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Historical overview of the literature on business performance measurement from the beginning to the present
39-46Views:217The paper summarizes the concept of business performance and the performance measurement. The concept of business performance has changed a lot over the past decades. The managers have understood that in order to achieve organizational goals, more emphasis should be placed outside the owners, on other market participants, on the stakeholders (eg: customers, clients, employees, suppliers and other partners, local communities, …). The ’90s are also called „The performance measurement revolution”, because a lot of new performance measurement methods, systems appeared. The performance measurements have the prominent role: to collect information about where we are going to achieve the goals, if needed for intervention.
JEL code: B40
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Analysis the advanced ICT usage of the Hungarian SME sector for preparing a domestic agri-food research
147-153Views:164In the Hungarian agro-food sector SMEs have a key role but regarding the tendency of the performance of SME sector, comparing to EU-28 average, the performance of Hungarian SME sector has gradually worsened between 2008 and 2015 while the EU average has an increasing trend. ICT can help enterprises and this article is an overview of the ICT situation of Hungarian SMEs. It is important to analyse in detail the ICT usage characteristics of agro SMEs in the food supply chain because these ICT devices, tools and services are crucial to smooth the information flow within the chain. For all these reasons our work aims to find out how Hungarian agro-food SMEs use ICT and how ICT adoption affect their business procedures, performance and development. A striking observation to emerge from the data comparison is the difference among SMEs and large enterprises regarding the usage of the different basic and advanced ICT solutions. A much bigger percent of large companies use advanced ICT then SMEs and mainly small enterprises are lagging behind as the attitudes of medium sized enterprises are rather similar to the large ones. In Hungary small enterprises in agro-food industry are in difficult financial state and for them free Cloud Computing services can offer good opportunities as they do not have initial costs. ICT adoption is very important to them as ICT sector is a dynamically growing sector and if customers and partners of an enterprise adapt faster to these technological innovations, it may have a negative effect on the different processes, performance and financial results of the organisation. In this article our aim was to determine the main question groups for our questionnaire which focus mainly on ICT solutions supporting the quality of communication and relationship between partners. As the basic IT tools are available in the major part even in the SMEs besides large companies, the two main issues will be the usage of advanced online services and the usage of high quality ICT solutions.
JEL Code: M15
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Establishment of the Customer Perspective of the Balanced Scorecard System at Sports Enterprises Through the Example of a Hungarian Football Club
5-16Views:680In our present world, more and more attention is being paid to the evaluation and monitoring of different sports organizations, which is because the support of spectator sports has become an important issue. Our fundamental assumption is that football clubs of our time should operate just like large companies in the business sectors. Obviously, it is an essential prerequisite that controlling, a controlling system or a performance measurement system be applied at the business entities operating the clubs. According to our experience, conscious financing of organizations is often neglected in the course of the management processes of sports companies. It is necessary to create the conditions at these organizations that enable managerial decision support and the establishment of a controlling system. It is essential to find controlling methods and tools that can be successfully applied in the life of a sports organization and that ensure the harmonization and coordination of different processes. Consequently, controlling provides a higher level of transparency and information supply for decision makers. The aim of present study is to introduce the Balanced Scorecard (The Balanced Scorecard is a balanced strategic system of indexes, which measures the performance of companies for the sake of implementing the strategy), one of the tools of strategic controlling and its application to sports companies through an example of a Hungarian football club.
JEL Classification: Z23
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The influence of employment modes on employee turnover and agri-business performance: a case for Hunyani farm in the Zvimba district, Zimbabwe
17-27Views:285The labour intensive nature of Zimbabwean agriculture demands that farmers meet excessive labour requirements, at the same time keeping labour costs as low as possible to guarantee profits and achieve maximum business performance. This study, carried through a questionnaire survey, at the Hunyani Matura Farm, in the Zvimba district of Zimbabwe between from October 2017 to March 2018, investigated the effect of employment mode on turnover and agri-business performance. Data collected from the participants, was compared with the information from secondary source documents. From the results temporary workers performed better than permanent workers and they cited problems of low wages, poor working conditions, high work targets, inequality in work allocation, job insecurity and constant shuffling. Temporary workers had higher turnover and turnover intentions than permanent workers. Temporary employment mode had a positive
effect on agri-business performance. This study recommends the use of permanent employment mode on key positions like forepersons, stores persons and supervisors, and temporary employment mode on general farm tasks, while seasonal contracts were seen good for skill demanding operations such as tobacco seedbed establishment, tobacco reaping and curing and grading. A ccareful selection of employment modes reduces inequalities and unhealthy attitudes at work and improves on farm business performance.JEL Classification: Q12
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Moderating Influence of Training and Development on Entrepreneurial Performance
47-54Views:141This study assessed the moderating effect of training and development on entrepreneurial performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria considering the Bank of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). Two hypotheses were tested in this study reflecting training and development in Nigeria and Ethical practices of Training and Development impacts on behavioral outcomes of entrepreneurs. The paper puts to test, the preceding assertions with the aid of Kruskal Wallis test. From the test, the study refutes the former assertions on the reasoning that P-values were less than 5% level of significance. This showed that the impact of ethical training and development would be more significant if the young entrepreneurs had earlier exposure from secondary to tertiary education level to make better entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The study observed that the Nigerian educational system has contributed positively to the area of training and development which has enhanced entrepreneurial performance in Nigeria. The study recommends that training and development programme should focus on developing creative or innovative individuals who can help to move the nation forward. A Self-reliant person is a creative individual.
JEL Classification: M53, M1
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Motivation solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises in the Southern Transdanubian Region
39-46Views:224The singularity of human resources and the complex interests in the world of work are a constant challenge for business executives and HR colleagues. While the difference between the performance of a motivated and an unmotivated employee can be up to twice as much at almost the same cost level, the motivation strategy is typically either absent from the business life, or operates on a reactive concept based on an unconscious design. Although the mere presence of motivation and its various levels are less quantifiable in exact terms with direct tools, a performance which is much weaker than possible is measurable in the short and long term, and its negative economic results are clear. The aim of the research is to examine the motivational practices of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the Southern Transdanubian Region. Involving 300 businesses we evaluated the applied wage system, the role of money among the motivational tools, the extent and causes of fluctuation, the system of employee training, the way of performance evaluation, the reasons for underperformance, the importance of motivation, the company motivation strategy and the efforts to retain the key people. The employee motivation can be increase in several forms, but the priority of needs and claims is constantly changing. Updating this motivational matrix is a real leadership challenge, but this effort can pay off multiple times. According to the results it can be stated that the motivation strategy – as a key economic issue – is not given sufficient attention in business practices.
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Diversification strategies and their impact on farm performance
57-61Views:127The objective of this study is to identify factors determining the economic performance of agricultural holdings in Italy, with specific attention to the impact of the adoption of on-farm diversification strategies, namely income diversification and product differentiation. The adoption of these kinds of strategies has been increasingly recognised as a viable business option in agriculture as they allow better allocation of farm resources and an increase in the quota of value added retained on farms and therefore not passed on to other agents operating at the end of the food supply chain. By using a panel of professional Italian farms over the time period of 2003-2009, we estimate random effect, ordinary least square and quantile regression models to estimate the impact of income diversification and product differentiation strategies on the levels of farm income per unit of labour income. Our findings show that scale economies are important positive determinants of farm economic performance. On the contrary, when the family play an important role in the farm business, economic performance is worse. Finally, we do not find evidence of a statistically significant impact of the adoption of income diversification and product differentiation strategies. This latter result may be interpreted as a signal that farms use these strategies as risk management tools rather than as income increasing ones.
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Tourism performance of destinations based on settlement approach
63-68Views:115Recently in the regional development researches the attention draw to the way of measuring destination's development and competitiveness. The further development of the Hungarian Tourism depends on the regions, destinations' developments, their success in competitiveness and the ongoing innovation in tourism. The research of the Budapest Business School Institute of Tourism Department intends to elaborate a complex tourism destination indicator based on former researches and experiences.
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Supply chain management practices for SMEs
89-96Views:236In today’s globalized business environment small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face many challenges. In order of their survival SMEs need to produce more, at a lower cost, in less time, and with a few defects. They form the most significant group of manufacturing firms and give supports to large companies in many supply chains. In addition, SMEs contribute greatly to entrepreneurship, gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. Despite the fact that micro, small and medium sized enterprises have very important role in business networks, they still have many problems with using supply chain management (SCM) practices. In this research my purpose was to find the best SCM practices as a strategic method to improve SMEs’ performance. First, I give information in general about SCM and the SMEs, then highlight main characteristics of small firms compared to large ones and the reasons why it is essential and efficient to use SCM practices. The article is based on secondary data, using several analysis, surveys, books, journals and my personal experiences collected in this sector. I conclude the research by summarizing my recommendations in connection with SCM practices, the opportunities and barriers.
JEL code: M11
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A multi-dimensional ethical approach to accounting and reporting practices
13-26Views:123Purpose – The purpose of this research is to find out the multi-dimensional ethical approach to accounting and reporting practices going on in India and abroad. What has been the shift in Reporting Practices by Indian companies? What drives the Indian companies to report on the non-financial matters?
Design/methodology/approach – This paper mainly focuses on the inclusion of Non-Financial Matters in the Corporate Annual Reports. An Empirical Survey was carried out and the questionnaires were administered to 122 respondents comprising of 75 academicians and 47 chartered accountants. This paper compares the perceptions of academicians and accounting professionals on the ethical reporting practices of the Indian companies.
Findings – The results were tested using the t-test analysis. The research suggests that more companies should report on their environmental, social, and corporate governance performance and find a way to express them in their Annual Reports and the reporting of data regarding the carbon emissions, energy use, pollution, impact on the local economy, etc., should be made mandatory for companies.
Research limitations/implications – The research included respondents who are currently living in Delhi. For more generalized opinion nationwide survey can be carried out. Another important category of stakeholder for judging the usability of Corporate Annual Reports could be the Institutional Investors.
Practical implications – The results of this study would help the policy makers in framing the guidelines for standardized annual reports, synergizing social and business interest needs on top priority. Corporate philanthropy needs to transform into the realm of core business and corporate social responsibility. Integrated reporting could pave the way for synthesizing financial and non-financial reporting into one form and give a holistic view of companies’ strategies to its stakeholders incorporating new dimensions of IFRS.
Social implications – More emphasis on Non-financial matters will certainly contribute in making the corporates more responsible to the society, environment, and to the future generations. -
Members of a supply chain and their relationships
131-134Views:207Today, companies do not compete individually on the market, but as members of a supply chain, delivering their goods or services to customers through shared collaboration. The main objective of the members in the chain is to satisfy customer needs, in the interest of which they cooperate in value adding processes. The main objective of the present study is to characterise the members of a supply chain, their relationship and to measure performance. The most relevant literature published on this topic states that investigation of the performance measurement in supply chains from the side of relationships is considered ‘uncharted territory’. However, the operation of a supply chain cannot be described without investigating its relationships.
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Analysis of Vision and Mission Statements Characteristics and their Association with Organizational Performance: A Guide to Writing Effective Vision and Mission Statements
87-95Views:4254This paper empirically examines vision and mission statements of Fortune 500 firms for the purpose of identifying and examining specific characteristics and associating these attributes with organizational performance. Additionally, this paper provides a theoretical foundation for the inclusion of various characteristics of vision and mission documents, and thus provides guidance for organizations to develop and revise these important strategic planning documents.
JEL CODE: M21, O21
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Hungarian endeavours for the enhancement of economic relations in Southeast Asia focusing on a new partnership with Vietnam
5-12Views:209Beyond a brief review of the economic integration process among the states of the ASEAN region, the authors of the present study aimed to examine and analyze the main economic, social and political characteristics of the Hungaro-ASEAN relations. The importance of the topic of this research is underlined by the fact that the Hungarian government considers big importance to the improvement of the foreign economic relations with Asian economies. This intention was expressed by a new foreign economic strategy „Eastern opening” announced by the government in 2012, even though the foreign trade statistical figures did not justify its success by now.The authors believe that increasing opening towards Asia serves Hungarian economic interests. Therefore, it is a right and desirable direction to proceed, they consider that in the background of the modest results there might be the insufficient knowledge of the market mechanisms, the actors of the local supply chains and the potential partners. They believe that in order to make the Hungarian foreign economic endeavours in this direction more successful a more thorough examination of the local characteristics – including the actual demand arising at the targeted markets - is necessary. This opinion is prevalent to not only the Asian „Giants”, like China, India and Japan, but also to smaller states, like the ASEAN members, which – together - in terms of population and economic performance – reach the dimensions of an economic great power as well.
Furthermore, the integration of the ten Southeast Asian countries develops rapidly, which is coupled by their increasing weight in the world trade. The dynamic economic and social development in the ASEAN region – and in parallel with this the growing demands and purchasing power - may encourage the Hungarian ventures in theory. However, there are still very few Hungarian entrepreneurs, who are ready to enter the market in the region and able in long run to operate there successfully. It is a well-known fact that the since the regime has changed in Hungary, foreign trade became strongly concentrated towards the EU members.
The ASEAN countries – because of the geographic distance and by other reasons - definitely cannot mean an alternative of the EU market, however in a certain extent they can relieve this one-sided concentration and may provide additional opportunities for the Hungarian export of goods, and rather to the export of Hungarian services and know-how. The ratio of the ASEAN region within the entire Hungarian foreign trade turnover is small nowadays, furthermore – according to the statistical figures – this region is rather an import resource for Hungary than being an export market. This fact – just itself – is should not be considered as problem. When the amount of the import exceeds the amount of exports, that means that it is more worthwhile to do business with suppliers from there countries than with others. By and large all this is prevalent to the field of the agricultural trade as well: Hungary imports a range of commodities which cannot be produced by domestic farmers or in Europe (spices, tropical fruits, etc.). It is obvious that the ASEAN region cannot be the major market for the Hungarian agricultural export, not even in long run. However, there are still a lot of opportunities to enlarge the turnover of goods and services and enhance the co-operation in this geographic region. In the last chapter, the authors outlined an example in case of Vietnam – co-operation of joint public warehousing of agricultural commodities – which may be a good example for the promising potential opportunities. In contrast with the majority of the ASEAN countries, the Hungaro-Vietnamese political and economic relations had started much earlier than the regime was changed in Hungary. However, the potential advantages arose from this fact – the network of connections and the sympathy of Vietnamese professionals graduated in Hungary, the reputation and popularity of Hungarian agricultural products and technologies, the achievements of R&D in the field of agriculture – could not be utilized from Hungarian side. Vietnam, however still preserved its socialist political establishment, but in terms of its economic development strategy and economic policy has gradually been standing on the basis of market orientation. Vietnam, with its population of ninety million shows a rapid and successful development and it means good opportunities even for Hungarian entrepreneurs. It would be a mistake to leave these potentials unused.JEL Classification: F14, Q17, R11, N75
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How Digital Technologies Are Changing Sport?
89-96Views:742Sports is considered to be an outstanding sector of industry all over the world and can be defined in various fields from business point of view: for example competitive sports, recreation, fitness and entertainment (running commentary). All of these areas have been remarkably transformed by digital technology. Over the past three decades, the discipline sport informatics has become a growing discipline. In today’s connected world, the use of wearable technology, big data analytics, social media and sensor technology have revolutionized the way sports are played, analyzed and improved. Through various modern advances and apps, pro athletes can gain greater insight into their performance, improve training methods and elevate their skills. In addition to these, fans looking for mobile-friendly apps to give them the latest stats on the favorite players; real-time, behind the scenes content coupled with the instant reaction, from athletes and fellow fans alike. They want the highs, the lows, the remix replays, seeking a connection beyond the game and looking to share the experience with like-minded fans in the moment (WESTON, 2018). The aim of this present study, on the one hand, is to determine the interlocks of sports and information technology, on the other hand, to show how to increase fan experience with digital technologies under-propping them with practical examples. According to international literatures, there are 4 macro areas which show the linking between sport and informatics: athletic performance, sport club, event management, fan experience. Mobil fan experience, augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR), big data, social media are those technologies which even popular are these days in order to enhance fan experience in sport.
JEL Classification: L83
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The role of sport infrastructure: use, preferences and needs
47-52Views:270Leisure and mass sports are very significant both socially and economically. Physical activities contribute to forming a healthier society. Skills and abilities developed by sport promote people’s well-being and directly improve their physical, mental and psychological performance this way producing better quality of life. The state of health of the workforce is a more and more frequent question in developed and developing economies but mostly in the western civilizations. Researches prove that those who are more active phisicly can perform better at their work and are more efficient in their jobs. They claim less sick leave benefit and their health insurance costs are lower, this way preserving the health of the workforce can be an investment in the future. If we want the population to live in a healthier way and do more sports only education and motivation are not enough, it is very important to provide the appropriate infrastructural background as well. People can have a wide range of choice provided by the local sports establishments and companies and the possibilities resulting from sport infrastructure investments. The effects of sport infrastructure investments and developements are many folded and long-therm, but it is worth approaching their benefits from different points of view. Researching this topic can contribute to better understanding of the society from the points of view of health care, economy and sociology. The aim of our work was to examine the sporting habits and sports consumption. In order to get to know the consumers we carried out a survey with 350 particiant with the help of an online questionnaire. When analyzing it I focused on the answers given by those who were active in sports, which was the 75% of total sample. In the analysis of the answers and relations between the questions and the different factors we used the SPSS Statistics program. Providing sport establishments and facilities and initiating such investments are highly important for each region. From the answers of the quesstionned we can learn what facilities are available for the consumers and what they miss most in the living area.
JEL code: L83
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Spatial urban plans as a basis for agribusiness development
139-143Views:111The main goals of the spatial development of rural areas are to protect and prevent degradation of agricultural land, forests and protected areas, as well as to encourage (more) balanced territorial development. Given that the quality and development of agriculture largely depend on the level of consciousness and awareness of the population in rural areas as to the opportunities and benefits of their involvement in the adoption and approval of planning solutions, the aim of this paper is to define a communication strategy to help raise the awareness of the focus groups (landowners, farmers and investors) of the importance of and link between spatial planning and development of agribusiness and rural areas, exploring different techniques and methods of using various communication channels. The methods which will be used in the paper include secondary research, SWOT analysis, and trend and historical analysis. The research results show that it is essential from the very beginning to take the views of various stakeholders into account through frequent thematic dialogues, in order to incorporate a consensus which has been reached together with the expert team of the developer, into planning decisions. Only such an approach can lead to sustainable and enforceable plans as prerequisites for the realisation of realistically planned investment in rural areas. Furthermore, it is very important to legally standardise such an approach so that public participation, as a mandatory legal procedure, can be defined through precisely defined steps and established performance indicators from the very beginning of the process of adopting planning documents.
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Economic results of Croatian farms
53-58Views:106The objective of the paper is to provide an overview of the situation and performance of Croatian farms. Croatian farmers rarely keep business books and therefore farm level business data are deficient. Croatian accession to the European Union in 2013 brought numerous innovations to agricultural sector. One is introduction of Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) which aims to determine the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy on national agriculture of EU member states. The sample of Croatian FADN comprises 1,250 commercial farms. The paper brings results of agricultural sector financial analysis for the period 2011-2013. Total farm output decreased, but since the stronger decrease trend occurred in total inputs, this led to positive trend of gross and net farm income in the year 2013. Positive results are also shown at efficiency and productivity of Croatian farms. In the years 2011 and 2012 farms operated below the efficiency level while in 2013 efficiency increased above the efficiency level. In the observed period there was a 70% increase in productivity. The analysis shows that the most efficient farms are those in vegetables and flowers type. It also has the highest debt ratio due to their capital intensiveness. The vegetable and floriculture farms have the largest gross farm income in all three analysed years, but with a large drop in 2013, while the farms in type pigs and poultry have largest increase of gross farm income in last observed year.
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OPERATING RESULTS OF SILAGE ENTERPRISE OF A FARM - A CASE STUDY
Views:72Improvements in agriculture has been focusing on innovations to improve the efficiency of the activity by making the traditional production structure currently in use more flexible and by making the necessary technological changes for farmers with large areas and the necessary machinery and equipment. Farms with significant arable land are able to offset the effects of changes affecting efficiency and profitability. The decisive sector of agriculture in Hungary is crop production, therefore its performance is largely determined by the annual output of the crop sector and the volatility in prices. From the farm data, we calculated farm-level results that support the need for machinery modernisation efforts, as precision tools and improvements already started in maize production can be applied fruitfully even in the light of the increasing frequency of negative climatic effects. During the development of silage maize cultivation technology, the achievements of precision farming were applied. Differentiated nutrient replenishment and sowing operations were used, in addition to the fact that harvesting was also documented. We set ourselves the goal of analyzing the management data of the study period between 2019-2022 in order to reveal the nature of the changes that occurred in terms of production value, production cost, and income, as well as the components that shape them. The presented values are average values of such conditions which are also suitable for crop-level conclusions. At the same time, they can be used to identify sector-level challenges and trends.
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Determinants of dividend payout policy: An empirical study of banking sector of Pakistan
101-106Views:375One good way to communicate financial performance of a bank to its shareholders is the payment of dividend. The present study is attempted to explore the influence of financial efficiency, safety, risk and profitability on dividend policy using panel data of 10 commercial banks listed at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for a period of 9 years between 2006 to 2014. The panel regression technique is used to analyze the data. The analysis shows a positive relationship of dividend payout ratio with safety and profitability in banking sector of Pakistan. The study identifies a negative association of dividend payout measure with financial efficiency and risk. The results show the statistically significant association of safety, risk and profitability with dividend payout ratio. Based on these findings it is concluded that safety, risk and profitability measures are relatively strong measures for defining dividend policy. The results are strongly indicating that safer the banks, the greater payout ratio the bank has. Moreover; banks with higher profitability and lower non-performing loans (NPLs) are believed to pay more dividends.
JEL code: G21, G23, G35
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What is the Success of High School it Education? An Investigation into Higher Education Students’ Knowledge of Spreadsheet Applications
81-88Views:140Teaching Computer Science in higher education is imperative, even though today’s students have been born into a world where technology is an essential part of everyday life. To efficiently master modern, business, technical and scientific knowledge and to proficiently produce quality results in a work environment it is crucial to have high level IT knowledge. In business, Excel is the lingua franca and so knowing how to aptly use spreadsheets is a must for our students. The primary objective of the authors was to examine the perceived and actual knowledge of spreadsheet applications of students entering higher education. Accordingly, a questionnaire and a practical assignment have been developed. In the questionnaire, students were asked to provide information concerning their previous IT studies and rate their knowledge of word processing, spreadsheets and database management. During the practical, students were asked to solve an Excel exercise taken from a high school Computer Science final exam at standard level. Out of the 666 registered students on our electronic education system (Neptun) at the beginning of the year, 557 took part in this survey, and following data cleansing and processing, 513 were considered in the results. Looking at the results of the practical, the most significant proportion of students, 142 of them have performed between 0-10%. A total of 260 students have achieved less than 20% performance and 434 people, which is nearly 85% of students have accomplished less than 40%. Compared to the results from the self-evaluation questionnaire it is very poignant that the actual scores differ quite significantly (in both directions) from the perceived knowledge of the students.
JEL Classification: Q20
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Management issues of cropping with sorghum in the production structure - a case study of Hungary
Views:177One of the goals of the developments is to improve the efficiency of the activity by making the currently used traditional production structure more flexible and by making the necessary changes to the technology in the case of farmers with large agricultural land, having necessary machinery and equipments required. Farms with larger arables land are able to offset the effects of changes affecting efficacy and profitability. The main sector of Hungarian agriculture is crop production, so performance is largely determined by the annual output of the crop production sector and the price development of crop products. In the course of our analytical work, we defined a farm of 2100 hectares, for which we examined crop production, crop machinery and economic aspects. From the enterprise data, farm level results compiled according to the crop structure were calculated. Sorghum is suitable for replacing corn in the crop rotation in areas with unfavorable conditions, so a stably growing crop can be added to the crop rotation of autumn ears of corn, rape, and sunflower, instead of corn. It does not hinder the machinery modernization efforts either, since the precision tools and developments already started in corn production can be used well, and it does not require a special equipment park. At the same time, in light of the increasingly frequent negative climatic effects, sorghum’s integration into the plant production structure is encouraging, because we have to count on 3-4 drought years in a decade. Based on our analysis, the inclusion of sorghum in the crop structure does not significantly reduce the available income, which is acceptable in the given economic environment. However, its stability can significantly contribute to improving the resilience of farming, especially in comparison with corn.
JEL Code: Q12
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TREND ANALYSIS OF UGANDA’S COFFEE SECTOR
Views:154Coffee (Coffea arabica and C. canephora) is an important commercial crop globally, and the second most traded global commodity by developing nations after oil. Uganda is among the top 10 coffee exporters worldwide, and second in Africa. The total export amounted to 301,366 tons of “green” coffee in 2021, forming the second-largest commodity export, and contributing about 12.4% to Uganda’s total formal exports. However, the country’s overall performance over time remains unclear given the fluctuations in production and export prices. This study aimed to evaluate the production and export trends of Uganda’s coffee sector by: (i) defining the overall direction of coffee production and export value, (ii) assessing the market variability, and (iii) evaluating the global cross-cutting issues regarding coffee production and export. Data was extracted from FAOSTAT and Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) databases. Trends were analysed using the Mann-Kendall and Sen’s Slope test, while market variability was analyzed using the fixed base index (FBI) and coefficient of variation. VOSviewer software was used to analyze literature from the Web of Science database to highlight cross-cutting issues. Results indicated a significant positive increase in coffee production and export value (p = 0.0001, Slope = 1736.67 tons and p = 0.001, Slope = 4.44 million USD) respectively. Among the top ten coffee producers, Uganda presented the third worst unstable coffee export value with a 20.1% coefficient of variation. Fairtrade, climate change, and certification were the most outstanding global cross-cutting issues. Market stabilization mechanisms should be developed through value addition by establishing coffee processing and roasting plants, as well as strategic governance and policy support to counter emerging global challenges such as climate change.
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Payback analysis of E85- and CNG-powered vehicles in Hungary
47-50Views:151As a result of my analysis it was found that when purchasing a new alternative fuel car only a CNG-powered vehicle could be a reasonable choice, the extra cost of which (depending on its scale) ensures a return within 2 – 7 years, i.e. over the real expected duration of use of the car. However, the spread of these cars is determined by the lack of CNG fuel stations in Hungary. The E85-powered so called FFVs could become a competitive alternative with lower ethanol prices or moderate government support (for example a registration fee allowance similar to that enjoyed with hybrid vehicles, or reduced taxes).
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New tools and opportunities in growth and climate friendly greening for small and medium enterprises in the European Union
25-31Views:158The role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is unquestionable in the European economies, while financial opportunities are still inadequate for them. The more than 20 million SMEs play a significant role in European economic growth, innovation and job creation. According to the latest EC Annual Report , SMEs are accounting for 99% of all non-financial enterprises, employing 88.8 million people and generating almost EUR 3.7 tn in added value for our economy. Despite the fact that there is plenty of EU funding available for these SMEs, for certain reasons these funds hardly reach them. But we have to see that the EU supports SMEs by various way, e.g. by grants, regulatory changes, financial instrument, direct funds. On the other hand, SMEs and decision makers realised that the environmental sustainability has to be attached to the economic growth, therefore more and more tools are available for these enterprises. Over the last few years, public institutions, the market, the financial community and non-governmental associations have explicitly demanded that firms improve their environmental performance. One of the greatest opportunities might lay in the Climate- and Energy Strategy till 2030 as 20% of the EU budget is allocated to climate-related actions, however the easy access to finance is still a key question. Does the EU recognise the actual difficulties? Is there a systemic reason behind the absorption problems? Is the EU creating a more businessfriendly environment for SMEs, facilitating access to finance, stimulates the green and sustainable growth and improving access to new markets? The paper analyses the current European situation of the SMEs and the effectiveness of some new tools, which are specially targeting SMEs.
JEL classification: Q18
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Factors of success. Attitude differences of one Hungarian and one Serbian team’s youth handball players
113-116Views:116Results of the Hungarian and the Serbian handball teams are similar on the international level (IHF rankings: Serbia 4. Hungary 5. IHF-10.03.2012.), however the general supposition is that the Serbian handball players are more successful and more acknowledged. This is confirmed by numerous Serbian internationals that play at high level in Hungary and other European countries and the results of the youth national teams. In this article we were searching for the influential factors behind the success of the Serbian team. While there are no considerable differences in physical performance and anthropometric parameters so we assume the main differences are in their relation and stance to coach and to training. In our study we support an explanation for the reasons of the differences in the results between two nations youth handball players with an analysis of the attitude to the head coach and players relation to work and physical training. Our sample was chosen from one Serbian (Crvenka) and one Hungarian (Komló) youth team. The measurement was completed with a standard survey according to Hagger et al. (2007) Passes questionnaire. The results show that the Serbian youth players have better relations with their head coach and have better stance for work and training, which might be an explanation for their better success.
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