Abstract

The article is devoted to the essence, manifestations and the economic consequences of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as well as the difficulty to assess ensuing social results of the artificial intelligence. It also analyzes the practical manifestations of the foregoing in some countries, including Poland. The chapter titles of this paper are the following: The stages of Industrial Revolution, The significance of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, The implementation of the Industrial Revolution, The challenges of artificial intelligence, The economic and social effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Keywords: industrial revolution, artificial intelligence, economic effects, social effects, economic development

Introduction

Industrialisation has become a major factor for the social and economic development and the progress of civilisation, exerting an impact on the structural changes in the economy and social life. Industrialisation processes are closely intertwined with the changes in the organisation, legal status and property of various types and forms of enterprises and instruments used in the management of economy. In the 1970s, the growing importance of relationships between the enterprises and the environment and the necessity of extending the time of planning development have resulted in the emergence of strategic planning. The principles of crisis management which were formulated in the early 21st century, responded to the increasing turbulences within the environment of enterprises.

Industrialisation and the technical progress in the industry determine raising the standard of living not just through the supply of modern and relatively cheap products, but also through the growing services sector. This is because in line with the development of processing industry, the services sector has increased employment in the economy and generated a higher GDP. This, in turn, has brought a new look at the structure of the economy and the role of the industry in its development, which has resulted in the concept of a post-industrial society and the dawn of the post-industrial era followed by the onset of the servitisation phase, i.e. the superiority of services over other economic sectors.

However, it turned out that deindustrialisation cannot be carried too far as many service providers are not able to operate without being supplied with the new industrial goods.

Abstract

The huge amount of generated information is now a global phenomenon affecting all market participants, and the need to constantly collect and process significant amounts of data is becoming a daily reality for decision making. The article aims to introduce the concept of Big Data and to indicate the possibility of using large data sets by modern entities primarily in the field of communication management. Very large data sets are created not only thanks to devices enabling data transmission but also through mutual interactions of people, e.g. in social networks. The acquisition and correct interpretation of this data play an important role in market entities, especially in the field of management, including communication management, since greater availability of data means more accurate decisions, although it also raises some problems. The article was prepared based on a literature review, research reports and analysis of secondary sources. The presented considerations will be the basis for further conclusions in the direction of empirical research.

Keywords: Big Data, marketing communication, data processing and collection, communication management, data interpretation

Literature review

Modern technologies affect not only our everyday lives but above all human methods. Telephones, tablets, television, radio, smartphones and game consoles are available everywhere. The needs and expectations of today's consumers regarding communication vary and will change; they are focused on here and now. Digital transformation includes more and more entities that change their way of thinking, acting, management, including by exploiting the potential of social media, mobile technology and other digital solutions. Cyberspace is a reflection of the idea of subject fragmentation and consumer orientation. On the one hand, it is about the multiplicity of buyers’ identities, while on the other, it concerns the immediate availability of information on the Internet (which, according to D.I. Hoffman is the most important invention since the discovery of printing), allowing to immediately meet the expectations of the recipient. “The ephemeral nature of hyperreality forces enormous flexibility” of the created strategies, including communication strategies. The effectiveness of many campaigns is often a derivative of the analysed data and the used technology.

Data processing and collection is becoming more convenient and cheaper.

Abstract

Organisations providing international transportation, shipping and forwarding services are exposed to risk in every stage of making business whether it is recognised and managed, addressed in a cursory manner, or altogether ignored. In order to understand the risk that exists, companies can proactively assess the probability and impact of risk in advance, or reactively discover risk after a detrimental event occurs. Operations in the logistics process are subject to the risk of disruptions that enterprises try to minimise. The purpose of this study is to explore, analyse, and derive common themes on mathematical risk assessment techniques. The article presents the application of this method in the domain of international freight wheeled transport. Assessing risk, including appraising its likelihood of occurrence, exposure, likely triggers, and likely loss, is a critical step in managing the risk inherent in this type of companies. Findings from this research indicate that organisations can assess the risk with simple and affordable techniques.

Keywords: risk management in logistics processes, logistics process, mathematical risk assessment method, risk, risk concept, logistics

Introduction

The new landscape of the 21st century, with unparalleled advancements and growth, is fraught with a variety of hazards and risks. As multinational companies operate across borderless and timeless dimensions of the international marketplace, coupled with rapid transportation systems where nothing is more certain than a change in the ecosystems, the risk is much higher than it used to be. Every organisation needs to obtain goods and services in order to carry out its objectives and goals. In the European market for land transport of cargo, the most important role is played by shippers who choose road carriers to meet the requirements of the market and customers. The choice of road transport services is not limited only by the advantages of this type of transport, but also by the very low operational and commercial attractiveness of alternative services in this field. Although the European Union's transport policy is aimed at preventing the excessive development of road transport, in order to eliminate the negative impact on the natural environment, so far in Western Europe there is no prospect of limiting the place of road transport below 65%.

Abstract

In recent years, technological innovations, especially in the area of communication and information exchange have significantly accelerated. Under these conditions, brands cannot rely on a previously acquired position and their long-standing heritage, but they must actively seek new forms of reaching the minds and hearts of consumers. The main purpose of the article is to answer the question about the future of brands and their importance for the success of companies. An attempt to find answers to the above questions in the article was carried out based on the analysis of results of rankings of the most valuable global and Polish brands, as well as studies of literature on trends in brand management resulting from technological, social and cultural changes. The main conclusion from conducted research is that brands will remain one of the decisive factors in creating the value of companies. However, methods of building a brand, as well as the way of its value creation will change. Consumers will turn to brands as new institutions that will allow them to meet their more complex needs: meaning, belonging, happiness, fulfilment, self-improvement, etc. As a result, the responsibility of brands will increase, which will cause that they will have to operate in a more transparent and ethical manner.

Keywords: branding, future of brands, brand management, brand value

Introduction

The evolution of the brand from product, through trademark to carrier of unique values, has a long history. The factors that initially served as a tool for a simple exchange of utility, later turned into a carrier of benefits and an element of market protection, to finally become a billion-dollar declaration of the superiority of offered attributes. Companies that have managed to build strong brands gain a lasting competitive advantage in the market, which translates into high margins and a high return on employed capital, which in turn leads to an increase in the company value. In the case of many businesses, the brand is their most valuable asset, which may have as many as several dozen percent shares in their market value. Currently, brands account for 30% of global wealth. In the context of changes that have occurred in recent years on the market, the question about the future of brands is justified.

Abstract

I wish to compare the communication systems of network and traditional (hierarchical) organisations. The communication system as a tool supporting the management system may be, depending on the situation, a component delaying or supporting the implementation of the Industry 4.0 concept. The author also examines the factors that impact the smooth functioning of modern communication systems, focusing in particular on the role of ICT as a determinant of the operation of such systems. Communication systems of organisations depend on many factors, of which the main ones include: 1) the purposes that these systems are to serve and 2) the resources allocated to them. Communication systems are analysed in numerous works of literature on organisation and management sciences. In order to present communication in organisation management, the author applied a model approach simplifying managerial communication. The selection of analysed sources is anchored in the study of literature and research reports as well as in his own experience as a designer and researcher.

Keywords: communication systems, network organizations, models of communication

Introduction

We wish to compare the communication systems of network and traditional (hierarchical) organisations. The communication system as a tool supporting the management system may be, depending on the situation, a component delaying or supporting the implementation of the Industry 4.0 concept. The implementation of this concept requires a shift from hierarchical communication systems to the use of network solutions. We will also examine the factors that affect the smooth functioning of modern communication systems. We are particularly interested in the role of ICT as a determinant of the operation of such systems. Communication systems of organisations depend on many factors. The crucial ones include the purposes that these systems are to serve and the resources allocated to them. Communication systems are analysed in numerous works of literature on organisation and management sciences. In order to present communication in organisation management, we will employ a model approach that outlines managerial communication in a simplified way. The selection of analysed sources is anchored in the study of literature and research reports as well as in our own experience as designers and researchers.

Brands are the lingua franca through which individuals, celebrities, politicians, cities, and more distinguish themselves in a brand new world. Universities are no exception. Indeed, university brands are among the world’s most recognizable and valuable brands. Harvard rivals Hermès in prestige and exclusivity – and is certainly more elusive than the purchase of a tie or scarf. This volume explores the brand as media and mediator, the filter through which the modern university perceives, represents, and ultimately remakes itself. Today the brand goes far beyond a school name, coat of arms, logo, colors, or a mascot. The university brand seeks to capture and commodify as completely as possible the aesthetic value in belonging and participating in an academic community and its storied past. The aesthetic move in property seeks to capitalize on all thought and pleasure associated with one’s alma mater. The aesthetic university is a stage on which transformative life experiences are enacted, recast, and traded.

This Chapter tells the story of the author’s Chair – the Royall Chair at Harvard Law School – and of its donor and his marks. Isaac Royall, Jr., was during his lifetime the largest slaveholder in colonial Massachusetts. The Isaac Royall, Jr., brand has risen, and fallen, and risen again, and fallen again in political struggles spanning from his grandfather’s arrival in Maine as an indentured servant, to Isaac Royall, Jr.’s own precipitous flight from Boston after the commencement of the American revolution, to his former slave Belinda’s struggle for her due at his hands in which she denounced him for exploiting her, to Harvard University’s acceptance of his bequest of the Royall Chair, to the University’s adoption of his heraldic shield as a symbol of the Law School, to the conversion of the hagiographical Royall House museum to the Royall House and Slave Quarters, to a years-long struggle over racial justice at the Law School.It is the story of both the fragility and the durability of a brand that is rich in social meaning and unimportant enough to be transformed into the language of ever-shifting contemporary political struggle.It ends in medias res, the author being uncertain what comes next.

Straddling the line between knowledge and business, public and private, or between its local ties to the state and its reach toward the global economy of higher education, the modern university seems to have found in brands a tool to construct a coherent and attractive image, if perhaps only skin deep, of itself, its role, and its “excellence.” This chapter looks at the specificity of academic brands compared to their corporate counterparts, focusing in particular on the distinct notion of “origin” that they signify (and how that frames the ways in which such brands may be tarnished), the relationship between academic brands and academic rankings, and the fundamental role of students in the establishment of such brands. One of the suggestions put forward here is that, rather than an adoption of a corporate trend, academic brands may have in some way predated that trend.

Personalization is the branding choice of the day. In a world of nearly endless choices, brands want to make consumers feel like their product is uniquely for them, and universities are no exception to this marketing ploy. The rise of individualization and a saturated marketplace have led to the “personalized generic” brand, where you are both “one of a kind” and “a kind of one.” For example, many universities in the UK began using the term “MyUniversity” as part of their educational platform, which doubles as a branding tool. The rise of this branding technique is partly due to increasingly consumer-specific data tracking and collection systems coupled with the wise-use of linguistic shifter language, such as “my.”  As the market continues to be inundated with more of the same, the competition to distinguish one from the rest of the pack will be crucial to universities. Their branding model focused on personalization may be what it takes to prevail.

The brands of universities are best understood not as trademarks, but as geographical indications. The conventional American theory of trademarks has always been an ill fit for the merchandising uses that universities enforce their brands to protect, because those uses are grounded in anti-misappropriation impulses that traditional American trademark law has always looked on with ambivalence. But the use of a signifier to channel material support from consumers to a productive community (such as a university), out of support for the community itself rather than out of market demand for the community’s outputs, is perfectly consistent with the justifications typically offered for protection of geographical indications. While understanding university brands as geographical indications provides analytical clarity, it also reveals such brands have a potential dark side: they may give the community’s most generous and idiosyncratic benefactors an outsize role in deciding disputes over the community’s priorities and values.

Faced with budgetary pressures, American universities have embraced propaganda within their athletics programs in order to maintain lucrative partnerships with global corporations. These university administrators become, in effect, educators-as-corporate-propagandists. This chapter examines the controversial relationship between Nike and the University of Oregon. Nike has constructed the University’s brand identity, taken control over its communications and public relations, and spread its habits and impulses to every facet of University operations. But private interests do not always overlap with public or educational ones – even to the point of violating state and federal law. The partnership between Nike and the University of Oregon casts two very different shadows over the question of usefulness of propaganda in a democratic society. On the one hand, its efficacy is unquestionable, especially in the realms of politics, business, activism, and education. On the other hand, propaganda’s utility for democracy is questionable, and in the realm of public education is often incompatible with democratic ends. America’s financially struggling public universities may need to reimagine their use of propaganda. Their success or failure may depend, ironically, on the effects of propaganda elsewhere in society: What use is a university, after all, in a society which has no use for truth?