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The use of models in optimizing the field crop production in agricultural enterprise
105-108Views:287The full use of resource capacities of agricultural enterprises favorably affects the general increase in economic efficiency and rational production making them more competitive in the market. This creates the need for constant improvement of business strategies that uses all available resources to create the most profitable production. The main objective of this study was to find the ideal structure of production in agricultural enterprise and to enable the realization of maximum profit using the available production resources (land, mechanization, labor forces). As the basic method of planning, this study used the simplex method of linear programming which gives the most profitable sowing structure after detailed analysis of resources and achieved results, based on the limitations and gross margin. This work showed that the use of modern methods in production planning is one of the cheapest and safest methods for development of agricultural enterprises.
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Analysis of demand for wellness and medical tourism in Hungary
57-62Views:488Health tourism in Hungary holds major opportunities. When analysing medical and wellness accommodation data, it can be stated that the Hungarian population is keenly interested in health-related tourism services. From the aspect of further development, health tourism based on medical services can be a take-off point for Hungarian tourism. In my opinion, the next few years will be crucial for Hungary’s ranking among health tourism destinations. The country’s initial circumstances are rather favourable, whereas the revaluation of the quality aspects of these services and the fact that the surrounding countries have also recognised the opportunities in health tourism led to an intensified competitive environment. Consequently, if Hungary does not take advantage of its current opportunities, there will be even less chance to develop the country into the primary thermal and medicinal waterbased health tourism destination of Europe in ten years. Yet, this is one of the foci of the objectives set out in the New Széchenyi Plan.
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Opportunities for the inclusion of less-favoured areas in the Northern Great Plain region
59-60Views:353Agricultural economics and its part, rural economics plays a determining role in Hungary. Most rural families perform self-sufficient farm production for a living. In the present conditions of infrastructure and human resources, there are regions where the only rural alternative for employment is agriculture. There are significant differences among the regions considering natural resources and equipment available for farm production, and these differences affect potential income (Vöröset al. 1999). The primary aim of the European Union is to reduce such differences among the regions.The new research program of the University of Debrecen tackles the fundamental questions of regional development through the research and management of social asymmetries by using economic and other relevant tools. This program also provides suggestions for facilitating the development of less-favoured areas.
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Challenges to sustainable rural development in Russia: social issues and regional divergences
45-51Views:396Paper aims at investigation of contemporary approaches to sustainable rural development in Russia. It includes the overview of current experiences in rural development, analysis of major economic and social indicators of rural areas in comparison with urban ones. Analysis included the set of indicators such as number of rural people, number of rural settlements, rates of births and mortalities, natural and migration increases and declines of population, rates of employment and unemployment, average monthly nominal per capita wages, and level of the subsistence minimum. Indicators have been measured separately for rural and urban areas; regions have been grouped in relation to the particular indicator. The research is concluded by discovery of growth points for rural development and a set of recommendations on perspective measures of state and local policies in rural areas, directed on increase of living standards of rural population and retention of labour resources in their traditional rural areas of inhabitation.
JEL: Q18, P25
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Impact of Terrorism on Agricultural Business in Borno State, Nigeria
117-124Views:457This study examines the impact of terrorism on agribusiness in Borno state. Terrorist activities in Borno state dates back to 2009 where a group of Islamic extremists popularly known as Boko Haram (meaning western education is a sin) became violent in their activities. The group operates significantly in north-eastern Nigeria where Borno state is located and since 2009. The presence of the group has led to collapse of socio-economic activities in Borno state among other states. Millions of people have been displaced fromtheir homes and forced to live in camps in neighbouring states. As a result, this study examines the impact of insurgency related activities on agribusiness in BornoState. Agricbusiness in Borno state can be measured using four different parameters, amount of area cultivated, annual crop production, rearing of livestock and fish farming. These are the major agricultural business residents of Borno state are engaged in. However due to unavailability of data, rearing of livestock and fish farming are dropped, thus focusing on area cultivated and annual crop production. As a result of these two variables, two models are developed. The first model measures the relationship between amounts of crop produced with insurgency related killings, while the second model measuresthe relationship between total areasof farmland cultivated with fatalities resulting from terrorist activity. This study employs Ordinary Least Squares methodology and finds that both relationshipsreveal negative results thus indicating statistically significant negative impact of terrorism on agribusiness in Borno State.
JEL Classification: Q10, Q18, Q12
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Estimation of Armington elasticities: case of vegetables in Mongolia
Views:451Mongolian people often consume meat more than vegetable in diet due to traditional nomadic culture. Nowadays, the Mongolian people’s diet has been changing who consume more vegetables with associated urbanization (half of the population live in urban areas, mostly in the capital city). Even though vegetable consumption has been increased recently, the vegetable market is still a high reliance on imports and threatening national food security. Since 2016, the Mongolian government has especially paid attention to increasing vegetable's domestic production and substitution to import vegetables (Ministry of food and Agriculture, 2017). Therefore, this paper provided to substitution elasticity (the Armington elasticity) between import vegetables and domestic vegetables in Mongolia. Additionally, we estimated the home bias value of vegetables. The so-called Armington elasticities are widely used for computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis, which determines a degree of substitution between import goods and domestically produced goods. Several of the authors studied Armington elasticities at the product level. We choose six vegetables (such as potato, garlic and onion, tomato, carrot and turnips, cabbage, and cucumber) related to lack of information. The empirical result shows that the Armington elasticities in the long-run higher than the short-run with exception of potato which means that products are similar in the long-run. However, our estimated Armington elasticities are quite lower than the previous studies result which means that Mongolian people indicated more prefer home growing vegetables than import vegetables. Moreover, we found that the home bias value is high in the short-run even long -run, this appears to be a higher relative weight on home vegetables.
JEL code: F13, Q17, Q18
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Exploitation of relations among the players of the mutton product cycle
129-134Views:472The continuous weakening of Hungarian sheep sector and its low effectiveness in terms of value added have posed crucial problems in recent years.The focal problem has been partially caused by economic and market problems.Among these issues, mostly the poor mutton supply chain gives rise to difficulties; therefore the present study seeks to reveal the factors/input variables which predominantly influence the generation of value added. We have constructed a model for the mutton product cycle to represent the relations of phases but mutton trade is not included.The most significant aim of our investigation was to identify the volume of value added generated during processing in various phases of the product cycle and the change of which inputs affected this volume. The received findings suggested that in case of capital uniformity the output of processing was mostly influenced by sheep progeny on the bottom level of the mutton product cycle.
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The role of trust in cooperation between farmers – the outcomes of a survey in Békés county
103-112Views:426Local socio-economic cooperation arrangements can contribute to the development of adequate solutions which can compensate the negative impacts of globalization. One of the specific areas is agriculture. Capital-intensive technology is the key element in the competitiveness and viability of firms. The present paper reviews the factors affecting the joint machine use arrangements of agricultural producers, with special regard to the role of trust. The questions of trust are examined in two dimensions: contractual and competence trust. On the basis of the survey carried out among farmers a positive connection was detected between the level of trust and the farmers’ activity in cooperation arrangements. Our results also pointed out that the trust needed in different areas of cooperation is very different. The experiences indicate a tendency, according to which contractual trust is more important in intensive cooperation arrangements which result in higher dependence, while competency trust is more emphasized in more extensive solutions.
JEL Code: Q13
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Examination of the organizational frameworks of sports enterprises in the light of good german practices
41-46Views:375In Hungary, with respect to the organizational issues associated with sports, there has occurred the demand for clarifying structural forms. The domestic development of sports raises the question in which fields the association-based sports model can be sustained, and operated further, and where organizational structures aligned with business models are viable. This article has described an example from German professional football, i.e. given an overview of the operation of Borussia Dortmund as a potential form for the enterprise and organizational solution. The strength of the demonstrated model is that the pursuance of business activities that cannot be or can be just hardly handled in the environment offered by associations is transferred to a setting dominated by economic conditions, whereas self-regulating civil values are not lost either, because the association remains the “parent company”.
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Marketing opportunities of local products in the catchment area of Csíkszereda town
38-44Views:476Agriculture plays an outstanding role in Romania, since there are nearly three and a half million small farms operating in the country, accounting for almost 90% of the total number of farms, and scarcely more than 32% of the available farm land is cultivated by 35% of the population. In the settlements found in the catchment area of Csíkszereda, the majority of farms consist of family farms smaller than 5 hectares. The marketing of good quality products made from local raw material by traditional methods contributes to the sustenance of the family farms. Researches show that as a result of the education of the farmers on a local level more and more processed products appear in the markets of Csíkszereda town. Farmers involved in the local market intend to expand their farms on the long run. The respondents consider that “a piece of land can be sold only once”, that is why the sustenance of the farm became the main goal of multi-generational effort. Younger farmers are usually more educated and more open to innovation. The vast majority of farmers under 45 find it important to market their products through rural tourism and they are also more eager to join producer groups. Young farmers need to merge traditional methods and knowledge inherited from previous generations with modern opportunities and methods that facilitate production and marketing. Knowledge gained this way makes it possible for small farms to market their products through short supply chains.
JEL code: Q12,Q13
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Internationalization development of tertiary education system in the Republic of Croatia
95-97Views:267This paper forms a part of Executive MBA Training in Agribusiness and Commerce which has been supported, developed and carried out in frame of the Tempus project AHEAD, CD JEP 19009–2004. Understanding of business and management with all components related (from economic principles, marketing, accounting to organisational behaviour, strategic development and thinking etc.) and especially international focus on all this areas initiated the idea of this paper. Clear idea of strategic management from formulation, implementation and evaluation, as well as how important analyses are to develop any kind of good business or development plan (as one of the learning outcomes on MBA training) are present throughout the whole paper. Introduction to internationalization development of tertiary education system is given thru PEST analysis followed by analysis of whole tertiary education in Croatia, identifying major issues for internationalization of tertiary education, analysing them and suggesting solutions to develop it in right direction.
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Agricultural Trade Policy: ‘America First’?
89-93Views:359There has been a growing openness and importance in trade over time as indicated by an increasing ratio of trade to gross domestic product for the World. However, some recent movements have been more protectionist and less open to trade. The potential impacts of less trade are explored with the United States (US) taken as an example. Trade agreements have been important in increasing trade by the US, particularly for US agriculture which has had a trade surplus since 1959. Countries should benefit from trade according to economic theory. However, stances taken by the US administration during the first half of 2017 have resulted in the withdrawal of the US from the Trans-Partnership Agreement and an announced renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. With falling US farm income, the potential undoing of trade agreement benefits, and possible trade retaliations, US agriculture is concerned about any potential disruption in exports and losses from less trade. In addition, US consumers and importers of US agriculture should be concerned about a potential decrease in trade.
JEL Code: Q18
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Factors affecting acceptance of smart retail solutions in Hungary: an empirical study using UTAUT2 model
Views:624In today's digitalisation process, retail is also undergoing a transformation, with the emergence of new smart solutions. Integrating intelligent solutions into a business model means new strategic challenges for retailing companies. The aim of the research is to examine the factors influencing the behavioural intention and use behaviour of smart retail solutions (SRS). The proposed model was based on the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). Data was collected by conducting a questionnaire of 302 Hungarian respondents. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and partial least squares (PLS-SEM) estimation were implemented. The results showed that behavioural intention is significantly and positively influenced by effort expectancy and it is significantly and negatively influenced by facilitating conditions. Most of the respondents are not yet regular users of SRS, and the market penetration of front-end intelligent solutions in retail is considered as rather low.
JEL code: M10, M31, O14
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Future role of agriculture in multifunctional development of rural areas
135-143Views:285In the paper the changes in agriculture in terms of falling share of agriculture in gross domestic product and decrease in the share of persons employed in agriculture in total employment in Poland and selected countries are discussed.The main driver of these changes is a faster pace of development of non-agricultural activities and continually deteriorating relations between the costs of production factors and prices of agricultural products. The rate of growth in labor costs and prices of the means of production for agriculture is much faster than the rate of increase in prices of agricultural products. This causes the decline in profitability of agricultural production which in creases the size of farms. The pace is dependent on the level of economic development of the country. The study also identified trends in the structure of farms, functions and systems of agriculture in the generational perspective.The polarization of the farms will deepen.A strong group of commodity farms and a group of so-called self – subsistence social farms will emerge. Agriculture in Poland will have a dual nature. In addition to the production function and social services agriculture will expand the scope of service functions for the environment and society.
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Impacts and externalities of agricultural modernization in Brazilian states
53-61Views:328This study aimed to analyze the relationship between the levels of agricultural modernization and socioeconomic indicators of the Brazilian federation units. A multivariate approach to data analysis led to the creation of the Index of Agricultural Modernization (IAM). The Spearman correlation test was used to verify the relationship between levels of agricultural modernization and a set of economic and social indicators. As a result of the survey, we obtained the Index of Agricultural Modernization (IAM) which allowed the ranking of Brazilian states in terms of level of modernization. The correlation analysis demonstrated the existence of significant and positive correlation between the agricultural modernization and the following indicators: per capita GDP, trade balance per capita and IFDM. This means that agricultural modernization contributes to increased production, exports and the levels of socioeconomic development of the states. For the variable urbanization rate, test results showed a negative correlation with the IAM, which suggests a contribution of agricultural modernization for fixing people in the countryside. Indicators of inequality in income distribution showed no significant correlation. In conclusion, it can be inferred that the positive relationship of the IAM with indicators of production, exports and socioeconomic development shows the presence of positive externalities and impacts of the agricultural modernization process
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A disaggregated analysis of monetary policy effects on the agricultural sector in Nigeria
47-58Views:680This study provides a disaggregated analysis of the effects of monetary policy shocks on the agricultural sector in Nigeria from 1981Q1 to 2016Q4. The study utilized the generalized impulse responses and the normalized generalized forecast error variance decompositions from an underlying VAR model, which are order-invariant. The four monetary policy variables used in the study are interbank call rate, monetary policy rate, broad money supply and exchange rate; while the four agricultural sub-sectors investigated are crop production, forestry, fishing and livestock. The study also controlled for the general price level and other economic activities in the overall economy. The findings indicate that the aggregate agricultural sector and its various sub-sectors consistently responded negatively to unanticipated monetary tightening in most of the forecast horizon; while the immediate impact of monetary policy shocks is transmitted to the agricultural sector through the interest rate and money demand (credit) channels. The findings further indicate that apart from these two channels, the roles of monetary policy rate and exchange rate are non-negligible in the long-run. The role of money supply channel in spreading monetary policy shocks to the agricultural sector remained muted all through. The study concludes that the monetary authority should evolve interest rate, credit, and exchange rate policies that will promote the development of the agricultural sector in Nigeria.
JEL CODES: E52; N50; C22; N57
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European traditional food producers and marketing capabilities: An application of the marketing management process
41-46Views:285The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the marketing management capabilities of SMEs producing traditional food products, in order to analyse the market orientation of SMEs in the food industry. Following the theoretical approach of Market Orientation, our analysis is based on an assessment of the marketing management process. The methodology refers to a survey developed through a questionnaire published on the web, and a sample of 371 firms based in Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and Hungary was used in the analysis. Cluster analysis was applied to find the different levels of market orientation of the firms. The results revealed a certain lack of appropriate skills in marketing management in the firms of the sample, confirming the evidence found in economic literature concerning SMEs. Nevertheless, cluster analysis outlined a group of firms with good marketing capabilities and market oriented, and these represent a great part of the sample (40%). With regard to the stages of the marketing management process, the most problematic are those of planning and implementation, and control and evaluation, highlighting the difficulties SMEs encounter in carrying out coordinated marketing; which appears to be generally characterised by poor organisational capacity.
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Disciplines and practices for selection and workplace orientation within an American company
83-88Views:509The primary objective of this essay is to present how selection and orientation at the workplace are regulated and practiced at an American profit oriented company. Moreover, considering these practices to outline the disciplines which determine and influence them. The first part of this essay is a literature review which specifically illustrates various perspectives of selection and orientation at the workplace. Following this review, the objectives of this paper are enumerated. The next part presents the case study, the half-structured interview and the questionnaire methods used for this research. The results and the discussion parts are separated, because the results part shows how selection and orientation work in practice and then, by examining the results in some detail, the discussion part presents the disciplines which have been extrapolated. In order to support the conceived disciplines this paper also seeks to examine the most important supporting factors in the procedure of work orientation. General and professional/organizational factors of workplace orientation have been collected. Quantitative data from an empirical analysis is used for the research. Qualitative data is a part of a future dissertation. Questionnaires were completed by 80 employees at a distributor company in the United States of America. The results clearly show that the following disciplines should be maintained through these HR processes: equal opportunity, importance of professionalism, documentary, checking, support and continuance.
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Demographic and lifestyle attributes with a fundamental role in food supplement consumption (exploratory research)
181-185Views:348The worldwide proportion of food supplement consumers has been steadily increasing, more than 50% of the Hungarian population tends to buy at least one type of dietary supplement. In most cases, the purchase and consumption of food supplements are not based on medical indications but depends on consumers’ individual decisions. The study of consumer groups enables the investigation of typicalities which have an impact on attitudes related to the consumption of food additives. The present study explores the demographical factors determining the global consumption of dietary supplements by secondary research. It sought to explore the typical features of consumer lifestyles in line with the research findings, based on previously specified criteria, through qualitative focus group examinations. My study focused on subjects who bought and purchased at least one type of food supplement in the previous year and placed a high emphasis on healthy diet and lifestyle in their everyday lives. The consumption of dietary supplements indicates growth with age and it is more common among women. Consumers with higher qualifications and incomes tend to buy products with vitamins and minerals in a greater proportion. The identification of nutrition factors revealed that the proportion of those who do not need extra nutrient intake is high among food supplement consumers. It is primarily true of women having a healthy lifestyle (they typically consume high amounts of vegetables and fruits, they are physically active, non-smokers and do not use alcohol); moreover, their socio-economic status is typically high. The findings of my quantitative research suggest that the purchase and consumption of dietary supplements are most characteristic of the “Successful”, “Quality oriented- successful” and “Loyal to the brand - modest” groups in the lifestyle-based consumer segments. The investigated sample showed ambiguous attitudes towards product quality and willingness to pay in all the three batches. Nevertheless, it can be established, when consumers buy food supplements, brand sensitivity proves to be a dominant factor in addition to - typically Hungarian - price sensitivity. Based on lifestyle factors, the current research may bring us closer to the exploration of the motivational and attitude patterns of consumers’ food supplement purchases.
JEL Code: I12, M31
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Land regulation in the European Union and Hungary
57-58Views:381Land, as it constitutes one of the bases of agricultural production, has a special position in the economic-judiciary surroundings of states. In Hungarian history, land ownership has undergone many radical transitions. The decade starting from the political and land regulation reform is a short time in land tenure. In spite of it, there have been several important changes in land ownership structure. In the 1970s and 80s, large agricultural firms, especially co-operatives and state farms, were common in Hungary. State hegemony was typical of land ownership and use, with rather small, privately owned parcels. Since privatization began after 1989, this tendency has changed, with land owned by farmers. In the following article, I am going to review the laws regulating land ownership and land use in Hungary and in the European Union.
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Co-innovation: what are the success factors?
29-36Views:288The problem we address in this paper is that in projects focusing on public-private cooperation to stimulate innovation in the Netherlands, initiatives often lack continuation after the study-phase. We extracted possible influencing variables from business and (transaction) cost economic theorizing, stakeholder and capability theory. Moreover, we used measures for classifying projects with respect to financial interdependencies between participants. We supposed that project characteristics influence managerial behavior to continue or stop. We studied 28 projects (20 supply chain projects and 8 biological product development projects). Our aim was to explore the barriers and success factors for these co-innovation projects: innovation as a cooperative effort between public sector/research institute and private organization(s). We derived data from project descriptions and performed semi-structured interviews with project informants. Critical to success appears to be ex ante commitment of all parties. Goal congruence, both at a personal and a company level, and proportionality of sharing in project results are of decisive importance to establish such commitment. Estimations about financial project results should be made in an early stage; they should be used as a basis for negotiations on the (re)distribution of costs and benefits, especially if the value added is disproportionally distributed over the participants. Ideally, project teams of co-innovation projects should bring in complementary capabilities: technical, marketing, financial and organizational. Project governance should therefore be organized in such a way that the knowledge gaps are filled in before kick-off.
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The new strategic directions of rural development in Hungary
143-150Views:323The notion of sustainability is the basis for our future possibilities. Local sustainability, in the centre of which can be found the livable settlement, is especially important in rural areas.Without developing rural areas, there is no developing society. The growth of the Earth’s population and the world economy has already surpassed the carrying capacity of this planet which may result in an “overshoot and collapse”. This can still be prevented today. The population of towns and cities is rapidly increasing. Urbanization is a very fast process, even in Hungary. In large cities with millions of inhabitants crime and lumpen lifestyle pose huge problems. However, the bases of a successful economy are morals and a puritan lifestyle, which so far have characterized rural villages. 70% of the poor and needy live in rural areas in the developing countries and agriculture provides livelihood for 40% of the world’s population. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) was established in 2002 by FAO and theWorld Bank to learn more about the role of agricultural science and technology. After the positive decision some comprehensive summaries were made on all the related topics with the participation of 400 scientists. The assessment provided many lessons to learn and at the 2008 closing sessions in Johannesburg, the reports were accepted and it was proved that rural areas have a significant role in providing adequate means of earning a livelihood. The Ministry of Rural Development composed a domestic-level study with the title of the National Rural Strategy. The objectives stated in the study can be seen as the main directions of the Hungarian rural strategy. The land policy aims to support the 50–70 hectare family farms and have the agricultural lands under national authority. The population must be provided with ample and safe food. The priority of local economy, local sale, and local markets is important. The positive exploitation of our natural resources may result in the strengthening of rural areas. The deterioration of rural areas must be stopped. In order to halt these processes swiftly fundamental, patriotic economic and social policy changes, a strong people’s party, a short-run crisis treating and a medium-long-run strategic development and action plan are needed which is based on the respect of work and moral norms, national cooperation, solidarity, and the defense of our mutual interests rather than on speculation (ÁNGYÁN, 2010). The greatest problem of Hungary is low employment.Workplaces may be created in the least expensive and the fastest manner in irrigational agriculture. In order to achieve this, the role of the state must be reconsidered and EU rules on state intervention must be reviewed.
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The determination of economic and public health benefits achievable by increasing regular physical exercise
5-13Views:586There are various methods at our disposal to determine the direct expenses of the factors, which influence the state of health – such as inactive lifestyle –, but research studies aimed at comprehensively determining all direct and indirect expenses have not been conducted in Hungary, yet. We desired to remedy this deficiency with our research, which was prepared at the commissioned order and with the support of the Hungarian Society of Sport Science and the Department for Sport of the Ministry of Human Resources of the Hungarian Government. Using the factual data of OEP (National Health Insurance Fund) we determined the annual cost of illnesses, along with the extent of the cost of physical inactivity, (HUF billion), and we prepared an estimate of the possible amount of savings in Hungary (sick-pay, medication costs etc.), the methodology of which we adapted from international research projects, thus the resulting data in the case of Hungary will later be comparable to international data. International examples reveal the savings achievable by increasing physical exercise in a broad range, even though having conducted the research in different ways and time periods. All research projects concur about one thing, namely that the reduction of physical inactivity can result in significant savings. Our results have verified this statement statistically as well.
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The effect of logistic controlling on business processes
107-111Views:335The increase in the significance of logistics can be attributed to two major reasons: the increasing cost sensitivity of companies and the necessity for the higher fulfilment of customer needs. Logistic controlling is a tool of management used to coordinate logistic activities and to reach logistic managerial decisions by providing information through the analysis of the system. The up-to-date and precise information that can be gained from the logistic controlling system helps the management in the preparation of decisions, and the adaptation to environmental conditions. With these activities, logistic controlling makes the enterprises more efficient and successful. Taking the above into consideration, I carried out a survey on why commercial entities decided on the introduction and application of a logistic controlling system, what conditions are necessary for the introduction of a logistic controlling system, and what experiences the users gained by the application. Positive effects of logistic controlling were proved on operations, and the introduction and application of logistic controlling were analysed.
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Trajectories of agricultural modernization and rural resilience: some first insights derived from case studies in 14 countries
31-43Views:424In this paper, alternative trajectories of agricultural modernization and rural resilience are explored based on case studies in 14 countries. The analysis is to support discussions about the further development of agriculture at a time when the agricultural sector must respond to an increasing scarcity of natural resources, challenges like climate change, urbanization, demographic change, food security, consumer demands, distributional issues in food value chains and changing urban-rural relations. The discussion relates different trajectories of agricultural modernization to the multiple mechanisms underlying rural prosperity and resilience. The mainstream capital-intensive and technology-driven model of agricultural modernization is contrasted with more incremental, socially embedded and localised forms of development. Potential synergies between different modes of farm ‘modernization’, resilience and sustainable rural development are highlighted and a different future-oriented understanding of the term ‘modernization’ explored. The basis for the analysis are case studies in 14 countries (including Turkey and Israel). The key question asked is how actors are connecting economic, social and natural systems in the different cases and how the connections made (or not) point to different ideas about modernization. The conclusions focus on some current information needs of policy-makers: the links between different forms of farm modernization, rural development and resilience, and the implications for agricultural knowledge systems and the new European Innovation Partnerships. It is emphasized that local capacities for transdisciplinary research need to be strengthened and that more attention should be paid to addressing modernization potentials that are less mainstream. The paper seeks to foster discussions that help overcome simplistic viewpoints of what ‘modernization’ entails. It is based on an earlier review paper by Knickel, Zemeckis and Tisenkopfs (2014).
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