<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

Businesses are constantly making productivity improvements to survive in the highly competitive marketplace. Bottlenecks have been identified as one of the main factors limiting the system performance of manufacturing firms. Thus, identifying bottlenecks in the production process is extremely important to increase productivity. Considering its importance, this case study was designed to identify causes for not meeting the tire target and determine the implications of bottlenecks in the tire manufacturing process. For this purpose, simulation analysis was carried out for the solid resilience tire-building process. Through the investigation, the cushion layer-building process was identified as the bottleneck. To validate the identified limitation, Line balancing and Pareto analysis were conducted. Analysis results confirmed the presence of a bottleneck in the cushion layer-building process. Further, to identify the root causes for not reaching the maximum tire target, Cause-and-Effect analysis and 5WHY analysis were adopted. The study revealed that inadequately maintained outdated machines and frequent power failures are the leading causes of not meeting the maximum production. By answering these issues, the target production can be increased, and the results showed the opportunity to increase the efficiency of the manufacturing process by more than 95%.
</abstract>

Bottleneck Identification through Simulation Modelling: A Case of Solid Tire Manufacturing Sector

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The sharing economy, as a developing business model, is becoming more and more popular. This phenomenon can be observed in many countries. The sharing economy, as a part of human life in its essence, has existed for a long time. In general, the sharing economy is considered an economic model where individuals or organizations share a certain type of property or, in this way, provide services for a financial reward. One of the most used sectors, where there is constant interest, is the shared transport of people, goods, and services. However, platforms operating in the shared transportation segment should be analysed from various points of view, such as their financial results and overall economic stability. The study is primarily focused on the sector of shared transport and transport services. The chief objective of the study was to demonstrate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on shared transport and transport services within the territory of the Slovak Republic. The analysis included ride-hailing platforms such as Bolt Services SK as well as food and dining delivery platforms such as Wolt Slovakia. Through appropriately chosen methods of financial and economic analysis, the situation of the platforms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was determined. We also performed an analysis of the development of the number of cars and the related level of automobilization in the territory of the Slovak Republic, since the shared economy represents an alternative to conventional economic models.
</abstract>

Sharing Economy as Unconventional Alternative to Traditional Transport Services

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Customer relationship management (CRM) became one of the marketing practices that is assumed to bring success to companies in recent years. Therefore, the present research aims to identify the level of development of CRM in the top ten consumer goods companies as ranked at world level in 2021. Different models describe components of the CRM and the present research uses the theoretical framework proposed by Sin et al. (2005) that comprises four CRM dimensions: key customer focus, CRM organization, knowledge management and technology-based CRM. The methodology employed includes documentary research based on the public information available on the websites of the selected companies. Two types of analyses are conducted, descriptive analysis and comparative analysis. On overall, the dimension that is the most visible is the key customer focus, while the dimension that is the least visible is CRM organization. The results reveal that CRM is present in all top ten companies, but at different levels of development. US companies are more oriented towards CRM than companies originating from other countries. Companies that have a more developed CRM act in the direction of all four CRM dimensions.
</abstract>

Customer Relationship Management. Websites Analysis of the Top Ten Consumer Goods Companies

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The importance of financial literacy as a source of information for making financial decisions has been acknowledged, but little research has been done on how it affects SMEs’ attitudes about taking risks. In order to examine the financial literacy and risk-taking behavior of small and medium-sized firms in Ekiti State, Nigeria, the research created an integrated model from a knowledge-based viewpoint. A survey research design was used for this study with a multi-stage sampling procedure. The study analyzed the primary data collected from the questionnaire. 154 managers and owners of SMEs in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, made up the sample. According to the results of multiple regression, financial behavior, knowledge, and attitude all have a positive and substantial impact on how risk-averse small and medium-sized businesses in Ekiti State, Nigeria, are about taking risks. The study’s findings revealed that a high level of financial management literacy has a critical and significant influence on enhancing the entrepreneur’s risk-taking attitude, which leads to the growth of small businesses.
</abstract>

University of Lagos, University Road Lagos Mainland Akoka

Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurial Risk Attitude of Selected Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Nigeria

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This study seeks to investigate how the sustainability disclosure influence the financial performance of companies listed in the Top 100 Global Energy Leaders. The Refinitiv Eikon database in the main source where the data was collected for the 2017-2021 period, resulting in a data set of 361 observations for 71 companies. The analysis examined global and regional variables, and the results obtained using the SPSS statistical package were found to be mixed. The findings revealed that the ESG score had a significant negative impact on both Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA) for the overall sample and Asia. In contrast, the impact was negative but statistically insignificant for Europe and positive but insignificant for North America. Furthermore, the environmental score had a negatively impact on ROA for the overall sample, while its influence was statistically insignificant in Asia, Europe and North America for both ROA and ROE. Additionally, the social score demonstrated a significant negative impact on the overall sample and Asia, while its impact was not significant in other regions. In terms of governance score, it significantly negatively affected ROE for the overall sample, Asia, and Europe, but had a positive and significant impact in North America. This existing literature in the field is completed in new results from the companies acting in the energy sector in different regions of the world. These findings have also some practical implications, being valuable for stakeholders in the decision-making process and for team management who seek to incorporate sustainable practises into corporate strategies.
</abstract>

National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA)

Harmonizing Sustainability Disclosure and Financial Performance. An In-depth Exploration within the European Energy Industry and Beyond

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Savings are important determinants of wealth. At the macroeconomic level, governments attach importance to saving money in order to make new investments, produce new capital goods, and sustain economic growth. However, due to the high level of internal and external debt in Djibouti, it is nearly impossible for the country to achieve domestic savings. Hereby, the major aim of this study is to examine the dynamic effect of financial sector development in stimulating the gross national saving of Djibouti from the period 1987 to 2021. The paper considered numerous indicators as measurements of the financial sector development including FDI inflows, domestic loans to the private sector, central bank assets to GDP, and money supply. To proceed with the analysis, Non-Linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) was performed and according to the model, the findings highlighted that the Djiboutian financial industry is still in its early development and has not yet made a substantial contribution to boosting the country’s national savings. Nevertheless, the gross national saving of Djibouti was still positively prompted by significant components of the financial sector development, such as the positive shocks of FDI inflows and both the negative shocks of central bank assets and money supply. While both the positive and negative shocks of the credit offered to the private sector were uncovered to diminish the national savings in the long run. In conclusion, the current research will help governments and policymakers understand the best ways to use the financial sector to raise gross national savings. It will also present evidence of how to implement long-term initiatives that can lower public debt and encourage savings. Not to mention, the article provides information on the value of long-term investments.
</abstract>

The Dynamic Effect of Financial Sector Development in Stimulating the Gross National Savings of Djibouti

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 12 (2024): Issue 1 (March 2024)

Volume 11 (2023): Issue 4 (December 2023)

Volume 11 (2023): Issue 3 (September 2023)

Volume 11 (2023): Issue 2 (June 2023)

Volume 11 (2023): Issue 1 (March 2023)

Volume 10 (2022): Issue 4 (December 2022)

Volume 10 (2022): Issue 3 (September 2022)

Volume 10 (2022): Issue 2 (June 2022)

Volume 10 (2022): Issue 1 (March 2022)

Volume 9 (2021): Issue 4 (December 2021)

Volume 9 (2021): Issue 3 (September 2021)

Volume 9 (2021): Issue 2 (June 2021)

Volume 9 (2021): Issue 1 (March 2021)

Volume 8 (2020): Issue 4 (December 2020)

Volume 8 (2020): Issue 3 (September 2020)

Volume 8 (2020): Issue 2 (June 2020)

Volume 8 (2020): Issue 1 (March 2020)

Volume 7 (2019): Issue 4 (December 2019)

Volume 7 (2019): Issue 3 (September 2019)

Volume 7 (2019): Issue 2 (June 2019)

Volume 7 (2019): Issue 1 (March 2019)

Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy

Aims and Scope  The aim of Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy (MDKE) is to address in an interdisciplinary framework the dynamics of the organization management and its strategic approaches by considering the imperatives and the contingencies of the new societal and economical environments at a local, national or global scale, with a special emphasis on emerging economies.  MDKE aims to foster meaningful academic discussions and to support the exchange of ideas on principles, strategies, models, techniques, methodologies, and applications of management science in all the important fields of interest.  The first issue of MDKE was published in April 2013, both online and in print. The journal was initiated by Prof. Dr. Constantin Brãtianu from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Prof. Dr. Florina Pînzaru and Prof. Dr. Alexandra Zbuchea, from the Faculty of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Bucharest, Romania. Starting with 2015, the journal is published exclusively online, 4 issues annually. Since 2019 the journal is published in cooperation with de Gruyter, on the Sciendo platform.  As intended from its very beginning, the journal is interested in research that crosses the boundaries of single academic subjects stimulating interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Topics can cover research, non-exclusively, in the following domains: management, strategic management, innovation management, change management, international management, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, leadership and governance, knowledge management, brand management and consumer behavior, business, business process optimization, corporate social responsibility, financial and economic management, e-business and digitalization, and sustainability management.  Types of Submissions  The journal welcomes three types of submissions, namely: conceptual papers, research articles and literature reviews, all of them being subject to a double-blind peer review.  Description of the Peer Review Process  Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy is a double-blind peer-reviewed academic publication. Peer review is a key element of scientific publishing, and it serves several main purposes: to filter the research to select the most relevant studies; to improve research quality, by highlighting key points and correcting errors; to help the authors to improve their work, through offering specific comments on the key aspects of a research article: title, abstract, keywords, content and analysis, discussions, conclusions and references.  Regarding the selection of the review-team, to ensure the high-quality and the objectivity of the review, the two reviewers associated to each proposal are selected based on the following principles: they are specialists in the field of the submitted article, and they are from different countries of origin so to support an international perspective.  Abstracting &amp; Indexing  Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy is abstracted/indexed in: BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine), CEEOL, DOAJ, EBSCO, ERIH Plus, Index Copernicus, ProQuest, and RePEc – EconPapers and other databases (please visit the A&amp;I section).  Several other A&amp;I service providers are evaluating the journal for inclusion. Please periodically check this section for further information.  Open Access Statement  MDKE is an open access scholarly journal that allows free access to its content (articles, issues). MDKE is available online to the readers without financial, legal, or technical barriers (no article publication charges), based on the theory to keep an article's content intact. Authors can use Creative Commons licenses to specify usage rights of articles.  This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons — Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International — CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.  Copyright Notice  Authors hold the copyright for the published papers. They can make the respective works available in different situations, such as: on their websites, on universities blackboard systems, as teaching materials, etc.  APC Policy  To publish in Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, authors are not required to pay an Article Processing Charge.  Manuscript Formatting  Formatting – Before publication, all articles undergo a formatting stage in which their format is made compatible to the requirements of the journal MDKE. All authors are asked to comply with the Article Template requirements before submitting their articles, but all accepted articles still require minor alterations in format and style. Once the editorial team agrees on the final version, a final copy of the article will be sent to the authors for approval and then will be sent to the Publishing House to ensure the online publication. After that moment, the papers cannot be altered in any way. For further details, please see Author guidelines page.  Manuscript Submission  Authors should submit their manuscript in a MSWord format, adapted for the Windows operating system and DOC or RTF file to the Editor via the online platform. No hard copies are required.  When submitting an article, no author identification has to be provided in the paper uploaded initially on the platform. If the paper is finally accepted for publication, the final submission should comply with the MDKE Author Guidelines. Please note that submissions not complying with these guidelines will be rejected on formal grounds.  Authors should register and log-in prior to submission. When registering on the platform, we recommend the authors to register themselves as readers as well. This will enable them to easily have access to all the issues of the journal.  By submitting the paper, the authors certify that the study proposed is their own, that they hold the rights to present the information included in the paper and that they give the publication rights to the publishers of the journal. All papers are checked with anti-plagiarism software.  Alongside the manuscript in a MSWord format, two other documents filled and signed should be uploaded: MDKE Originality Statement and Copyright Agreement and Open Access License.  Submission Management  Each submission is acknowledged by one of the members of the editorial team and then the pre-selection begins. At this stage, the members of the editorial team choose to either reject the article directly or to send it to the reviewers for a thorough review. The grounds for immediate dismissal (desk rejection) of a manuscript are the following:   Plagiarism  The standard of English is not considered to be good enough for publication. If English is not the first language of the authors, they should make sure the paper is proofread by a professional or a native speaker.  The manuscript does not fit with the scope of the journal or does not follow rigorously the author’s guidelines and paper template.  The data presented in the article are outdated (either the bibliography is not up-to-date or the research materials are too old).  Each author receives notice of the final decision made by the editorial team which can be of two kinds: a) decision to include the article in the review process or b) decision to reject the article followed by the list of reasons that have led to that decision. Authors whose articles have been rejected for reasons other than fraud can choose to resubmit their work for a second time. If after the second try the article is still not considered a good fit for the journal, then the author is prohibited from resubmitting the work again.  If the article passes this pre-selection then it is sent for peer-review to two professionals with experience in the field. This stage lasts for maximum four weeks, depending on the complexity of the article and the availability of experts in the field. The final decision of the peer-review process can be as follows:    Accepted with no changes – When the paper satisfies all qualitative and quantitative requirements.  Accepted with minor changes – This decisions signal that the article in its present form, with minor modifications is suitable for publication. The authors received the decision followed by the suggestions of the peer reviewers and their submission, after alterations, will step on to the next stage.  Accepted with major changes – Most of the articles submitted to MDKE fall in this category. These are articles which show promise, but they need further elaborate work. Thus, each reviewer sends his or her recommendations and the authors are encouraged to revise their articles, answering to each of these recommendations.  Rejected – This decision signals that there are major concerns over the quality of the scientific materials presented in the paper and that the reviewers consider there is no chance in improving the article in such a way as to become a suitable candidate for publication in MDKE.   After formatting, all articles set to be included in the following issue will appear online according to the publication schedule.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.     Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Publication timeline  The editors of the journal accept manuscript submissions all year round. The journal is published quarterly, in March, June, September, and December.  Privacy Statement  The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. Please pay attention to all the information on the website and be aware that affiliations of authors and reviewers are public on the platform. By submitting the required information, the authors implicitly agree to make public the data. 