Purpose: To systematize the existing approaches and tools used for measuring competitive intensity.

Methodology: Systematic literature review along with critical literature review.

Findings: Identifcation of two main approaches to measuring competition intensity: the frst pertains to research based on experts’ opinions and involves the use of questionnaires (primary sources), while the second is based on structural variables used with a variety of indexes (secondary sources). In addition, variables applied for the purpose of measuring the intensity of competition are divided into structural and behavioural.

Practical implications: The issue of measuring competition intensity occupies a prominent place in the discussion on the effectiveness of inter-organizational relationships. The fndings outlined in this paper may help managers to develop/adopt the right approach supporting their strategic decisions.

Originality: The paper provides a complex review of the existing methods and measures of competitive intensity. It systematizes recent knowledge about competitive intensity measurements.

Purposes: The main goal of the paper is to determine the signifcance of selected sources of strategic information, used by Polish farmers in decision making. In addition, an attempt was made to determine the factors impacting the evaluation of those sources among the traits of the farmer and his farm.

Methodology: Data was gathered using the questionnaire method and analysed with standard tools of descriptive statistics.

Findings: The farmers deemed personalised sources of strategic information the most important, especially agricultural advisers, input suppliers and buyers of agricultural products. From among institutional (non-personalised) sources, local government and the chamber of agriculture were signifcant. Business information agencies and survey companies are the least important sources for farmers. The characteristics of the surroundings of the farm – specifcally, its geographic location and the size of settlement where it is located proved to have the widest impact on the evaluation of the sources included in the study. From among the organisational factors, only farm size has a signifcant impact.

Research limitations/implications: The study was confned to a representative group of farmers in Poland. A closed list of sources of strategic information was used.

Originality/value: The study results contribute to the knowledge on the functioning of Polish agriculture and may also be used in comparative studies, characterising this sector’s diversity within Europe. They can in turn contribute to properly focusing on supporting the policy of balanced agriculture development in the EU.

Purpose: The paper investigates whether employees’ strategic awareness influences the shape of
management control systems (MCSs) in Polish micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (mSMEs).

Methodology: The study is based on data obtained from 223 companies between November 2010
and January 2012. The quantitative analysis used a set of variables which depicted MCSs: ‘goalsetting
process’, ‘control framework’ and ‘organisation of control’. Strategic awareness was considered
an independent variable.

Findings: The results showed positive correlations between strategic awareness and considered
variables. Regression models developed by the authors proved statistically valid. The study evidences,
that increasing employees’ strategic awareness stimulates their participation in goal-setting,
contributes to the development of more comprehensive MCSs, or may even imply formalisation of
management control.

Research limitations: The study does not include an analysis of the extent to which employees
find MCSs useful in their work. This will be considered in future research. Another possible extension
of the project is to identify factors which enable the capturing of the dynamic character of
MCSs and their changes over time.

Practical implications: The knowledge of MCSs does not explain whether or not the strategic orientation
of a company stimulates a need for MCS. Such knowledge may be important to managers
who have to face Polish employees’ general aversion to control.

Originality: The study contributes to the limited body of knowledge in a scope of relations between
employees’ strategic awareness and control mechanisms in Polish mSMEs.

Purpose: Sixty-five HR general managers representing companies from a variety of industries took
part in the research that we conducted between April and October 2013. They had identified leadership
development as the most significant factor in the growth of the top firms in Poland’s economy.
We have conducted in-depth interviews to understand the perception of the leadership concept.
We have found that they tend to focus on the following dimensions of leadership: conveying
a vision, inspiring, being charismatic, being credible, being able to manage others, and having good
interpersonal skills.

Research limitations and implications: The main limitation of the research is that it does not allow
for generalization of findings on perceived dimensionality of leadership on larger population of HR
Executives. Our findings imply that leadership development will soon be a strong priority among
HR teams of 500 largest companies, but several dimensions are not present in their description of
leadership.

Originality/value: Our paper makes three contributions to the literature. We have developed a managerial
attention view of the firm by surveying senior HR executives. CEOs, CFOs, and top management
teams tend to be subject of studies in this theoretical tradition more often than HR executives,
Another contribution is the use of mixed methods that is rather rare yet offering vast opportunities
for triangulation and knowledge building in the discipline. Our third contribution is that we applied
a standard scale of the multidimensional leadership concept.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to analyse marketing challenges facing Polish public universities. Polish universities must urgently adjust their educational offers to deep declines in internal demand and to increased internationalisation of the educational market. The author explores the impact of management decentralisation in faculties of higher education institutions upon their market orientation, relationships with the external world and commercialisation of educational services targeting foreign students.

Methodology: The study is based mostly on direct observations and an extensive review of international literature devoted to the model of the university of the future and its relationships with the environment. The author has been lecturing on marketing for many years; he also manages educational business programmes at a large public university in Poland where he acts in the capacity of a dean.

Findings: Future universities should develop an array of services based on the relationship marketing with key strategic partners (business, local authorities, students and graduates). The idea of a modern educational service should be based on an individual approach to students expanded with complementary services. Educational services should be developed interactively in cooperation with key stakeholders.

Practical implications: Polish public universities should become more marketing oriented and develop a set of commercial educational services addressed to foreign students and to entrepreneurial and internationally-oriented Polish students.

Originality/value: Conclusions formulated by the author result from his long personal experience and knowledge of the specifi city of the educational market in Poland and across the world and his experience in managing an interdisciplinary faculty of a large public university. The interdisciplinary approach to the subject combines elements of the relationship marketing and interactive development of new educational services.

Purpose: To explain the conventions and conditions for implementing internationalization of a university as a strategic course for its development, as well as to provide universal strategic scenarios for expansion of the university abroad as well as to outline the factors contributing to success.

Methodology: The paper while conceptual in nature, is based on the diagnosis and analysis of the market for university education in Poland. Studies of specialized literature highlighted the main phenomena conditioning performance and trends in higher education which constituted the general background for deliberations and detailed projections.

Conclusion: The author underscores strategic conditions and decision-making procedures for a University’s expansion into foreign markets of higher education. He emphasizes the major opportunities and risks associated with the university going international. The proposals are not only cognitive but also can be the basis for application in the realism of Polish universities.

Originality: The activities of foreign universities in the domestic higher education market is a fact which is existent in many countries. This paper proposes a general concept for the internationalization strategy of a University in conjunction with a scenario accompanied by a detailed analysis and decision-making procedure. In the literature, this aspect of development of the university has been expanded in accordance with the objectives
international marketing.

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to present the phenomenon of interorganizational collaboration from the strategic perspective, as a complex phenomenon, infl uenced by environmental factors, such as institutions – both formal and informal. Additional aims of the paper are: to present a model including all signifi cant elements
and identifying important research gaps.

Methodology: The paper presents the results of literature analyses as well as the fi ndings of the latest research studies in the fi eld of interorganizational collaboration, taking into account the environment of the organization.

Conclusions: The external environment of the organization, in particular socio-cultural factors, has a significant impact on the formation, development, evolution and management of interorganizational collaboration. There are still many research gaps in this fi eld, and some of them have been presented in this paper.

Research limitations: This paper is a theoretical and conceptual study. It forms an introduction to further empirical research.

Originality: The paper presents the phenomenon of interorganizational collaboration in a broader context, taking into account the external environment as an element infl uencing such collaboration. Most of the works in this field focus on organizations managing or coping with the environment. This paper presents a different approach. It indicates the external factors that infl uence interorganizational collaboration from a strategic perspective, and subsequently presents them in the form of a model.

Purpose: The article presents the results of the analysis of the employment and salary policy in Polish public administration in the period of 2002-2011 in terms of public administration management in times of the financial crisis and the competitiveness of employment in government administration. The authors of the article examine the effectiveness of the subsequent government efforts to institute “a cheap state”. They have assumed that in the
examined period the effectiveness of government administration did not change considerably.

Originality: The presented analysis covers such issues as: identifying the determinants of changes in salary and employment rates in government administration; an analysis of the relevant major legal institutions; a study of the main changes in the salary and employment policy in government administration; an analysis of the employment nd remuneration budget in public administration; an assessment of the changes in the effectiveness of the
functioning of government administration.

Methodology: In their studies the authors conduct inductive and deductive reasoning by means of the following research techniques: an analysis of legal acts, strategic government documents and reports of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK); a statistical dynamics and structure analysis; a comparative analysis and a one-dimensional analysis of public expenditure efficiency.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to assess the competitiveness general landscape
of MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in sub-Saharan Africa through
selected factors driving productivity and effectiveness in doing business, as elements
of the general business environment.

Design: To present a general outlook of competitiveness a narrow number of factors
was chosen – public institutions, infrastructure, women in business and strategic
partnership – corresponding to the contents of four Global Competitiveness Index of
the World Economic Forum pillars (public and private institutions, infrastructure,
labor market efficiency, business sophistication). The factors selected – elements of
the general business environment, have one common feature: all are state-performance-
dependent. The scientific method of research in this study, uses primary sources like the Global Competitiveness Report or The World Bank documents and data. Secondary sources
include a number of syntheses, calculations and interpretations of primary sources
presented by Polish and foreign scientific literature. Primary and secondary sources
gathered became a base for semiotic and semantic analyses.

Findings: The approach in this paper highlights the organization general business
environment elements set by the state and their adverse affect on business environment
of MSMEs across the region. Competitiveness’ paths then may be called
devious.

Originality: This study is at the intersection of two different strands relating to organization
theory: the business environment and competitiveness, and critical management
studies. A qualitative research, a thorough theoretical approach concerns
issues hardly available in Poland.

Cel: celem niniejszego artykułu jest zaprezentowanie aktualnych tendencji w literaturze zarządzania wiedzą i zarządzania zasobami ludzkimi dotyczącej roli personelu w zwiększaniu skuteczności działania organizacji. W oparciu o podejście zasobowe (RBV) (Barney 1991) zachodzi w ostatnich latach szybkie zbliżenie pomiędzy dwoma kierunkami, zwłaszcza w sprawie roli odgrywanej przez cechy osobiste, charakterystyki poznawcze i zaangażowanie pracowników w podnoszenie efektywności i poprawę pozycji rynkowej firm.

Metodologia/wyniki: omawiając literaturę, niniejszy tekst wskazuje obecne tendencje w badaniach nad mobilizacją potencjału pracowników i ewentualne kierunki rozwoju dyscyplin zarówno nauk o zarządzaniu, jak i psychologii. W artykule omawiamy również płaszczyznę dalszego schodzenia się zainteresowań obu kierunków badawczych w kwestii roli systemów motywacyjnych, szkoleniowych i społecznych w budowaniu strategii przedsiębiorstwa – czyli w domenie strategicznego zarządzania zasobami ludzkimi (SHRM).

Oryginalność: zadania stojące przed współczesnymi systemami HR są znacznie bardziej ambitne niż przy klasycznie rozumianym HR i skupiają się raczej na rozwiązywaniu czterech głównych problemów:
1) jak wykorzystać wewnętrzny potencjał pracowników do reagowania na zmiany i dokonywania innowacji?
2) jak zwiększać ten potencjał?
3) jak wykorzystać procesy grupowe w rozwiązywaniu problemów organizacyjnych?
4) jak wprząc kapitał ludzki i kapitał społeczny firmy w realizację strategicznych celów przedsiębiorstwa, a zwłaszcza jak przekuć ten potencjał w pozycję rynkową
i finansową stabilność? Odpowiedzą na to wyzwanie może być omawiany nurt SHRM.