Background. Customer satisfaction, in many cases affected by trust, is critical to the postconsumption intention and is regarded as the key success factor of sales in general and electronic commerce websites in particular. However few studies indicate clearly the determinants and especially their influential strengths on online customer satisfaction in emerging markets.
Research aims. This study investigates what factors determine customer satisfaction. Methods. Conducted research is using data collected from 758 online customers in Vietnam, mostly young people. 

Key  findings. The particular contribution of these results shows that distributive fairness, customer interface quality, perceived security, perceived usefulness and trust are significant predictors of mcustomer satisfaction; especially, the mediator role of trust is proved.

Background. The changes in the process of communication that have been observed in recent years have forced companies to look for alternative solutions enabling them to reach
a customer. A contemporary consumer does expect to get reliable opinions, recommenda-tions and relations based on mutual trust. Therefore, using external blogs in a commercial way is an area of growing interest.
Research aims. The aim of the article is to determine the level and specificity of cooperation between companies/brands and bloggers in the process of communication with a client.
Methodology. The article was prepared on the basis of literature review and the authors’ own research. The conducted research comprised of 412 blogs and was carried out by means of an internet questionnaire, which was related to the objective and research subject. The research was conducted in the period between 29.10.2013 - 12.11.2013. The obtained results were supplemented with the opinions of bloggers participating in the quantitative research.
Key findings. Blogs have a huge marketing potential. However, for the process of communication with a client to be effective, all aspects of cooperation between a company/brand and a blogger must be precisely determined, especially when non-standard actions are concerned.

Background. Consumer engagement with brands in social media has become an increasingly important challenge for companies to create and to measure. Building fan engagement with brands turns out to be one of the most important promotional objectives for social media, and a preferred brand performance indicator. Despite a growing demand, it has received little academic consideration and there exists no universally accepted measurement of this phenomenon.
Research aims. This paper aims at forwarding a new theoretical framework and developing a context free index to measure aggregate engagement with brands in social media.
Method. The author developed a new engagement index and examined it by means of standard index validation methods. Two separate studies have been conducted. In the first study, two samples (425 subjects in total) were selected to test internal reliability and consistency of a newly created index. The second study concentrated on the external validation of engagement index. 260 subjects were surveyed. The index was tested on real-life brands i.e. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola.
Key findings. In the first study factor analyses showed one general factor and it revealed high consistency across different brands that were included in the examination. The newly developed index was, therefore, assumed applicable to measure consumer engagement phenomena in social media. In the second study the results revealed a positive – albeit limited – correlation between personal involvement and consumer engagement. Such findings implied a complementary relationship between these variables and hence different possible implications and suggestions for future empirical research were presented.

Background. The initiation of social responsibility on the part of a company – according to which corporations integrate social and environmental exercises in their business activity – has gained more publicity recently, so the CSR has become common knowledge. However, the CSR which was created in the interest of sustainable development is not exclusively the privilege of the organizational environment. The elements of social responsibility are those that can be integrated and realized in the non-business sphere, out of which the present study focuses on social and employment matters.
Research aims. The research aim is to cognize the employees’ expectations in public schools, the general attitude of employees regarding their labour and social sensitivity, and the internal communication of public schools.
Method. The research applied the focus group depth interview method.
Key findings. According to the results, differences can be seen in the preference of em-ployment and social matters between the business and non-business sectors. One of them is the need for employees to have esteem and also the knowledge of the explicit effects that must be improved. The role of trainings is important, but the adaption of responsible organisational solutions, methods (family-friendly view, healthy working environment, gender equality, activities outside work etc.) can help to improve proactive motivation among employees and also the inner communication that motivates employees.

Background. China is one of the most attractive investment destinations for the biggest global automotive players, and Lean Manufacturing (LM) is their most established business improvement methodology enhancing the automotive industry's performance. Despite intensive investments in LM, the automotive industry is still not able to employ Lean philosophy effectively at Chinese locations.
Research aims. Theoretical and empirical questions arise on how to improve the situation in terms of Lean Manufacturing performance at Chinese locations. Thus, in the paper, we pose that if we assume leadership is the crucial enabler in LM implementation, there is an urgent need to address the conditions of Chinese leadership.
Method. Basing on the content analysis of existing job offers we estimated the alignments of demands of the job posed by the unique context of Chinese culture with the profiles of candidates that are mostly wanted.
Key findings. The content analysis revealed that in job offers there is an underestimation of cultural intelligence skills. The aforementioned analysis led us to the proposition of how to improve leadership in China by introducing a model of Chinese leadership center development denoted as a “China Lean Center”. The Center can be used by practitioners to develop in-house skillful and culturally aware leaders in order to enable successful implementation of LM at Chinese locations.

Background. The present publication takes up the problem of the popularity of the tendency to motivate information technology specialists by means of beyond-pay elements of their remuneration. The problem is discussed from the perspective of an economic crisis. The paper contains a review of literature concerned with various aspects of the investigated question. The paper tries to shed a new light on the explored problem.
Research aims. The present publication is designed to discuss changes in personnel management in beyond-pay methods of remuneration, the essential changes in the economic conjuncture having an impact on this process.
Method. In order to investigate the tendencies, detectable between 2006 and 2010 in the policy of applying particular beyond-pay elements of remuneration, the paper analysed
the data that characterized the situation of six different posts occupied by IT specialists.
The analysis was made from the perspective of ten potential instruments designed to motivate them.
Key findings. The research that was thus made drew the conclusion that at the time when all-economy difficulties occurred, the enterprises were relatively more restrictive about applying measures that might build up long-term relationships with their employees, and instead offered them instruments that had immediate benefits for employees from their employment.

Background. The article discusses the problem of making effective restructuring measures, which at times of dynamic and turbulent changes, including those caused by the economic crisis, are considered an important element in achieving and maintaining a strong competitive position. This issue particularly affects Polish enterprises that are forced, beyond competing in local markets, to adapt to the new conditions resulting from the ongoing globalization process. In this article are presented different types of restructuring, both at the micro and macro scale and also the most important stages of restructuring are discussed, bearing in mind that the choice of the type of restructuring strictly determines the scope of the restructuring measures, which the enterprise should apply in order to achieve its target. Apart from that, each restructuring decision should be preceded by a detailed examination of the potential results that will bring this type of action.
Research aims. The aim of the research is to identify the approach of Polish companies to the restructuring process.
Method. The authors conducted a literature review and a survey among Polish enterprises. The survey was conducted in 2012 among 50 Polish companies.
Key findings. The results obtained by the authors of the studies in the field of restructuring directions indicate that the choices made in relation to the restructuring activities should not be limited only to the period of economic downturn and the crisis, but most of all foresee the future. As a result, it is necessary to change the attitude of Polish enterprises to the process of restructuring just in order to be considered in the category of development activities and not remedial.

Background. Some Polish hospitals are in a good financial position but others are not, even though they are of a similar size according to their budgets, the number and structure of specialists and type of society they serve. Furthermore, it is difficult to find the factors responsible for their different financial standing. To investigate deeper the dissimilarities that might exist, the author hypothesizes that one of the most important factors that possibly influences a hospital’s financial performance is its control system.
Research aims. In these circumstances the research is aimed at identifying different control areas and mechanisms which have been used by hospital managers to ensure delivery of high-quality cost effective patient care and that concurrently balance the hospital budget.
Method. During the study the author investigated the operating core of hospitals in order to develop a deeper understanding of its internal control processes. This qualitative study is based on several in-depth interviews with general directors of two similar hospitals.
Key findings. The research indicates that hospitals ought to concentrate on four generic areas of control: input control, legitimacy of medical procedures control, revenue control and overheads control. Thus comparing the studied hospitals according to their activities in the four control areas it is visible that the hospital which has a good financial situation, takes control measures in all four areas, and the top managers are directly involved in supervising most of these activities. While the hospital which is facing financial difficulties, is much less active in the described areas of control and the director does not participate actively in control of the lower levels of his organization nor does he build such extended control mechanisms as the director from the better-off hospital.

Background. The phenomenon of managerialism is more and more frequently observed in health care institutions that previously were public in most countries. It is based on introducing professional management into hospitals, economization of measures, competitiveness, privatization and service contracting. The introduced solutions are transferred from the private sector, however, it is not entirely clear how these models will operate in the medical care sector and transfer on the desired increase in effectiveness.
Research aims. The aim of this article is to present as the results of research concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of management in health care entities and the possibilities of applying the praxeological analysis of activities in the evaluation of management effectiveness.
Method. In order to achieve this aim, a review of the literature concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of management in health care institutions and in hospitals especially was carried out.
Key findings. Literature analysis shows the necessity to change the current approach concerning the applied research methods emphasised by many authors, in which quantitative methods dominate. It is important to complement these studies with a qualitative approach that would mostly include the specific context of shaping managerial roles in health care and combine them with traditional medical roles. The term efficiency is very much confused
and misused with the term effectiveness and they are not precisely defined in the literature relating to management in health care. To complement this deficiency the article proposes the application of the idea of praxeological efficaciousness and praxeological analysis allowing one to include in the evaluation of management performance in health care numerous aspects of the functioning of hospitals without focusing on just the economic one.

Background. The beginning of the twenty-first century has been characterized by the crisis in a lot of enterprises caused mainly by a strong technocratic paradigm (instrumental rationality) existing in the world of business. Within that model of management one absolutizes the role of mathematics in building business strategies, instead of focusing on good leadership in one’s enterprise in order to increase its business potential. Hence, it seems that one should the technocratic model in education and managerial actions and introduce the personalistic-phenomenological model.
Research aims. Proposing new methods of management (organizational development) in order to establish ontologic-ontic coherence of management in an organization, which should originate in the form of the application of Martin Heidegger’s ontology to management sciences, especially those that are used for diagnosis of social and ethics problems.
Method. Close analysis of research of other scholars, such as Leszek Krzyżanowski, Janina Filek, Kazimierz Rogoziński demonstrates that there is a new paradigm of management needed (different than the technocratic model). Introducing the term “phenomenological lens” based on Martin Heidegger’s thoughts as a tool of analysis in business and for conducting case study research on the radical change of management styles in the Semco company – based on information from organizational documents of Semco and Ricardo Semler’s autobiography. Phenomenological analysis according to the “3i” formula confirms Semler’s business philosophy to be an excellent exemplification of good leadership.
Key findings. Improving the dominant management model must be preceded by philosophical reflection, hence, by personalistic phenomenology that recognizes a human being as
a conscious person experiencing oneself and others. Martin Heidegger’s, Max Scheler’s and Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka’s thoughts are the major inspiration in the creation of such a new paradigm of management. The phenomenological lens focusses on what is ontological and what is ontic, existential and existentic (in Heidegger’s sense) is the key concept of the phenomenology of management and, at the same time, a crucial instrument in the diagnosis and development of an organization since it allows for more accurate analysis of its structures – both from the philosophical (ontological) and scientific (ontic) perspective. For the phenomenological lens, as a method of analysis in contradiction to other tools of analysis, provides
a view of an enterprise not from one, but from different perspectives. Hence, it provides information regarding a complex image of an enterprise, using it as a meta-method in business ensuring ontological-ontic coherence of an analyzed object, and, ipso facto, contributes to the development of a strategy for improvement of that object.