Present economic environment, which is rapidly changing, confronts companies, organisations and institutions with a problem how to protect a long — term competitiveness. A crucial factor is the quality of products and services. It means to bring new methods of management into practice, which is beneficial but these changes must not be autotelic. The main goal is to increase an efficiency, operationality and quality. In terms of modern instruments and methods of management we often meet with ideas like strategic management, TQM (total quality management), knowledge management, human resources management, learnig organisation, business intelligence, balance scorecard.
Strategic management includes also the aspects of sustainable development as a strategy promoting ecological sustainability. Permanent concern in the environment protection and increasing pressure of involved groups (namely state administration, public and business partners) on the responsible approach to environment leads enterprises to introduce systems of environmental management. Implementation of these systems may imply enhanced competitive advantage in the form of reduced costs or a possibility of providing a differentiation on the market. To formulate meaningful strategic plans and strategies, one needs a number of initial data and prerequisites. An important source of information for decision-making processes within the strategic environmental management is environmental managerial accounting. The environment-oriented information system should also include data about environment-induced financial impacts on the enterprise management, especially about costs spent in connexion with environment protection (environmental costs). The paper deals with the characterization of tools applicable by environmental management in the formation of strategies leading to improved competitiveness of the enterprise under conditions of long-term economic recession.
In recent years, the internationalisation of firm activities has been a significant trend in the agribusiness sector. To a great degree, this development has been fuelled by trade liberalisations and the EU enlargement, but also by the strong economic growth in many transforming and developing economies. Against this background, this paper identifies the strategies and instruments that agribusiness companies currently use when internationalising their business. The paper presents the empirical results of a survey that was undertaken between April and August 2010 with the participation of 113 German agribusiness firms. The majority of respondents expect that the globalisation of agricultural markets will increase remarkably in the future. For developing international business activities, comparatively simple strategies, such as direct and indirect exports, are most widely used. Agribusiness firms face various challenges in international markets, including problems with quality control, corruption, tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, as well as low availability of qualified workers and managers and a lack of legal security. Despite these difficulties and challenges, three-fourths of those interviewed indicated that they had either reached or exceeded the goals set for their international expansion.
Ważnym etapem w procesie zarządzania ryzykiem jest planowanie metod reagowania na ryzyko. Odpowiednim narzędziem do tego celu są macierze reagowania na ryzyko. W pracy zostały one wykorzystane do opracowania strategii reagowania na ryzyko ekologiczne w konserwowanych ciekach. Strategia polegająca na unikaniu ryzyka obejmuje działania prowadzące do zmniejszenia częstości robót konserwacyjnych. Strategia związana z łagodzeniem ryzyka to głównie zabiegi technologiczne i organizacyjne, ograniczające niekorzystne zmiany w zbiorowiskach roślinnych i zwierzęcych koryta cieku. Strategia polegająca na aktywnej akceptacji ryzyka zakłada dobre rozpoznanie flory i fauny koryta cieku i prowadzenie robót ze szczególną ostrożnością w miejscach występowania cennych zbiorowisk. W pracy wykazano, że przypisane poszczególnym strategiom działania mogą wpłynąć na obniżenie poziomu ryzyka ekologicznego, lecz generują ryzyko podwyższenia kosztów realizacji robót konserwacyjnych i ryzyko wydłużenia czasu ich realizacji.