Leon Oblak

Analysis of the Investment in Wood Processing and Furniture Manufacturing Entities by Key Factors of Competitiveness

Processing of wood and manufacture of wood and cork products, excluding furniture, manufacture of straw and plaiting goods (C16) and manufacture of furniture (C31) were the most competitive activities of the Republic of Croatia in the European market in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Those activities began losing their market share at the end of 1994, and no significant positive change in market competitiveness has been recorded since then. The question is how to achieve and maintain competitiveness, which is the condition of survival in an increasingly demanding environment. Preliminary and previous research on investment points to the assumption that the problem of competitiveness in the observed economic branch essentially boils down to a problem in the quality and efficiency of the investments of associated business entities. This paper tries to give answers to the following questions: What is the investment policy, is there an internal factor of lagging behind in competitiveness, what the other reasons are and how competitiveness can be achieved. By analysing investment in key factors of competitiveness in the period from 2007 to 2010, consistently established by this paper, the existing data on investment of wood processing and furniture manufacturing entities will be identified, and an AHP investment model will be proposed that takes into account the simultaneous influence of all of the key factors of competitiveness and is the best indicator of which direction to be taken, with the final aim of achieving competitiveness.

Metodologija proučavanja ekološke kvalitete namještaja

Decisions for environment-friendly production and environmentally acceptable products are becoming a necessity and one of very important objectives of timber companies next to already existing economic criteria. Individual products and their manufacture have different infl uences on the pollution of the environment. Therefore it is necessary to determine the ecological quality of individual products, which means analyzing their ecological suitability during their life cycle. In our research we developed the methodology for establishing the ecological quality of furniture, based on three scientifi c methods: the method of life cycle analysis, ABC analysis, modifi ed for our case, and the multi-criteria decision-making method. We analyzed the ecological quality of three kitchens of a well-known manufacturer. The results of the research are the basis for developing an optimal business strategy from the viewpoint of determining a production assortment. The used methodology is also suitable for studying other furniture products and for accepting optimal environmentally acceptable decisions in wood companies.

The status of chain-of-custody certification in the countries of Central and South Europe

The significance of wood and paper products originating from certified sustainable sources has been increasing worldwide during the last two decades paralleling overall interest and concern for global sustainability issues. Forest certification is a voluntary verification tool that has been gaining importance not only as an independent verification tool in the wood processing industry but also as an influencer in private and public purchasing policies and as a component of emerging wood harvesting and trade legality schemes. There are two main types of certification, forest certification for forest management and chain-of-custody (CoC) certification which tracks certified wood through the manufacturing supply chain. This study focuses on the chain-of-custody component. A multinational survey of CoC certificate holders in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia was conducted to identify the general understanding of certification concepts as environmental, economic and social tools, to determine incentives for CoC certification implementation by companies, and to identify difficulties in existing certified wood product supply chains. Results indicate that respondents demonstrated a high level of understanding of the chain of custody certification concept. Respondents also link forest certification mainly to the issues of legality, tracing the origin source of supply and prevention from illegal logging. The main expected benefits are linked to the improvement of external company image followed by business performance factors such as penetrating new markets, increase of sales volume, expanded market share and the increase of profit margin. The key problems connected to certified supply chains relate to the overpricing of certified material inputs, while respondents reported none or minimum price premiums for their certified products over non-certified alternatives.

Ocena možnosti razvoja in trženja proizvodov iz bukovine / Development and marketing possibilities of beechwood products assessment

If a company in the wood industry wants to develop and market its products successfully, it has to explore its target market well, especially for products from a specific type of wood - in our case, from beechwood. We designed three models: a model for the assessment of the product development potential, a model for the assessment of marketing of product opportunities, and a model for the assessment of product market potential. The latter was used in the study within the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and gave interesting results. Experts who participated in the survey conducted by the AHP method have estimated that the most important criterion while deciding to purchase beechwood products is quality, the second most important criterion is the price, and the third one is the idea. According to the survey, promotional mix and additional services have a minor impact on customer decisions about buying beechwood products. All three presented models can be a good tool that companies can usefully apply when deciding on developing and marketing a new product.

Comparison of motivation factors in two wood processing companies

V raziskavi smo analizirali motivacijske in demotivacijske dejavnike med zaposlenimi v dveh lesno predelovalnih podjetjih. Raziskava je potekala v letih 2014 in 2015. Opravljena je bila z metodo anketiranja, s pomocjo vprasalnika, ki je vseboval sest vprasanj s ponujenimi možnimi odgovori. Vprasanja so bila zaprtega tipa, anketiranci pa so pomembnost vsebine posameznih odgovorov ocenjevali s stiristopenjsko lestvico. Anketiranih je bilo 180 zaposlenih v vsakem podjetju, rezultati pa so bili statisticno obdelani s pomocjo %2 -testa in klasterske analize. S studijo smo ugotovili, da se najbolj pomembni motivacijski dejavniki med zaposlenimi v obravnavanih podjetjih bistveno razlikujejo. Zaposleni so najbolj zaskrbljeni glede socialnih potreb. Menijo tudi, da je v podjetju zelo pomembna psiholoska klima. Motivacija zaposlenih je lahko povezana z vecjo ucinkovitostjo, visjo kakovostjo proizvodnje in poslovnimi rezultati, zato bi bilo treba taksne raziskave pogosteje opravljati.

Analyzing the investment in wood processing and furniture manufacturing production entities by key factors of competitiveness

Processing of wood and manufacture of wood and cork products, excluding furniture, manufacture of straw and plaiting goods (C16) and manufacture of furniture (C31) were the most competitive activities of the Republic of Croatia in the European market in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Those activities began losing their market share at the end of 1994, and no significant positive change in market competitiveness has been recorded since then. The question is how to achieve and maintain competitiveness, which is the condition of survival in an increasingly demanding environment. Preliminary and previous research on investment points to the assumption that the problem of competitiveness in the observed economic branch essentially boils down to a problem in the quality and efficiency of the investments of associated business entities. This paper tries to give answers to the following questions: What is the investment policy, is there an internal factor of lagging behind in competitiveness, what the other reasons are and how competitiveness can be achieved. By analysing investment in key factors of competitiveness in the period from 2007 to 2010, consistently established by this paper, the existing data on investment of wood processing and furniture manufacturing entities will be identified, and an AHP investment model will be proposed that takes into account the simultaneous influence of all of the key factors of competitiveness and is the best indicator of which direction to be taken, with the final aim of achieving competitiveness.

Analiza investicijskih ulaganja proizvodnih subjekata prerade drva i proizvodnje namještaja primjenom ključnih čimbenika konkurentnosti

Processing of wood and manufacture of wood and cork products, excluding furniture, manufacture of straw and plaiting goods (C16) and manufacture of furniture (C31) were the most competitive activities of the Republic of Croatia in the European market in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Those activities began losing their market share at the end of 1994, and no significant positive change in market competitiveness has been recorded since then. The question is how to achieve and maintain competitiveness, which is the condition of survival in an increasingly demanding environment. Preliminary and previous research on investment points to the assumption that the problem of competitiveness in the observed economic branch essentially boils down to a problem in the quality and efficiency of the investments of associated business entities. This paper tries to give answers to the following questions: What is the investment policy, is there an internal factor of lagging behind in competitiveness, what the other reasons are and how competitiveness can be achieved. By analysing investment in key factors of competitiveness in the period from 2007 to 2010, consistently established by this paper, the existing data on investment of wood processing and furniture manufacturing entities will be identified, and an AHP investment model will be proposed that takes into account the simultaneous influence of all of the key factors of competitiveness and is the best indicator of which direction to be taken, with the final aim of achieving competitiveness.

Fuzzy Diagnostik zur Ermittlung des ökologischen Zustandes in Holzindustriesystemen

Die Frage der Einwirkungen auf die Umwelt ist heute ein aktuelles Thema sowohl in Industrielandern als auch in Reformlandern. Bei den letzteren durfte der Wandel in der Wirtschaft nicht ohne parallele Losungen im Bereich der Umwelt vor sich gehen. Die okologischen Probleme weisen eine hohe Komplexitat auf, die einen systematischen Ansatz bei deren Losung erforderlich macht. Eine systematische umweltgerechte Unternehmensftihrung last sich jedoch nicht uber Nacht umsetzen und verlangt ein gezieltes, stufenweises und langfristig konsequentes Handeln. Aus diesem Grund ist es wichtig, an der richtigen Stelle anzufangen, eine zweckmasige Masnahmenreihenfolge zu bestimmen und gegebenenfalls auf geeignete Zeitabstande Bedacht zu nehmen. Das standige Klagen uber den Mangel an den dazu erforderlichen Mitteln ist dabei zwecklos. Die Beachtung der Einwirkungen auf die Umwelt ist eine aktuelle Aufgabe, die nicht nur zu einem beliebten politischen Thema werden darf.

Ökonomisch-Ökologisches Spannungsfeld, Problem der Abwässer in der Holzindustrie Und Lösungsmöglichkeiten Durch die Methode der Zieloptimierung (Goal Programming)

Unter den mit dem Umweltschutz auf der Ebene des Unternehmens verbundenen Kosten sind die Kosten einer alternativen Produktionsweise besonders wichtig. Das sind die Kosten, die dabei anfallen, wenn das Unternehmen infolge der Anforderungen des Umweltschutzes auf gewisse, in okonomischer Hinsicht zwar vorteilhafte Produktionsalternativen verzichten mus. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird anhand eines mathematischen Modells die Methodologie der Losungfindung fur diesbezugliche Probleme dargestellt. Mit der Methode der Zieloptimierung konnte nachgewiesen werden, das sich die Modellosungen den gesetzten okonomisch-okologischen Zielen befriedigend annahern. Obwohl das Modell mit hypothetischen Daten operiert, weisen die Losungen auf die Moglichkeit seiner praktischen Anwendimg hin, wenn man uber konkrete Mesdaten der Verschmutzimg durch Abwasser verfugt.