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Interior point algorithm for solving farm resource allocation problem
45-49Views:187This paper introduces interior point algorithm as an alternative approach to simplex algorithm for solving farm resource allocation problem. The empirical result of interior point algorithm is compared with that of the simplex algorithm. It goes further to address a profit maximization problem. The result revealed several relevant patterns. Results of the interior point algorithm is similar to that of the simplex algorithm. Findings indicated that in both algorithms, the farm is to produce peppers, wheat which is irrigated and weeded manually, hire additional month of labour, and also purchase urea and muriate fertilizer to realize a similar amount of profit. Additionally, both algorithms suggested that practicing crop rotation where beans, if grown, should be altered with wheat cannot be possible since no beans will be grown. The Simplex algorithm saves 39 iterations over Interior Point algorithm in solving the farm resource allocation problem. The findings demonstrate that the interior point algorithm offers a useful alternative to the simplex algorithm when addressing farm resource allocation problem.
JEL code: D24, D57, C61, C63, C67
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Evaluating linkage between operators’ satisfaction and potential of local resources for rural tourism: Evidence from Matsuura in Japan
33-41Views:157As rural tourism evolves into diversification, the connection between the individual and local resource management is becoming an important issue for the sustainable evolution of rural tourism. To explore this point, we investigated conceptually and empirically whether rural tourism operators’individual satisfaction enhances utilization of local resources and, if so, what mechanism works for it by focusing on rural tourism accompanied by an educational program, i.e. a farm-stay with farm and rural experience services implemented as a part of school trips in Matsuura, Japan. From statistical tests and an econometric estimation based on a questionnaire survey of rural tourism operators we found that operators’individual satisfaction gained from interchange with visitors and direct feedback can positively enhance locally exerted effects that stimulate operators to recognize opportunities within their community and raise the potential for local resource use. Thus, we should strengthen this connection to eventually create a new viable activity.
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A note on the Dutch disease
34-38Views:222Many resource rich countries are poor, where many resource poor countries are rich. One of the possible explanations of this paradox called the ‘resource curse’ is the Dutch Disease. This paper aims to analyse this phenomenon with the help of a simple macroeconomic trade model. It presents a number of Dutch Disease Cases of which the ‘Norwegian Case’ provides an example containing an effective policy against the negative impact of Dutch Disease on the national economy.
JEL Classification: O11, O24, Q33
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Examining some fields within human resources management
49-52Views:174Human resources management is one of the management functions, dealing with people as the essential resource of the organization. This function aims at the most efficient usage of employees in order to realize both organizational and individual goals. Nowadays high significance is attributed to human resources management, since the human factor is the resource that determines the success of an organization. The results of a company are in proportion with the knowledge and talent of the people on its payroll. Human talent and knowledge can be utilized to the greatest extent in case management is able to motivate employees to meet not only the necessary requirements but also to achieve the highest possible results. Human resources management consists of several fields of activities, among which the following are the most important: analysis, planning and assessment of the scope of activities, human resources planning, workforce supply, performance assessment, motivation, developing human resources, labour relations, labour safety, HEM information system. Our studies cover a few fields within human resources management. Our research has been carried out at organizations in Hajdú-Bihar County. The study is based on questionnaires, which have been processed by computers and evaluated using statistical methods.
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Off-farm participation and technical efficiency among smallholder farmers in the Northern Region, Ghana
35-43Views:238The study aimed at investigating the effects of off-farm participation on technical efficiency of maize production in the Tolon district of the Northern Region, Ghana. The Logit regression model was used to analyze the determinants of off-farm participation while the stochastic frontier production function was used to model the determinants of maize output and technical efficiency. The empirical results from the logistic regression model indicate that age of farmer, educational attainment, farming experience, farm size, and previous farm income are significant drivers of farmers’ participation in off-farm activities. Farmers’ average technical efficiency level was 90.7% suggesting a 9.3% potential loss to inefficiency. Moreover, participation in off-farm activities had a negative influence on farmers’ technical efficiency level. The study, therefore, recommends that farm-level policy should be directed towards making the agricultural sector attractive by promoting investment and agricultural employment opportunities in the rural areas so as to ensure full commitment to farming activities.
JEL code: Q22
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Understanding the demand side and coordinating the supply side for connected goods and services
17-23Views:146This paper addresses the coordination and innovation issues needed for promoting value added at the rural and regional level. There are two sides to value added: the ability to meet consumer demand, and to identify least cost ways of supplying the demanded goods. Human and social capital plays an important role on both sides. At the municipality level the supply side issues are complex. First, because the production space has far more dimensions than for the single entrepreneur. Second, because the value of some goods and services produced depend on what other goods and services that is available. On the supply side networks are important to solve the coordination issues, while networks for identifying and understanding consumer preferences are important on the demand side. Participation in these two network types compete for the same scarce resource, the time of the inhabitants of a municipality. We address these issues in more detail. A major insight from our work is that in addition to the time conflict, innovation and new information may make it more difficult to maintain coordination networks.
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Agriculture of the countries of the Western Balkans and European integrations
93-97Views:155The paper presents the results of research of agriculture of the countries of the Western Balkans in the period of 2002–2009. Specifically, general economic (GDP per capita, share of agriculture in GDP, inflation rate, and unemployment rate), resource (share of arable land in the total utilized agricultural land, of employees in agriculture in the total number of employees, and of rural population in the total population), and value indicators (value added of agriculture in % of GDP, value added of agriculture per employee in agriculture, producers’ prices of wheat, corn, and bovine milk, share of agriculture in the values of export and import) were compared.
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Integration at the workplace studies within multinational pharmaceutical factories in Hungary
69-71Views:141The primary objective of this essay is to assign a gap in Human Recourse Management literature. Many studies and resources are known about hiring and maintaining people and their loyalty to organizations. Work socialization is the first step to keeping people; however, most of the literature on integration at the workplace focuses primarily on organizational commitment and not on the individuals. Various perspectives of work socialization have been discussed including socialization stages, guidance and carrier development. This essay focuses on the approach of Human Resource Management, but the scope is expanded to the individual as well. In this paper, the reasoning, the methods and the questions of my future doctoral research on integration at the workplace are analysed. First, the issue is discussed from the perspective of social changes in Hungary. The next part of this essay illustrates varying definitions from the literature, providing then my own view of how to explain the integration process in the workplace and through which what I would like to focus my research. This article also aims to show possible methods (in-depth interviews with Human Resource Managers and document analysis) for examining the topic at multinational pharmaceutical factories in Hungary, while highlighting the most important questions for which my research aims to find answers.
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MOTIVATION AMONG EMPLOYEES IN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS
Views:435Nowadays motivation plays a huge role amongst employees especially when we relate it to people working in multinational companies for example Pepsi, Coca Cola, Nescafe and many more. Motivation is a topic that relates to all of us. It is very essential for employers to seek and recognize what motivates an employee. Many people underestimate the benefits and importance of human resource management in their businesses or day-to-day life. When we talk about human resource management, we are talking about human capital. Human capital emphasises the ability, skills, and the personality of the person you are trying to recruit or employ. In this study, we wish to analyse the importance of how motivation stands out in employees in different types of offices/workforces. The different aspects in multinational corporations show different characteristics.
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Human resource aspect of agricultural economy – challenges of demographic change
163-167Views:184Over the past decades, the agrarian policy has tried to contribute to the catching-up of the rural areas with varying dynamism and aid scheme. However, its result is significantly below expectations. Nowadays, the age composition of the population living in rural areas reveals an unfavourable picture; the rate of the elderly, deprived persons and people being inactive from the aspect of employment is high and it is also combined with the low educational levels. The young generations and intellectuals leave the rural areas and, consequently, the rate of the active population continues to grow narrow as well as the proportion of young and skilled employees decreases. As a consequence of changes in the past decades, the rate of agricultural employment has not led to an intensive change but a failing change in extensive direction which lays off jobs. Nowadays, this process also determines the Hungarian rural society. In the sector, the need for employment diminishes as a result of the development in technology and due to the expansion of services sector. The purpose of our study is to present and analyse the human resources of our country’s agriculture by skill level and age group and compare it with the needs of companies, by doing this we try to compare supply and demand. In details, based on secondary data source, we investigate the agricultural labour force and try to confront it with the advertisements of job search portals (three of our job search portals based on our predefined criteria), by which we achieve a current picture of the agricultural human resource circumstances.
JEL Code: J43
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The role of the time factor in the manager functions
101-108Views:147The role of the time factor in management is increasing. Change directs attention to the time factor from the point of view of the organisation,and management does the same from that of the person. I examined the time management practice of managers of organisations related to agribusiness, and the reaction time characterising the adaption ability of the organisations through a questionnaire survey. I analysed the collected data with scientifically established statistical methods. During studying resources, managing tasks, change, reaction time and effect I explored the features of time as resource, the significance of the time factor, the improvability of time efficiency in the different managing functions, the factors supporting and hindering the quick reaction of organisations, and what rearrangements can be seen in management work nowadays.
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Optimal crop plan of cooperative farmers in Osun state, Nigeria: a linear programming approach
Views:247Optimal level of production requires better use of existing resources at the lowest possible cost. Despite the inherent advantage of cooperatives to the agricultural sector, the question of how farmers under cooperative umbrella use farm resource for optimal outcome remains unanswered. This study investigates optimal crop mix for cooperative farmers in rural communities in Southwest Nigeria. Primary data were collected for the study through structured questionnaire. The data were fitted to Linear Programming Model. Three different cropping patterns are identified among the cooperative farmers. Based on the results from linear programming model, only maize, cassava and yam are admitted in the final plan and this combination is to be produced at 2.23 hectares. The gross margin value associated with the plan is ₦156, 235.781 (1$ = N365). Input resources such as land, labour, fertilizer, and chemicals are not fully utilized. The slack values for these inputs are 0.31, 651.20, 1929.6 and 140.76 respectively. The sensitivity analysis shows that seed/seedling is the only binding resource in the final plan with a shadow price which suggests that proper allocation of seed and seedlings would improve returns to cooperative farmers. There is need for appropriate farm management strategies to ensure optimal return for farmers. More education and training is suggested to boost cooperative farmers understanding of optimum strategy that is needed to improve production and earnings.
JEL code: Q10, Q13
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Resource use efficiency among rice farmers around fragile ecosystems: evidence from Kilombero Wetland, Tanzania
77-88Views:242Farmers have been encroaching fragile wetlands as a strategy to increase their rice production thus threatening wetlands’ existence and capacity to other critical ecosystem services. This calls for efficient production to strike the balance between food rice production and wetlands’ sustainable existence. The current study sought to provide assess rice farmers’ technical efficiency of resource use by detecting the determinants of rice yield and further identify the determinants of technical efficiency of the resources used by rice farmers in Kilombero wetland. A cross-sectional survey of 145 randomly sampled farmers aided in achieving the study objective. A stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model was used to analyze data. The mean technical efficiency among farmers was at 60.54% level. The positive determinants of rice yield were land and fertilizers while labor influenced it negatively. Age, education, farming experience, group membership, and credit access reduced inefficiency while the distance to the extension agent and off-farm income increased farmers’ inefficiency. The study concludes that there is a possibility of expanding rice production without threatening the wetland’s existence. It recommends that government and other stakeholders to ensure that rice farmers are up-to-date with optimal use of fertilizers in rice production since it will assist in improving rice yield while the rate of expansion of rice lands in the wetlands will lower. Policy implementers ought to establish initiatives that inspire rice farmers to capitalize on farmer groups and join education programs to take full advantage of their potential efficiency and might participate in community development activities.
JEL code: Q15
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Examining career orientations at the University of Debrecen
59-67Views:192The paper endeavours to give a narrower definition of the orientation of ‘career’. The survey to be discussed examines a sample of 116 full time students of economics and has career anchor analysis as its focus. The study details the result of a questionnaire-based survey, which was carried out with respect to the carrier of university students and was supplemented by surveying motivation, value and work value as well. The analysis finds that “security, stability and organisational identification” are judged to be the primary career anchors among the members of the majority sample. This means that the respondents feel ready to identify themselves with the company and are looking for security to be provided by long term employment, regular earnings and by steady career advancement. The cluster analysis of the questionnaire differentiates four groups: Leaders, Specialists, Entrepreneurs and Employees. The results showed that the Leaders have high capacities of leadership, creativity and autonomy. The Specialists show highly developed functional capabilities in general and they seem to like challenges. The Entrepreneurs have outstandingly high scores concerning autonomy and entrepreneurial creativity. The members of the cluster of the Employees are characterised by a high expectation of security and stability and by low levels of managerial capability and entrepreneurial creativity. Discriminant analysis was applied to select the distinguishing features that can set the clusters apart from each other. The motivations, values preferences and work values inventory will consolidate the differences between the clusters of the career anchors. Using the method in high education within special trainings could be the practical utilization of the study. On the basis of the results a questionnaire can be compiled, which could help uncertain students relating to their carriers and future orientation containing information in connection with their carrier orientation, motivation, value preferences and work value.
JEL code: I21
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Tourism Development Challenges of an Island Destination in a Aging Society, Case Study of Ojika Island of Japan
31-38Views:350Japan’s inbound tourism numbers have been steadily rising in the past decade due to active promotion, easing of visa regulations, rapidly developing Asian economies and the depreciation of the Japanese Yen. The government’s goal is welcoming 40 million foreigners yearly by 2020, and leading them to rural destinations. There is a concern whether rural destinations in Japan are prepared for this sudden surge of tourists. The plans to bring masses to rural destinations implies a steady supply of tourism service, but the ageing and shrinking population of Japan together with the migration towards cities, leave some destinations without a key resource: workforce. This paper tries to understand the current situation of such rural, isolated communities, and whether they have the capacity to develop and expand the tourism industry. The case study was carried out on Ojika, an island destination in Nagasaki Prefecture. Several visits to the destination, participant observation and structured as well as unstructured interviews with stakeholders provide the primary data for the research. Through interviews with town officials, businesses and residents, different approaches to the demographic problems are introduced. The results show that the tourism development strategies cannot concentrate only on the strictly tourism industry elements of the destination but have to look at the community and infrastructure too, in this case, the labor market. The demographic change in society can put a limitation on development, thus counter measurements have to be considered and included in the tourism strategy. Further research is needed on less remote destinations, where there is a land-connection with another settlement, and whether a “commute based workforce” can ease the problem or by raising the costs of labour, a different, feasibility problem arises in the accommodations.
JEL Classification: Z32
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The importance of logic planning in case of IT and innovation projects
15-20Views:172In case of using methodology of project planning, in the first step we had to create a “good” logic network. We had to determine the successors and predecessors of the tasks. However, usually successors and predecessors proceed from the technology, sometimes (especially in case of IT and innovation projects) these relations between tasks are not explicit. In case of projects, especially IT and innovation projects, one of the most critical points of view is the phase of logic planning. However, it is a very important phase, only slightly supported by any kind of Project Management tools. Our goal was to support the logic planning phase. In our paper a new planning method, namely SNPM (Stochastic Network Planning Method) is introduced through some practical applications. SNPM can determine all feasible solutions with the help of stochastic variables and can also take into consideration all possible precedents. The parameters of logic relations can be changed if the impacts on the project change. With this method the most probable project scenario can be determined taking into account costs and resource demands.
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The impacts of organizational culture, knowledge management and employee engagement on job satisfaction: The case of supportive service officers in Mongolia
97-104Views:625Employee’s job satisfaction is one of the main influential factors for the effectiveness of human resource development. The aim of this study is to investigate the impacts of organizational culture, knowledge management and employee engagement on job satisfaction among public officers. This research topic has been studied and is well-known in worldwide. In Mongolia, context the topic of study has been developed at low level. Data collected from the public-sector employees that understand to impact of job satisfaction. In the research, 213 participants participated who work in public organizations of Mongolian cities such as Ulaanbaatar, Darkhan and Erdenet and districts near to Ulaanbaatar city, including Nalaikh, Khutul, Baganuur. Therefore, the research methodology organized and used some information from statistical calculations in Mongolia. The results showed that impact of all factors such as organizational culture, knowledge management and employee engagement had a positive relationship on job satisfaction. It means that public servants can take care of organizational culture, knowledge management and employee engagement to remain and make their employees happy, as the more satisfied employees are, the more productive they are than those who are less satisfied. This study discussed the effects of above mentioned results, the implications for theory and practice along with the limitations of the research and the implications for further research. Data were used SPSS and SmartPLS 3.0 to test the relationships between variables.
JEL CODE: J01
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Knowledge transfer: a case study approach
15-19Views:143The article builds on the growing importance of knowledge as a strategic resource for maintaining the competitive advantage of a business. We illustrate one of the initiatives contributing to effective knowledge transfer by describing a case study approach which suggests how universities might assist in disseminating knowledge and enhancing industry competitiveness.The case study approach is apparently an effective way to share best practices, and with the use of appropriate ICT tools, it provides for an enormous diffusion of codified (explicit) knowledge in the industry.The example in the focus of this article describes aVirtual Portal designed as a single-point access to information and tools (case studies, decision models and software), with the emphasis on case studies (their selection, coding and use).
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Effect of Training on Small-Scale Rice Production in Northern Ghana
13-20Views:168Training in modern farming methods enables farm households in developing countries to improve agricultural productivity. Notwithstanding the efforts of governmental and non-governmental organisations to provide farmers with agricultural training, productivity remains low. The existing literature provides little empirical evidence of the effect of training on agricultural productivity in Ghana. This study therefore seeks to bridge this gap by investigating small scale rice farmers’ participation in agricultural training programmes and its effect on productivity in northern Ghana. A treatment effect model was used to account for sample selection bias. The results indicated that participation in training increased with the number of extension visits, group membership, access to credit and the degree of specialisation in rice production. Furthermore, total output and labour productivity both increased with participation in training but the relationship with land productivity (yield) was insignificant. On average, participation in training was associated with 797kg increase in rice output, while labour productivity increased by 7.3kg/man-day. With the exception of farm capital, all the production inputs had a positively significant relationship with output suggesting sub-optimal use of capital in production. The study concludes that farmers’ training needs are not adequately being met while inadequate capital is constraining farm output. Increasing access to extension service and involving farmer-based organisations in the design and implementation of training programmes will enhance participation and farm performance.
JEL Classification: C21, D24, Q12
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The use of models in optimizing the field crop production in agricultural enterprise - MBA thesis
93-96Views:189The 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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Innovative training methods in business higher education
75-78Views:183A unique business-oriented educational method was launched in 2010 at the University Of Debrecen, Hungary, in the Faculty Of Applied Economics and Rural Development; the method has existed in the JAMK University of Applied Science in Jyväskylä (Finland) since 1993, and is called Team Academy. The gist of this training is that the students learn entrepreneurship through their ‘living’ organisations with the application of the principle ‘learning-by-doing’. Besides developing the students’ entrepreneurial competencies and skills, this educational model also offers team coaching tools to develop teams of 12-13 students that can cooperate in an efficient way. The key point of Team Academy, which has been launched in several European higher education institutes over the past years (e.g. Spain, France, the Netherlands, etc.), is that the most efficient way of learning how to operate a successful company is to learn it in practice. During the professional and project trainings, the cooperation of the team and their company’s efficiency is continuously developing with the help of team coaches. A quite wide variety of team coaching tools is used in this system, e.g. 360◦ evaluation, which is a very important tool of human resource management. Feedback from students also plays an important role in developing team cooperation; the professional frame for this is also given by the above-mentioned methodology. This method is used successfully at the Debrecen Team Academy which / and (do you mean that the a) Team Academy or b) the above-mentioned methodology will be presented? If B), then write ‘and’ instead of ‘which’) will be presented in this study. A database of 150 questionnaires is analysed through qualitative research methods.
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The Role of „Handball At School” Program in Ability Development and Replenishment Training
53-60Views:220In Hungary the undisputable merit of TAO subsidy is realized in replenishment training, human resource development and development of sports infrastructure. The other important base of replenishment development is „Handball at School” programme managed by Hungarian Handball Federation. „Handball at School” programme was launched in relation to every-day physical education and we undertook the skills-building role of its impact assessment. A survey programme was organised by us in the autumn and spring semesters of 2015/ 2016 academic year aiming to prove that project has positive effect on aiming accuracy and performance stability results of pupils, as well as their precision of technical implemetation. 183 pupils were examined who had two sponge-handball lessons a week out of their 5 physical education lessons. When choosing the pilot scenes it was considered important to get Budapest, Easternand Western Hungary also involved. To examine aiming accuracy two tests were applied. One is „throwing at a target from throwing straddle without previous swing” performed by the pupils. The children were expected to hit the small box five times with right technical implementation meaning that it was done with lifted elbow. After the first implementation they were given some time to relax and the the shots were repeated five times again. The children were asked another task to perform, a similar one to the first, but it had to be performed from running up, that is they ran back from a line, took the sponge ball, ran back to the line and had to hit the small box again with lifted elbow. At this task several aspects were noted and measured again: the time needed for implementation, target accuracy and also whether the technical implementation of the throw was accurate.
JEL Classification: I21, Z28
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Cultural and social accomplishments of agricultural companies as contributions to the development of rural areas
21-23Views:145Agricultural companies play a key role in enriching the cultural and social life of the rural areas in which they function. Therefore, these companies serve towards preserving a quality of life necessary for rural communities to survive and to develop rural areas. However, the financial, human resource and material expenditures necessary to sustain rural communities are difficult to quantify. These studies, on the basis of internationally focused case studies, attempt to measure, systemize and evaluate the charitable engagement of farmers.
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Disciplines and practices for selection and workplace orientation within an American company
83-88Views:376The 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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The Investigation of Factors Influencing the Market Prices of Agricultural Land in Hungary
5-10Views:142The role of land (as the basis and the resource of agricultural production) is the most significant among the resources of production. The ownership of land, its use, the issue of its price and value, they have been key problems of political, social, legal and economic decisions. There were theoretical and practical experts throughout the world, and we intensively have to deal with the issue of land evaluation. In our research using empirical data collection and statistical methods, we examined not only the factors have influenced on land prices, but its effect as well.
We have proven that the „golden crown”-based land evaluation system (golden crown is a measurement unit of the quality of agricultural land in Hungary) can show the land quality differences even today, but in spite of this, the results of calculations (and also the practice) increasingly justify and urge the necessity of the introduction of a modern land evaluation system.
namese 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: Q10, Q24, Q30
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