Bata Management System: A Built-In Resilience against Crisis at the Micro Level

The Bata Company became the largest and thriving global enterprise of the 20s and 30s, during the decades of economic crises. Why could Bata prosper when everybody around was contracting, laying people off and passively waiting for governmental bailouts and handouts? Our answer lies in the existence of a unique, inimitable, integrated management system—a rare thing among modern companies operating with patchworks of disconnected, dysfunctionaland non-synergistic, albeit fashionable methods and techniques. Roosevelt’s New Deal was the beginning of the end of management-employee cooperation, strengthening adversarial relations, trade unionism and the final emergence of so-called macroeconomics, reversing the promising microeconomic trends of the time. Resilient, flexible and human-oriented companies are the best protection against government-induced crises.Bata management system, microeconomics, creative destruction, autopoiesis, New Deal, macroeconomics, sustainability, resilience, added value, Austrian school

On the Essential Multidimensionality of an Economic Problem: Towards Tradeoffs-Free Economics

The foundation of welfare economics is the assumption of Pareto-efficiency and its concept of tradeoffs. Also the production possibility frontier, efficiency frontier, nondominated set, etc., belong to the plethora of tools derived from the Pareto principle. The assumption of tradeoffs does not address the issue of system design or redesign in order to reduce or eliminate tradeoffs as a sure characteristic of suboptimal, inefficient system configuration. In this paper we establish that tradeoffs are not attributes of objectives, criteria or dimensions, as it is habitually assumed, but are the properties of the very sets of possibilities, alternatives or options they purport to value and measure. We use De novo programming, through which the so called feasible set of opportunities can be redefined towards optimal, tradeoffs-free configuration. The implications of tradeoff-free economics are too vast to foresee and elaborate in a single paper; they do touch the very foundations of economic thought. So me numerical examples are given in order to illustrate system-design calculations in linear systems.Tradeoffs, multiple criteria, decision making, tradeoffs-free, optimization, De novo programming, Pareto-efficiency, added value

Finanční krize a soustava řízení Baťa: Makro- a mikro- reakce na krizové prostředí

Tomáš i Jan Baťa oba museli řídit své globální podniky za podmínek místní, evropské i světové krize 20. a 30. let. Jejich podniky prosperovaly a ve 30. letech za celosvětové krize dosáhly nevídaného globálního rozmachu a rozkvětu. V této stati identifikujeme hlavní důvody proč může podnik prosperovat v prostředí všeobecné krize. Shrnujeme krizové hospodářské výsledky koncernu Baťa, porovnáváme klíčové statistiky, a zdůrazňujeme nosné, i když osobně rozdílné, myšlenky a hodnoty Tomáše i Jana Bati. Hlavním klíčem je existence výrazné a ucelené soustavy řízení podniku (SŘB), která jasně definuje společné zájmy a podmínky spolupráce zaměstnanců, manažerů a vlastníků. Každý podnik má volbu ve svých reakcích na krizi: 1. Pasivní makro-reakce, tj. lobbování a čekání na rozhodnutí, pravidla a finanční dotace ze strany státu, nebo 2. Aktivní mikro-reakce, tj. adaptace organizace a řízení podniku na převládající krizové podmínky a využití pasivity a vyčkávací „taktiky“ konkurence k uchopení nových konkurenčních výhod. Jde o to, zda volíme „stranu a vládu“ nebo soukromé podniky „svobodného trhu“ jako základ hospodářské výkonnosti a společenské prosperity.Tomas and Jan Bata both had to manage their global enterprises under the conditions of local, European and world crises of the 20s and 30s. Yet, they prospered and during the worldwide depression of the 30s they achieved unprecedented global growth and flourish. In this essay we identify the main reasons why a firm can prosper in the environment of general crisis. We summarize economic results of Bata concern, compare its key statistics, and emphasize the fundamental albeit personally different ideas and values of Tomas and Jan Bata. The main key was the existence of a striking and fully integrated Bata management system (BMS)which clearly defined interests and conditions of cooperation among employees, managers and owners. Every company faces a choice in its reactions to a crisis: 1. Passive macro-reaction, e.g., waiting for decisions, rules or financial bailouts from the government, lobbying politicians, nurturing “survival”, or 2. Active micro-reaction, i.e. adjusting its business organization and management to the prevailing crisis conditions, exploiting the passivity and waiting “tactics” of competitors, creating new competitive advantage. The issue is: do they choose the “party and government” or the “free-market” private enterprise as the base of their economic performance and social prosperity

Strategy as Action: From Porter to Anti-Porter

In the post-crisis era, new concepts are emerging, while some old and dysfunctional ones are being discarded. Strategy is about making series of decisions that drive corporate action under specific coupling with company's environment and context. Because decisions are actions, the strategy itself is action, not just a description of action. In the world of traditional strategy, descriptions (information) have replaced action (knowledge), and talk has replaced walk. We start from the premise that strategy is what company does, and what company does is its strategy. One cannot run a company just on descriptions and framed mission statements. The role of customers is crucial: the customer shapes strategy and triggers corporate action. Without respecting the customer, there is no viable strategy. This is why we label the action-based strategic thinking as "Anti-Porter": consumers do not want tradeoffs and thus truly effective strategy cannot be rooted in Porter's tradeoffs

Marketing strategy of the Sports Laboratory at the Technical University in Liberec

katedra: KMG; přílohy: 1 CD ROM; rozsah: 91 s., 1 s. obr. přílohThis Diploma work deals with marketing strategy of sports laboratory at Technical University in Liberec. The theoretical part tries to aim to marketing in the sector of services. First I describe the specifics of it then I characterize the analysis of inside and outside surroundings. The goalsetting, marketing research and the segmentation of the market come after. In the end of that theoretical part I devote to marketing mix of services. The practical part introduces present stadium of laboratory. At the beginning I mention the primary data about laboratory. Next I execute SWOT analysis presenting purposes and current strategy which is now exploited by laboratory. Another chapter is devoted to market research. It concerns especially about choice of subject, setting up the public inquiry and its interpretation. My own suggestions represent the last chapter of my diploma work. They result from market research and focus on not carefully worked-out elements of marketing strategy. In the last chapter of my diploma work I specify my own suggestions, which result from market research and bring out the elements of marketing strategy.Tato diplomová práce se zaměřuje na marketingovou strategii laboratoře sportovní motoriky při Technické univerzitě v Liberci. Teoretická část se snaží přiblížit marketing v oblasti služeb. Nejprve popisuji jejich specifika, dále charakterizuji rozbor vnitřního a vnějšího prostředí. Následuje stanovení cílů, marketingový výzkum a segmentace trhu. V závěru teoretické části se věnuji marketingovému mixu služeb. Praktická část seznamuje se současným stavem laboratoře. V počátku kapitoly zmiňuji základní údaje o laboratoři. Dále provádím SWOT analýzu, vyjadřuji cíle laboratoře a představuji stávající strategii, kterou laboratoř v současné době využívá. Další kapitola je věnována průzkumu trhu. Jedná se zejména o volbu subjektů, sestavení ankety a její vyhodnocení. V poslední části diplomové práce prezentuji vlastní návrhy vycházející z průzkumu trhu a uvádím jednotlivé prvky marketingové strategie

The popularity increase of basketball club BK Kondoři Liberec

katedra: KTV; přílohy: CD; rozsah: 44 s., 3 s. obr. přílohThe Bachelor thesis is devided into two parts. The first, teoretic part deals with beginning of basketball club BK Kondoři Liberec and comprehends the theory of marketing mix. The second one, practical part contains my own public inquiry and its analyse. On the base of finding informations I show in possibility proposal solving, which could lead to popularity increase of basketball club BK Kondoři Liberec.Bakalářská práce je rozdělena na dvě části. První, teoretická část se zabývá vznikem basketbalového klubu BK Kondoři Liberec a zahrnuje také teorii marketingového mixu. Druhá, praktická část, obsahuje mnou sestavenou anketu a její vyhodnocení. Na základě získaných informací uvádím možné návrhy řešení, které by vedly ke zvýšení popularity basketbalového klubu BK Kondorů ve městě Liberec

The roots of evolutionary economics: Crisis, transformation and metamorphosis

Most world economies are undergoing fundamental transformations of economic sectors, shifting their employed workforce through the secular sequence of (1. Agriculture2. Industry3. Services4. Government). The productivity growth rate is the driving force. Most advanced economies have reached the final stages of the sequence. Assorted recessions, crises and stagnations are simply cofluent, accompanying phenomena. Crises might be cyclical, but economic evolution is unidirectional. Traditional economics can hardly distinguish phenomena of crisis from those of the transformation. Because there is no 'fifth sector', some economies are entering the phase of metamorphosis, for the first time in history. Metamorphosis is manifested through deglobalization, relocalization and autonomization of local and regional economies. We are entering the Age of Entrepreneurship. © 2021 - IOS Press. All rights reserved

Contemporary trends in Japanese business environment: A review of existing empirical evidence

The main purpose of this paper is to identify current trends and practices that have been influencing Japanese business environment and their consequences to corporate world by conducting a review of existing empirical evidence on this topic. An in-depth review of more than 1,600 articles published in high-quality academic journals in the areas of Business Management, Accounting, Social Sciences, Engineering, Economics, Econometrics, Operations Research Management Science, Psychology, Public Administration, Finance and Decision Sciences was pursued following a multiple-step process. Furthermore, the trends were classified into six categories based on their occurrence frequency and described in detail. These trends involve: reformulating strategic management principles, less lifelong employment orientation and change of traditional HRM practices, raising labour force participation, female participation in management and improving education, use of non-financial performance indicators, decomposition of a large organization into smaller units and opening up to outside influence. Each of the categories contained specific practices that interacted with each other, shaping and giving strength to each individual category. Finally, the insights extracted from the literature review were synthesized and directions to future research were provided.14-18597P, GACR, Czech Science FoundationCzech Science FoundationGrant Agency of the Czech Republic [14-18597P]; European Social Fund (ESF)European Social Fund (ESF); national budget of the Czech Republic [CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0147

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives