Due to the undesirable effects of the gap between citizens to access and use information and communication technologies (ICT), most researchers have been paying much attention to the threat of a digital divide. Unfortunately an amazingly large number of people do not have the abilities to use the ICTs in a proper way and, therefore, cannot draw advantages from its usage. As a result, digital divide is commonly regarded as a potential barrier for participation in the information society. This study measure the digital divide in Saudi Arabia by analyzing the results of a small-scale study conducted at the University KAU, regarding students’ and university members’ perceptions toward the usage of ICT. This analysis measure the digital divide concerning some factors like gender, educational level using a questionnaire. The analysis shows that KAU has no digital divide.

Doing the right things in a given situation at the right time is the underlying formula for the achievements of every business. It is hereby not only the evolutionary success story of humankind but also the outcome of our cognitive capabilities to think ahead possible future situations. Within strategic management, companies similarly have to think ahead future situations in due time, to ensure the necessary scope for ideas and innovations and generate promising options for action. In this context scenario technique is an appropriate method for future foresight, often realized within a workshop. Lego® Serious Play®, however, is a good tool for enabling and enhancing communication within a workshop framework. The paper presented shows a synopsis of the findings derived from the application of Lego® Serious Play® within a scenario workshop that lead to reliable future options for action.

Control and managerial decision function activities have an important share in the managerial work. The paper The Impact of Control Processes on Managerial Decision Making describes the share of managerial control and decision function on the total managerial work. It also evaluates the influence of control activities on the decision making functions of different -level managers in questioned companies doing business in Slovak Republic. The results were obtained thanks to the surveying method. 392 participants took part in the research, which was made in two phases (in 2008 and 2010). The findings show the importance of managerial functions of control and decision making. They identify over 21% of control function- and almost 30% of decision making function share on total managerial work. There were discovered, many positive effects of control function on managerial decision making, while only few and insignificant negatives were identified.

For building and preservation of long-term competitive advantages, it is not enough that companies are just better and faster than their competitors. Competitor orientation strategy, without aim for customers’ satisfaction may lead company to "Cul-de-sac". This situation is an indicator that management decisions depend exclusively on the moves of competitors. In doing so, companies forget the real reason for their existence, customers satisfaction. Knowledge about customer needs and desires, identified in process of building sales network focused on the customer, can help top management of the company to apply it through value creation building. The main goal of this research is to explore companies’ awareness level about the customer satisfaction as a key element in process of building competitive advantages based on sales policy differentiation. Research was conducted through individual interview survey based of pre-prepared questionnaire and includes companies engaged in B2B sales, not sales to end customers. Research results should demonstrate a difference in perception of customer satisfaction in international companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the one, and domestic companies, on the other hand. Analyzing the results of research we make a conclusion about possibilities that companies build a Customer-Orientation Sales (COS) Model.

Care of corporate culture formation is a prerequisite for corporate values promotion. Cultural norms and system of values provide an orientation to company members during managing and reviewing their behaviour and decision-making with regard to business objectives. If managers will accept corporate culture and values, and exemplary declare adopted values, it will influence satisfaction and performance of employees and also company performance. The contribution is a part of research project VEGA 1/0787/12 “The identification of sustainable performance key parameters in industrial enterprises within multicultural environment”. It is based on research realized in conditions of business practice in Slovakia. Article focuses on how are set, reviewed and promoted corporate goals and values in companies in Slovakia. There are presented introductory information related to company and employees’ performance and their relation to the corporate culture. The research was focused on reviewing how managers, through they acting in compliance with company mission and vision influence attitudes of employees. The contribution discusses the effect, which company can have from such a declaration of corporate values by managers in company. Therefore, in the article are presented, not only outcomes of this research, but also experience and recommendations of authors.

The education of the employees in each instance of a company comes along with a purpose to gain competence and experience in order to realize every business process according to the demands of the products/services, the legal obligation as well as the criteria of competitiveness. Furthermore, it is directly conjoined with the very act of foundation setting of the employees’ requests with a unique intention - to achieve quality, stressing the vital need to affiliate everyone in their own field. This analysis presents the research inputs which are being given in order to get a clear picture whether the Macedonian companies are eager to learn and stimulate both the individual and the collective learning in order to improve the results in general. According to the given results in the research, it is stated that the Macedonian companies do not pay much attention to quality. They are insufficiently concerned with the continuous education, which is evident in the small investments they make in regard to the innovations. Hence, the quality system has been built in a very small number of companies. The following model presented in this elaborate has been suggested for a more successful designing and implementation of the educational system as a subsystem of the house of quality. This methodology is integral and has a universal notion which is applicable to all types of companies and institutions as well. Without a conducted training about TQM (Total Quality Management) philosophy and a continued education provided firstly for the managers and further on for all of the employees, the TQM strategy could not be implemented in a satisfactory manner. Also, the benefits that come along with the quality system could not be visible as a result.

This research aimed at investigating the relationship that exists between organizational culture, employee motivation and performance. The domains of organizational culture (organizational values, individual beliefs, working environment, and employee relationships) and employee motivation and performance were investigated. In order to find the culture and motivation link, mixed method approach for data collection and analysis has been used. By using Pearson’s and Spearman’s Correlation methods, a positive correlation has been found between the two variables. The study revealed that organizational culture has a direct impact on employee motivation and indirectly on organizational performance as well. The better the organizational culture, the higher the motivational level of employees. It was observed that if organizations develop a strong culture of rewarding and acknowledging employees’ effort, it leads to increase motivation and their performance would be significantly enhanced.

The individuals and companies purchasing goods and services for some other than personal consumption, e.g. for the family member, family usage or as a present for another person, are called organizational consumers. They operate on the organizational consumer market. These markets usually have fewer buyers but purchase is done in much greater amounts than typical consumer markets and to distinguish them from typical consumer markets they are also geographically concentrated. There are four main components of this market: industrial, reseller, government and foreign market. For the purpose of this paper, the organizational customer is understood the organization which sells products for another customers. In general, every consumer tries to apply their rights, fight for them. The interest of traders is usually hidden somewhere in the background. The main aim of this paper is to summarize how important the organizations are, highlight the role they play in the society, their development in time, the authenticity, which distinguished it from the individual consumer and to describe their importance and impact on the social life and economics in the Slovak Republic. Research conducted in European countries showed that the recession had a significant impact on all types of consumers. The paper analyses the results of those researches and finally depicts if the situation is the same in the Slovak Republic using the statistic data analysis, description and comparison.

As worded in the title, the contribution submitted deals with the currently important field of the financial market, which has influence on the development in EU and also in the whole world. This market follows the respective principles and aspects which have an effect on it alongside with economic and legal questions being valid only for the particular country or for all parties concerned. The theoretical knowledge and experience acquired in this field are confirmed in the contribution with results and conclusions drawn from concrete cases in the financial market in Slovakia and viewed from the aspect of the present economic period. The contribution brings conclusions and, at the same time, points out to principles which should be respected from the viewpoint of economic and legal rules during dealings and, in general, during all actions developed in the financial market.

As a result of the growing internationalism and globalization of the labour market but also as a result of dynamic changes in the society in general the concept of diversity management is ever more important. The basis of the concept of diversity management is the nature of diversity itself and this phenomenon has always existed in the human society, be it age, gender, race, ethnicity, mental and physical abilities, sex orientation or any other qualities (Hubbard, 2004, Eger, 2009). It is necessary to realize that the topics connected with diversity exist today and will exist in the future and if any organization strives to survive in the highly competitive surroundings, it has to deal with issues like that. Applying the concept of diversity management, recognizing and using diverse ideas, knowledge and perspectives of the members of organizations, those are all factors that contribute to the wealth of any organization significantly and create a real competitive advantage, which, in its final form, can be considered a highly positive and constructive tool for solving the current all-society phenomena in the context of the development of the civic society.

The labour price or the compensation for work as a fundamental basis of any working activity influences the labour market actors’ behaviour. The level and structure of pay along with labour costs are significant macro-economic indicators, which are widely used by different political, social and economic institutions to assess situation on the labour market and define labour market macroeconomic policy. A managerial theory and managerial practices considers the compensation for work as significant factor of job motivation. Today, when women play vital role in employment sphere the gender gap in the work reward still exists. The article considers the direct correlation between the gender pay disproportion and gender-gap-reasons-based disparity in the employment sphere. For the calculation and analysis of the pay gender disproportion the author introduces two indexes: the Index of Pay Gender Differentiation (PGD) and the Index of Pay Gender Gap (PGG). The Index of Pay Gender Differentiation (PGD) expresses not only the existing relation between men’s and women’s pay but defines the dynamics for their closing on. The using of the Pgd promotes to define the direction for attain of gender equality on the employment sphere and a priori assumes to overcome the source of gender inequality in the labour market.

The subject of this article research are issues concerning the management of tourism in Poland, with particular emphasis on planning. The main purpose was to analyze the issues related to the planning of tourism and recreation in Poland and in this context to show the importance of planning for the proper development of tourism. The research procedure which was applied was mainly the analysis of source materials. With regards to tourism there can be distinguished plans from the sphere of socio-economic (created at the central, regional and local level and for businesses operating in the field of tourism), and spatial plans (implemented in the whole country, provinces and municipalities and separately selected for particular areas). Creation of ones and the others is justified. In connection with the fact that tourism plays an important role in the economy of many countries, appropriate management of its development becomes important, and the planning which underlies management often helps to avoid in this regard, the method of trial and errors. It should be stressed that tourism is also a field that uses widely the space, but this space is affected mostly negative by it. Planning, which is the basis for setting targets and ways of their implementation, provides, among others, the possibility to reduce the negative consequences associated with its development.

Managers in the 21th century need to understand how to best show leadership in a merger – not least because of the many unsuccessful post-merger integrations that have been reported in many case-studies. The human factor is fundamental to preventing post-merger failure. A longitudinal case-study, that follows a merger in the public sector, aims at verifying the recommendations in the literature on how to prevent and counter resistance to change. The administrators, whose opinions were investigated, were enthusiastically looking forward to the merger, even though they expected changes to both their information systems they use for daily work and their routines. They looked forward to the merger even as they lacked individual information about their work situation after the merger. After the merger their attitudes changed as a new more authoritative leadership style emerged that was not appreciated. The new top managers were externally recruited and became part of the merger process at a very late stage when they could not build trust with the organization anymore. Our findings confirm prior research findings about the importance of management involvement throughout a merger. Hence new managers should be appointed early in the process so they can take active part in decision-making and trust-building. The longitudinal case-study aims at adding to the knowledge base that can facilitate post-merger implementations.