New quality of the modern market is shown in expansion of scales of cooperation of corporations and the small enterprises. Deciding condition of the successful formation of the competitive advantages is the level of the competence of the personnel of the enterprise. Competence becomes critical for the enterprise in case its management achieves organic composure of techno–technological, financial–marketing and organizational–managerial resources during the process of realization of business idea. The concentration of resources of the enterprise on directions of the core сompetencies makes necessary to search for rational ways of realization non–сore сompetencies. The small enterprises are capable to represent themselves as performers non–сore сompetencies of the enterprises–customers first of all in those cases they have unique resources for realization of technological component of their own сore competence. The modern microenterprises successfully cooperating with the big size enterprises of the including corporations, do it, as a rule, in the form of outsourcing. Outsourcing can be considered not only as one of the forms of cooperation, but also as the means of strengthening the market positions of the enterprise. Thus it is necessary to recognize that the effect from the use of outsourcing is reached by the company–the customer as a result of reorganization of its organizational structure and qualitative changes in work of management.

Flexibility of services is one of the most important aspects of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) survival in a crisis economy. Product life cycles are shorter and shorter, SMEs must be able to evaluate the market risks and yet to remain creative and develop their innovation capacity for their products and services. Analyzing the results of a survey among research specialists in engineering (expert interviews which gives the title of another article), the need for innovation and innovation management in the SMEs is significant. These enterprises can be guided (coached) with a new approach. This is a model of an Innovation center, where SMEs, but not exclusively, are guided to identify and manage their innovation potential and supported with valuable know-how in technology transfer from the technical University. The model is new for it has itself a flexible structure and unites the know-how of technology transfer with the entrepreneurial skills of the SMEs. The value of the model developed and applied into the technical Universities is that it is a new instrument for optimizing the innovation management of small enterprises and for helping them to increase the quality of their products and services. Universities have to adapt their provided services to the market and permanently add value to the services provided.

Research has focused on the analysis of the Romania’s agri-food comparative advantages based on the indices of trade specialization assessed pre- and post-accession to the EU. The method of calculation of the specialization degree index used the original Lafay index adapted on the agricultural sector. The index allows the assessment of the contribution of each product in relation to the corresponding importance in trade, which provides the ranking of products by their level of competitiveness on the international markets. The index measures the contribution of each Romanian agricultural product, aggregated by the chapters of the Combined Nomenclature at 2 digit aggregation level, to the total agri-food trade, within the period 2004-2010. The research results indicate, for the analyzed period, a decrease of the specialization level and a loss in trade diversification of the Romanian products. The detailed results provide a hierarchy of the agri-food products in relation to the highest specialization level demonstrated in Romania’s foreign trade relations.

Education monitoring is quite a fresh field of the science of education, especially in Lithuania. This field is closely interrelated with methodology of educational research, education politics, education management, education economics, etc. The elementary operation of monitoring process is measurement. There are qualitative and quantitative measurements. From the methodological point of view it is essential to understand the object of monitoring, its structure and interrelations, and fundamental processes etc. The value of monitoring is also a very important approach. The value of monitoring is significant on an international scale. Provided with comprehensive information about the situation of a certain system of education one could easily compare it to other systems, carry out forecasting, and shape possible perspectives of development

Management education and MBA programs have been criticized for being rigor and having little effect on managerial performance, however little attention has been paid to management education provided by management training and development businesses often referred to as non-formal education providers. Since the studies on management training businesses are scarce, the exploratory study was conducted documenting the state of management training businesses’ activities in Estonia on the analysis of four focus issues: (1) the scope of training programs; (2) methods; (3) trainers and (4) organizational development. The data was collected from 26 management training businesses’ websites including 3 universities’ continuing education websites. The findings highlight the domination of soft skills, coaching as an increasingly used method, frequent use of contracted co-trainers and modest reflection of organizational development issues. The outcome contributes to the literature of management education, training and developing research providing preliminary insight on management training businesses activities. Additionally the results could be of practical use for HR managers in assessing overall capabilities of management training businesses.

The objective of the study was to investigate the extent of the practice of the learning organization within the Kenyan commercial banks and determine the relationship between the aforementioned practice with organizational performance. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. It was a census survey comprising all the 43 banks licensed to operate in Kenya under the banking Act. The sample frame included all the commercial banks listed in the Central Bank of Kenya website. The 43 banks were further divided into 3 tiers based on profitability for the year 2008 as indicated in the Banking Survey 2009. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire while secondary data regarding organizational performance was obtained from the banking survey 2009. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics in terms of frequency and percentage tabulations, cross tabulations and Pearson’s correlation coefficient to determine the relationship between the practice of the learning organization and organizational performance. The study established that most Kenyan commercial banks had to a large extent adopted the following practices adopted by most organizations: development of information systems designed to inform and empower, formative accounting control, learning approach to strategy development, participative policy making, reward flexibility and supportive leadership. The practices least adopted were the ones involved in enabling structures, creating a learning climate and boundary workers as environmental scanners. Findings indicate that there is an inverse relationship between the practice of the learning organization and organizational performance. This would suggest that there are other factors that have to be taken into account to determine and explain this discrepancy, hence the need for further study. In conclusion, the study established that two thirds of the Kenyan banks had adopted the practices of the learning institution. The study also indicates that there is a tendency for Kenyan commercial banks to focus on certain aspects of the learning organization instead of seeing the whole picture and focusing on the organization as a dynamic entity. Interest in the learning organization has been stimulated by the need to attain sustainable competitive advantage.

Given the rampant headline revelations of widespread fraud perpetrated in Nigerian public service organizations in recent times, this study addresses a topical subject that commands urgent attention, understanding and intervention. Using a survey design and case approach, a cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 54 systematically selected public service organizations spread across the South-South geopolitical region of Nigeria. The study showed that the fraud risk reduction strategy deployed in Nigerian public service organizations is not effective in reducing the overall level of employee fraud. The study showed that auditor’s monitoring strength is low. It also found that the prevailing reward and compensation system does not facilitate reduction of incentive for employee fraud. These results point to a need to review, strengthen and make more dynamic and responsive the current fraud risk reduction strategy used.

When employees leave the organization, whether at their own will or not, the consequences could be extremely serious. High turnover costs much, because it involves direct financial expenses for recruitment and selection, appointment, training and adaptation of the newcomers; at the same time, the indirect (hidden) costs, because of lost productivity and missed opportunities, constitute about 70–85% of all. This research was conducted in a large Bulgarian business organization with the aim to determine the impact of HRM practices on the personnel turnover, measured by the inclination to leave. There were formulated conclusions about the ability of the HRM system to retain the employees and respectively recommendations to the management of the organization. The methods of data collection included in-depth semi structured interviews with the manager of the HRM department and anonymous inquiry among 140 employees and workers. The results were subsequently processed with SPSS.

The article aims to present issues connected with a commitment in relation to the current transformations of working conditions. Presently people work for many employers during their working lives; hence insecurity of employment became a determinant of the work situation. On the other hand, the employees are guided by the need for personal fulfillment and intellectual development in the professional field. This raises the question of whether organizational commitment, understood as a commitment to the workplace, is still a research problem, or whether another kind of commitment is developing- commitment to the occupation. This dilemma is the result of analysis of the behavior of employees. The observations indicate that some people do their work at a high level regardless of place of employment, identifying themselves with the profession performed. They are guided by the need for professionalism, not by the need for staying in the organization. The article aims to present two positions on commitment, by providing arguments in favor of importance of both aspects according to the different needs of employees. Moreover, this paper outlines the proposed directions of empirical research, undertaking of which would allow for broadening knowledge about changes in attitudes of people towards work.