitable changes in the national emergency management system. New requirements for adjustment in accordance with the EU standards and practices also apply to the fire-services organization. Harmonious functioning of a large number of relatively autonomous organizations related to the National Protection and Rescue Directorate necessitates clear decision-making authority and coordination mechanisms as well as a high level of interoperability and core competencies development. This paper gives an overview of the Croatian fire protection organization along with its accompanying legislation, followed by an analysis of identified problems, especially those concerning fighting of wildfire. In our research a survey questionnaire comprised of Likert-scale items was used to assess the attitudes and experiences of trained fire department members. The respondents reported a relatively low evaluation of effectiveness and appropriateness of the following key fire service attributes: organizational structure, legislation and firefighting logistics support. From the obtained results guidelines can be drawn for possible redesign of the emergency management organization, especially those concerning the fire protection service