Organizacija, volume / letnik 42, number / številka 4, July-August / julij-avgust 2009 Contents/Kazalo 4/2009 RESEARCH PAPERS 105 MILAN PAGoN, URoš BIZJAK 119 MIROLJUB KLJAJIC 129 MARKO JAKšIC, BORUT RUSJAN 137 DUŠAN GOŠNIK, MATEJ HOHNJEC information-Communication Technology (iCT) in our Lives: the interplay of iCT and Romantic Relationships The Relevance of Systems Methodologies in the Development of Organizational Systems Heuristic Approach to inventory Control with Advance Capacity information Selection Criteria for Six Sigma Projects in Slovenian Manufacturing Companies 144 ETELKA KORPIC-HORVAT, BOJAN TIČAR, RADO BOHINC The Salary System in the Private Sector in the Republic of Slovenia SUPPLEMENT / DODATEK RAZPRAVE A179 MIRAN ŠIK Razvoj modela investiranja v iT infrastrukturo z uporabo metod sistemske dinamike A188 MAJA KONEČNiK RUZZiER Notranji pogled na razvoj znamke i feel Slovenia: soustvarjanje njene identitete s pomočjo mnenj strokovnjakov PREDLOGI ZA PRAKSO A194 ALENKA KOPINA, FRANCI ČUŠ Planiranje in optimizacija proizvodnje z informacijskim sistemom APO (Advanced Planning and Optimisation) BEREMO ZA VAS A203 BJORN PAAPE, DRAGO VUK Synthesized Organization povzetki / ABSTRACTS A204 DONATORJI A206 103 Organizacija, Volume / letnik 42 Number / številka 4, July-August / julij-avgust 2009 UREDNIK / EDITOR UREDNIŠKI ODBOR REVIJE / EDITORIAL BOARD Paula swatman, University of south australia, australia Jože Zupančič, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za organizacijske vede Rado Bohinc, Univerza na Primorskem, Slovenija Brian Timney, The University of Western Ontario, USA Roger Blanpain, Catholic University of Leuve, Belgium Franc čuš, Univerza v Mariboru, Slovenija Maurice Yolles, Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom SOUREDNIKA I CO-EDITORS Douglas Vogel, City University of Hong Kong Marko Ferjan, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za organizacijske vede Daniel C. Ganster, University of Arkansas, Usa Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber, Middle East Technical University, Turkey Jože Gričar, Univerza v Mariboru, slovenija stanislaw Wricza, University of Gdansk, Poland Boštjan Gomišček, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za organizacijske vede Werner Jammernegg, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria Marius Alexander Janson, University of Missouri, USA Milton A. Jenkins, University of Baltimore, USA Stefan Klein, University of Muenster, Germany Miroljub Kljajic, Univerza v Mariboru, Slovenija Hermann Maurer, Technical University Graz, Austria Matjaž Mulej, Univerza v Mariboru, Slovenija Milan Pagon, University of iowa, Henry B. Tippie College of Business, CiMBA Campus, italy Björn Pappe, Technical University Aachen, Germany Dušan Petrač, NASA, USA Hans Puxbaum, Vienna University of Technology, Austria Vladislav Rajkovič, Univerza v Mariboru, Slovenija Henk G. Sol, Technical University Delft, The Netherlands Velimir Srica, University of Zagreb, Croatia 104 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 DOI: 10.2478/v10051-009-0008-z Information-Communication Technology (ICT) in our Lives: the Interplay of ICT and Romantic Relationships Milan Pagon1, Uroš Bizjak2 1University of Iowa, Henry B. Tippie College of Business, CIMBA Campus Italy, Via Collegio 40, 31011 Asolo (TV), Italy, milan-pagon@uiowa.edu 2Kontrola zračnega prometa Slovenije, d.o.o., Kotnikova 19 a, 1000 Ljubljana, u.bizjak@siol.net Relationships among different aspects of romantic relationship quality, the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT), characteristics of a relationship, demographics, and personality were examined on a sample of 407 students in the Republic of Slovenia. The findings suggest that the most important factor in determining the quality of a romantic relationship is companionship (joint activities of a romantic couple). Romantic couples who generally spent more time in joint activities also spent more time using ICT in maintaining their romantic relationship. The usage of ICT in a romantic relationship itself does not influence the quality of that relationship. The general usage of ICT, however, deteriorates the quality of the romantic relationship. Once we take into account the impact of companionship, personality variables do not provide any unique contributions to romantic relationship quality. Keywords: Information-communication technology, romantic relationships, interpersonal relationships, personality 1 Introduction According to Demir (2007), establishing close romantic relationships is an important developmental task during the transition to adulthood. Theory and research suggest that involvement in and the quality of romantic relationship is an essential correlate of well-being and an important source of happiness (ibid.). As well-being and happiness spill-over to organizational life, romantic relationships undoubtedly constitute an important factor of organizational behavior. Yet there is another set of factors that are changing our private and work lives dramatically, namely the Internet, as well as information and communication technologies (ICT) in general. ICT change the way people interact and establish relationships. In the 1990s, the Internet became a major vehicle for social encounters (Lawson & Leck, 2006). Studies have revealed that interpersonal communication and socializing with others are among the most popular uses of the Internet, even though the internet supports a rich array of other services from information retrieval to electronic commerce and entertainment (see Baym, Zhang, & Lin, 2004; Boneva, Kraut, & Frohlich, 2001). Ben-Ze'ev (2004) claims that there are various kinds of computer-mediated relationships that differ in some significant aspects: one-to-one or group communication formats, interrelating with real people or fantasy personas, interrelating with anonymous or identified people, and communicating in synchronous or asynchronous formats. According to the author, online romantic relationships combine features of close and remote relationships. In this article, we are not concerned with purely on-line romantic relationships. Rather, we want to investigate the intersection of real, face-to-face romantic relationships and the use of ICT. We want to explore to what extent people use ICT in establishing, maintaining, and ending their face-to-face romantic relationships. Also, we want to compare the relationship between ICT and the quality of romantic relationship with the relationship between ICT and other factors, such as personality, age, gender, companionship (joint activities) and self-disclosure. 1.1 Companionship (Joint Activities) Companionship and romantic relationship quality. Talking about companionship, Demir (2007) points out that romantic partners do not always engage in self-disclosure or provide support to each other but rather spend considerable amount of time together in different activities. Relying on findings that companionship was more important than social support, especially during non-stressful times, in predicting well-being, the author argues that doing things together with romantic partners is an essential component of the relationship that has implications for the happiness of emerging adults (ibid.). A105 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 Baxter (1986) found out that both males and females indicated the importance of spending substantial time in one another's presence as a feature of the opposite-sex romantic relationship. Thus, the following hypothesis is offered: Hypothesis 1. Companionship (the amount of joint activities in a romantic relationship) is positively related to romantic relationship quality. Companionship and the usage of ICT in maintaining a romantic relationship. Companionship is understood in terms of the amount of joint activities in a romantic relationship. Some authors (Katz & Rice, 2002; Kavanaugh & Patterson, 2002; both cited in Baym, Zhang, Kunkel, Ledbetter, & Lin, 2007) concluded that rather than replacing, revolutionizing or reversing the impacts of other interpersonal communication modes, communication technologies may be appropriated to supplement these means of meeting the goals of personal relationships. ICT is a medium for joint activities during the times when romantic couples are not physically together, so - in line with the above conclusion - we propose that it supplements other means of meeting the goals of a romantic relationship: Hypothesis 2. Companionship (the amount of joint activities in a romantic relationship) is positively related to the usage of ICT in a romantic relationship. More specifically, romantic couples who spend more time in joint activities in general, also spend more time using ICT in maintaining their romantic relationship. 1.2 The Usage of ICT in General and the Usage of ICT in a Romantic Relationship People differ in the extent that they use ICT in their lives in general. We expect this extent to influence the usage of ICT in more specific domains. Here we are interested in the usage of ICT in a romantic relationship. As we noted before, studies have revealed that interpersonal communication and socializing with others are among the most popular uses of the Internet (Baym, Zhang, & Lin, 2004; Boneva, Kraut, & Frohlich, 2001). Interpersonal communication and socializing set the stage for establishing romantic relationships. Thus, we hypothesize the following: Hypothesis 3. The usage of ICT in general is positively related to the usage of ICT in establishing, maintaining, and ending a romantic relationship. More specifically, people who spend more time using ICT in general are more likely to use ICT in establishing, maintaining, and ending their romantic relationships. 1.3 Attitudes Regarding the Usage of ICT in Interpersonal Relationships and the Usage of ICT in a Romantic Relationship Within a broader domain of using ICT, Heinssen, Glass, and Knight (1987; cited in Ward & Tracey, 2004) report that attitudes towards computer use have been correlated with computer anxiety, which is associated with lower computer use. We are not aware of any specific research on attitudes regarding the usage of ICT in interpersonal relationships and their relation to the usage of ICT in a romantic relationship. However, in line with the literature on attitudes (Snyder, 1982; Fazio, 1990), and following the reasoning that attitudes, under the right circumstances, may influence the behavior, we propose that attitudes regarding the usage of ICT in interpersonal relationships influence the usage of ICT in a romantic relationship: Hypothesis 4. Attitudes regarding the usage of ICT in interpersonal relationships are positively related to the usage of ICT in establishing, maintaining, and ending a romantic relationship. More specifically, people who have more positive attitudes regarding the usage of ICT in interpersonal relationships are more likely to use ICT in establishing, maintaining, and ending their romantic relationships. 1.4 The Usage of ICT in a Romantic Relationship and Romantic Relationship Quality A study by Parks and Roberts (1998) revealed that although off-line relationships were generally more developed overall, the differences were substantively small on several dimensions. Most important, off-line and on-line relationships did not differ in terms of the levels of breadth and depth they achieved. Baym, Zhang, Kunkel, Ledbetter, and Lin (2007) investigated the association between the extent to which a medium is used to conduct a relationship and the quality of that relationship. The authors found that the proportion of face-to-face, telephone and internet communication in a relationship did not predict relational quality, concluding that mediation neither improved nor detracted from relational satisfaction and closeness. Ward and Tracey (2004) concluded that online relationships do not appear to be a panacea for greater relationship satisfaction, support, or engagement in relationships. In line with these findings and conclusions, we propose the following: Hypothesis 5. The usage of ICT in establishing and maintaining a romantic relationship is not related to romantic relationship quality. 1.5 Individual Differences and Romantic Relationship Quality Various individual differences have been linked to romantic relationship quality. It has also been argued that personality influences the quality of romantic relationship (Demir, 2007). Shyness and romantic relationship quality. Jones and Carpenter (1986; cited in Ward & Tracey, 2004) found the scores on shyness to correlate negatively with friendship satisfaction. In line with this finding, the following hypothesis is proposed: Hypothesis 6. Shynessss is negatively related to ro-mantic relationship quality. 106 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 Self-disclosure and romantic relationship quality. Giddens (1990; cited in Lawson & Leck, 2006) saw relationships as "ties based upon trust, where trust is not pre-given but worked upon, and where the work involved means a mutual process of self-disclosure" (p. 121). Summarizing the findings in the literature, Gibbs, Ellison, & Heino (2006) conclude that self-disclosure is a key component in the development of personal relationships as it fosters closeness, and plays a key role in developing romantic relationships and intimacy. We, therefore, hypothesize the following: Hypothesis 7. Self-disclosure is positively related to romantic relationship quality. The Big Five and romantic relationship quality. Summarizing the findings of the previous studies, Barelds and Barelds-Dijkstra (2007) report that personality characteristics influence the way partners perceive each other, interact with each other and determine how relationship-related events are appraised and explained. More specifically, there is a negative relationship between neuroticism and relationship quality, and a positive relationship between extraversion and autonomy (but not agreeableness and conscientiousness) on the one hand and relationship quality on the other hand. Demir (2007) found that the respondents' extraversion and agreeableness were positively related to romantic relationship quality; that neuroticism was negatively related; and that openness to experience did not show any relationship with romantic relationship quality. Previous studies did not reach consistent conclusions regarding the relationship between conscientiousness and relationship quality (White et al., 2004; cited in Demir, 2007). In line with these findings, we propose the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 8. Extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and intellect/imagination are positively related to romantic relationship quality, whereas neuroticism is negatively related. 2 Methods 2.1 Sample The sample for this study was drawn from the student population at the University of Maribor in Slovenia. It was a combination of a convenience sample of students in two undergraduate and one graduate classes (n = 130) using a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, and an on-line sample of students from a mailing list (n = 432) using an Internet survey. Participation in the survey was voluntary and anonymous. The students in the first group were approached in class and asked for their participation. A 5-page questionnaire was administered in the classroom. The completed questionnaires were collected immediately. The students in the second group were approached by an e-mail sent out to all the members on a student mailing list. A link to an on-line survey was included in the mail. Subsequent analyses revealed no statistically significant differences in the observed variables between the two groups. A total of 562 subjects participated in the study. Missing data and uncompleted on-line surveys reduced the analysis sample size to 407, of which 133 (32.7 percent) were male and 274 (67.3 percent) were female. Ages ranged from 18 through 42, with the average of 22.9 years. The large majority (76 percent) was in the range between 20 and 24 years. 260 (63.9 percent) were in a romantic relationship at the time of their participation in the survey, 133 (32.7 percent) had a romantic relationship previously, while 14 (3.4 percent) had never been romantically involved yet. An average duration of a romantic relationship described in the survey was 2 years and 8 months. 2.2 Measures Romantic relationship quality. To assess the romantic relationship quality, we used the Perceived Relationship Quality Components (PRQC) Inventory (Fletcher, Simpson, & Thomas, 2000a). In addition to the items on the PRQC Inventory, we also used the three romance items, proposed by the authors elsewhere (Fletcher, Simpson, & Thomas, 2000b). The items had seven response options, from 1, "strongly disagree," to 7, "strongly agree." According to the authors, the inventory measured the following seven components: relationship satisfaction, commitment, intimacy, trust, passion, love, and romance (the added items). We performed a factor analysis with varimax rotation. Three factors emerged from this analysis: a) Love, commitment, and closeness (a = .94). b) Passion and romance (a = .85). c) Trust and satisfaction (a = .89). The three factor solution is shown in Table 1. Companionship. We measured companionship using eleven items describing joint activities of romantic couples. Participants were instructed to indicate the frequency of engaging in these joint activities on a six-point scale, from 1, "never," to 6, "every day." Sample items included "having meals together (at home or in a restaurant)," "doing sports or recreational activities together," "socializing with friends together," and "sleeping together." Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .78. Usage of ICT in general. We measured the usage of ICT in general by asking the respondents to indicate the frequency of using sixteen different ICT media in their work and day-today lives on a seven-point scale, from 1, "never," to 7, "three or more times per day." Sample ICT media included "mobile phone - voice," "Short Message Service (SMS)," "e-mail," "Skype," "Facebook," and "Second Life." The internal consistency coefficient a of the scores was .62. Usage of ICT in establishing a romantic relationship. We asked respondents to indicate the extent to which they used sixteen different ICT media in establishing their romantic relationships on a five-point scale, from 1, "not at all," to 5, "to a very large extent." The sixteen listed ICT media were the same as for the usage of ICT in general. The alpha coefficient was .65. 107 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 Table 1: Results of Factor Analysis of Perceived Relationship Quality Itemsa Items Love, commitment, closeness Passion, romance Trust, satisfaction How close is your relationship? How commited are you to your relationship? How much do you adore your partner? How connected are you with your partner? How devoted are you to your relationship? To what extent do you and your partner go out of your way to make each other feel special? How much do you love your partner? How dedicated are you to your relationship? How much do you cherish your partner? How sexualy intense is your relationship? How happy are you with your relationship? How lustful is your relationship? To what extent do you and your partner surprise each other with small gifts, notes, cards, flowers, and special treats? How romantic is your relationship? How intimate is your relationships? How passionate is your relationship? How much can you trust your partner? How content are you with your relationship? How dependable is your partner? How satisfied are you with your relationship? How much can you count on your partner? a n = 407 0.51 0.81 0.73 0.58 0.84 0.56 0.77 0.86 0.67 0.80 0.55 0.75 0.43 0.54 0.63 0.80 0.81 0.60 0.85 0.58 0.78 Usage of ICT in maintaining a romantic relationship. We asked respondents to indicate the frequency of using sixteen different ICT media in maintaining their romantic relationships on a seven-point scale, from 1, "never," to 7, "three or more times per day." The sixteen listed ICT media were the same as for the usage of ICT in general. The internal consistency coefficient a was .60. Usage of ICT in ending a romantic relationship. We asked respondents to indicate the extent to which they used (or would use, if they were still in a relationship) sixteen different ICT media in ending their romantic relationships on a five-point scale, from 1, "not at all," to 5, "to a very large extent." The sixteen listed ICT media were the same as for the usage of ICT in general. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .85. Table 2: Results of Factor Analysis of Attitudes Regarding the Usage of ICT in Interpersonal Relationships Itemsa Items Seriousness of Ease of using Dishonesty in ICT ICT in using ICT in relationships interpersonal interpersonal relationships relationships I like to meet in person those that I meet through ICT. I take very seriously the relationships that I make through ICT. I consider relationships I make through ICT to be genuine. When meeting people through ICT I like to present myself favourably. 0.81 0.85 0.82 0.62 It is easier for me to make contacts through ICT than in person. I prefer to delived bad news through ICT than in person. I prefer to receive bad news through ICT than in person. In making contacts through ICT I tend to use false identity. 0.63 0.90 0.87 0.99 1 n = 407 108 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 Attitudes regarding the usage of ICT in interpersonal relationships. We used eight items describing the possible attitudes toward the usage of ICT in interpersonal relationships. Respondents were instructed to indicate the extent to which they agreed with each of the items. The items had five response options, from 1, "strongly disagree," to 5, "strongly agree." We performed a factor analysis with varimax rotation. Three factors emerged from this analysis: a) Ease of using ICT in interpersonal relationships (a = .80). b) Seriousness of ICT relationships (a = .75). c) Dishonesty in using ICT in interpersonal relationships (single item). The three factor solution is shown in Table 2. Self-Disclosure. We measured self-disclosure using the 18-item Self-Disclosure Scale (Wheeless & Grotz, 1976). The items had five response options, from 1, "strongly disagree," to 5, "strongly agree." According to the authors, the scale measured the following five components: intent to disclose, amount of disclosure, the positive-negative nature of disclosure, the honesty-accuracy of disclosure, and general depth - control of disclosure. We performed a factor analysis with varimax rotation. Three factors emerged from this analysis: a) Amount and honesty - accuracy of disclosure (a = .72). b) Intent to disclose (a = .41). c) General depth - control of disclosure (a = .19). The three factor solution is shown in Table 3. Due to the unacceptably low internal consistency coefficients for "intent to disclose" and "general depth - control of disclosure," these two factors were dropped from all the subsequent analyses and we only retained the "amount and honesty - accuracy" dimension of self-disclosure. Shyness. We measured shyness using a Cheek's (1983; cited in Robinson, Shaver, & Wrightsman, 1991) revision of the Cheek & Buss' Shyness Scale. The items had five response options, from 1, "very uncharacteristic or untrue, strongly disagree," to 5, "very characteristic or true, strongly agree." Sample items included "I feel tense when I'm with people I don't know well," I feel inhibited in social situations," I have no doubts about my social competence" (reverse-scored), and "I am socially somewhat awkward." Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .85. The Big Five factors of personality. We assessed the Big Five factors of personality using the Mini-IPIP (Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006), a 20-item short form of the 50-item International Personality Item Pool—Five-Factor Model measure (Goldberg, 1999). Participants rated their agreement with the statements by selecting one of the five options, from 1, "strongly disagree," to 5, "strongly agree." There were four Table 3: Results of Factor Analysis of Self-disclosure Itemsa Amount, Intended Control / Items accuracy, honesty disclosure general depth I cannot reveal myself when I want to because I do not 0.47 know myself thoroughly enough. Only infrequently do I express my personal beliefs and opinions. 0.61 I do not always feel completely sincere when I reveal my own feelings, 0.47 emotions, behaviors, or experiences. I am often not confident that my eypression of my own feelings, emotions, 0.39 and experiences are true reflections of myself. My conversation lasts the least time when I am discussing myself. 0.72 I am not always honest in my self disclosures. 0.54 On the whole, my disclosures about myself are more negative then 0.53 positive. I do not often talk about myself. 0.75 My statements of my feelings are ususally brief. 0.33 When I wish my self-disclosures are always accurate reflections of who I 0.63 really am. My disclosures of personal beliefs and opinions are always directly related 0.46 to the conversation. When I reveal my feelings about myself, I consciously intended to do so. 0.67 When I express my personal feelings, I am always aware of what I am 0.65 doing and saying. I usually disclose positive things about myself. 0.53 Once I get started, my self-disclosures last a long time. 0.65 My messages reveal mostly what i like. 0.59 I typically reveal information about myself without intending to. 0.51 I intimately disclose who I really am, openly and fully in my conversation. 0.49 a n = 407 109 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 items per Big Five trait: Extraversion (a = .80), Agreeableness (a = .67), Conscientiousness (a = .77), Neuroticism (a = .57), and Intellect/Imagination (or Openness) (a = .63). In addition, we collected data on respondents' gender, age, and duration of the relationship. 2.1 Analyses We first calculated Pearson correlation coefficients to test the hypothesized relationships among the studied variables. We then performed a series of stepwise regression analyses to determine the variables predicting romantic relationship quality and the usage of ICT in a romantic relationship. Finally, we used hierarchical multiple regression to determine whether the usage of ICT in a romantic relationship added to the amount of explained variance in romantic relationship quality, after the impact of other variables had been accounted for. Duration of relationship was entered first; then the demographic variables (age and gender) were entered in the second block, self-disclosure in the third block and the personality variables (the Big Five factors and shyness) in the fourth block. Lastly, the usage of ICT variables (ICT in establishing and maintaining a romantic relationship) were entered and assessed for their unique contributions to the quality of a romantic relationship. 3 Results Descriptive statistics for the usage of different ICT media in general and in a romantic relationship are shown in Table 4. The four most frequently used media are marked in bold for each usage type. As can be seen from the table, in all cases the same four ICT media were most frequently used, although the order changed slightly: mobile phone - voice calls, Short Message Service (SMS), e-mail, and instant messaging. After these four, the means for other media dropped substantively. Correlations and descriptive statistics for all variables are reported in Table 5. Hypothesis 1 Hypothesis 1, which predicts a positive relationship between companionship and romantic relationship quality, received strong support. Companionship (the amount of joint activities in a romantic relationship) was positively correlated with love, commitment, and closeness (r = .39, p < .0001), passion and romance (r = .41, p < .0001) and trust and satisfaction (r = .38, p < .0001) (see Table 5). Furthermore, in stepwise regression analysis for dependent variable 'love, commitment, and closeness' (see Table 9), companionship turned out to be the most important predictor (R2 = .16, F = 52.64, p < .0001). That was also the case for stepwise regression analysis for dependent variable 'passion and romance' (R2 = .17, F = 58.44, p < .0001) (see Table 10) and for stepwise regression analysis for dependent variable 'trust and satisfaction' (R2 = .15, F = 48.98, p < .0001) (see Table 11). Hypothesis 2 Companionship was also positively correlated with the usage of ICT in maintaining a romantic relationship (r = .19, p = .0002), providing support for Hypothesis 2 (see Table 5). Table 4: The Usage of ICT Mediaa The usage in The usage in The usage in The usage in establishing a maintaining a ending a general (scale 1-7) romantic romantic romantic relationship relationship relationship (scale 1-5) (scale 1-7) (scale 1-5) ICT Media: Mean Std. Mean Std. Mean Std. Mean Std. Dev. Dev. Dev. Dev. Mobile phone - voice calls 3.99 1.17 5.94 1.27 2.72 1.39 6.56 0.98 Mobile phone - video calls 1.18 0.63 1.25 0.87 1.14 0.51 1.31 0.96 Short Message Service (SMS) 4.08 1.11 5.54 1.4 2.45 1.37 5.90 1.25 Multimedia Messaging Service 1.78 1.02 1.96 1.29 1.29 0.75 2.05 1.33 (MMS) E-mail 2.29 1.31 3.08 1.75 1.84 1.17 5.77 1.26 Internet Relay Chat (IRC) 1.33 0.92 1.24 0.90 1.07 0.39 1.17 0.80 Instant messaging (MSN, 2.64 1.63 3.23 2.24 1.84 1.26 4.70 2.2 Gtalk, AIM, ICQ, etc.) Skype 1.35 0.98 1.42 1.23 1.23 0.73 1.78 1.61 Forums (writing on forums) 1.08 0.43 1.12 0.66 1.05 0.34 2.24 1.77 Online chat rooms 1.05 0.37 1.04 0.35 1.04 0.28 1.16 0.69 Blogging 1.05 0.34 1.06 0.46 1.03 0.28 1.33 0.93 Online social portals 1.09 0.45 1.04 0.30 1.05 0.30 1.16 0.62 (meetme.hotornot.com, etc.) Online personals (date.com, etc.) 1.03 0.23 1.02 0.20 1.04 0.29 1.05 0.33 Facebook 1.11 0.52 1.13 0.59 1.07 0.38 1.50 1.28 MsnSpace, MySpace, Hi5, etc. 1.24 0.74 1.24 0.85 1.12 0.51 1.65 1.38 Second Life 1.00 0.08 1.02 0.27 1.03 0.30 1.04 0.31 a n = 407 110 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 CN CN b 8 i« § m m S g 8 jg S H g S fe 53 8 S 3 8 2 S § *oo <2 O O SO o\ o\ o\ oo a\ oo cs r- ci o ci v> r- © co Sg2 2 S S ON 00 00 M M O -H \C ITI M rj H H O p a £ oUi B a-3 S al ■SO« •S S » 5 SPS £3 £3 a -a 'II s -i s s a a 00 .s -g a en bo v C M g SB « M W S P £ £ fe S 'S ¡? E « S o S S S S S 2 8 S S ^ ? 's b s s a s s a s ; >> 8 g 3 j OO H W CJ S S i »I M C tn i i i > w s ■ P vi v© t^ oo ® -S I w M (3 g S M ^ U Ep ^ M v U » rt " W (D « h 2 8 J>.Sf g a § I S « (S ¿§> ¿P & & ^ ^ Time (Year) 124 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 Figure 6: Cumulative ratio of number of variable Xi and all variables per year. 0,025 Time (Year) SE with SA as a holistic methodology for complex problem solving as we discussed in (Kljajic and Farr, 2008)". A backbone for the development of all these methods is IS based on the Internet. One cannot imagine how to test reliability, stability, functioning and behavior of global (complex) systems, without SA methodology combined with systems simulation. Systems simulation is associated with two methodologies: Systems Approach and Simulation. Simulation always involves a computer for experimentation with kinds of systems methodologies, while the Systems Approach is a more abstract paradigm not necessarily dependant on a computer for simulation. To demonstrate this statement we will briefly compare their methodologies. The Systems Approach paradigm can be defined as holistic methodology consisting of next interrelated steps: n State the problem, ■ Investigate alternatives n Model the system, ■ Integrate, ■ Launch the system, ■ Assess performance, ■ Re-evaluate Which is in (Bahill & Gissing, 1998) was named with the acronym SIMILAR. The Modeling paradigm in Computer Simulation can be stated (Forrester, 1994, Kljajic, 1994): ■ Problem definition ■ Goal ■ Research design ■ Mathematical model (block building) ■ Computer program (any general or block-oriented language) ■ Model validation ■ Experiment set up (scenario preparation) ■ Simulation and analysis Obviously, the two paradigms are almost the same; a small difference could be observed only on the executive level. A more general Simulation Model SM can be defined on the set:SM Q(P,C,T,G,M), where P,C,G,M,T denote Problem, Context , Goal, Theory and Model; or functionally by Expression (4) T.PXCXGXM -> SM (4) This means that SM is defined as the systems on the Cartesian product of the Problem, Goal, and Context within certain Theory. In other words, SM is the model implemented on a computer convenient for experimentation under different conditions and assumptions within a certain theory. The advantage of the simulation model as a part of SA is in the fact that a problem defined in natural language can be easily transformed into a directed graph convenient for qualitative and quantitative analysis in computer program. In this case, the user can always check the validity of the stated problem within a certain theory and further its translation to computer programming. This is important especially in cases of complex problems where feedback loops, stochastic relations and nonlinearity are present, regardless of the process being a continuous or discrete event. Big picture presentations and 3D animation of simulated process make this technique flexible and transparent for testing systems performance of 125 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 1600 O) O) 05 O) Time [year] -Mcroproc. -9m and Manag. -Sim and Rod. -Internets Sim - Internet & Prod. - Internet & Manag. Figure 7:Time course of variables/year of: Microprocessor, Simulation and Management, Simulation and Production, Internet and Simulation, Internet and Production as well as Internet and Management. 5000 4000 I 3000 c o E J 2000 1000 -Internet Sim. and Prod. Sim. and Manag. Internet and Manag. -Internetand Sim. -Internetand Prod. ** ** f # ¿ # f ^ ¿ # / # Time [year] Figure 8:Time course of variables/year of: Internet, Simulation and Management, Simulation and Production, Internet and Simulation, Internet and Production and Internet and Management. 126 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 all phases of system design and deployment. With progress in ICT visual interactive modeling (VIM) and animation, modeling and simulation (M&S) have become ever more central to the development of modern systems. This has made it possible to examine the projected performance of systems over wide excursions of design and environmental assumptions very early in the development process when key resources are committed. Today's M&S tools make it possible to perform extensive enterprise and other process simulations and evaluate alternate architectures at reasonable cost and early enough to make a difference. 5 Conclusion In this paper, the relevance of systems methodologies on the development of complex systems was studied. For relevance, we investigated the number of publications per year. For a resource, we looked in data base in WoS over the last 40 years for the papers which contains in their keywords topics characteristic for certain variables. The relationship between GDP and R&D expressed indirectly with the number of articles published in JCR such as: Production, Management and Information systems representing organizational processes as well as Simulation, SA, SE, OR, and ISD as methodologies was discussed. It was found that Production and Management have the largest numbers/year of articles and almost the same levels. Simulation is close to the Production and Management and more than two times greater than SA, which is considerably higher than remaining considered variables. A slow, almost liner growth of all variables can be observed with significant jump from 1990 to 1991 and then a continual rise but with a much higher gradient. This impact was attributed to the information systems based on the internet. It was found that Simulation and SA are greatly dominant among methodologies, which is in good agreement with previous research (Kljajic and Farr, 2008). A very high correlation was found between GDP of the Top 10 most developed countries + Slovenia and the number of articles of Simulation and SA of these countries was r= 0.93 and 0.95, respectively. With this, we indirectly prove the dynamic hypothesis that the above-mentioned variables are good representatives for investigation in R&D and Education. These findings were explained by CLD model of growth among GDP, R&D and Education and, consequently, publication of these findings. In the discussion, we have highlighted such findings, which mainly were anticipated in previous paper (Kljajic and Farr, 2008). The advantage of the simulation model as a part of SA is in the fact that a problem defined in natural language can be easily transformed into directed graph convenient for qualitative and quantitative analysis in computer program. In this case, the user can always check the validity of the stated problem within a certain theory and further its translation to computer programming. This is important especially in cases of complex problems where feedback loops and stochastic relations are present, regardless of the process being a continuous or discrete event. Big picture presentations and 3D animation of simulated process make this technique flexible and transparent for testing systems performance of all phases of system design and deployment. This has made it possible to examine the projected performance of systems over wide excursions of design and environmental assumptions very early in the development process when key resources are committed. Simulation together with the Systems Approach has become ever more central to the development of complex systems. Human knowledge and the simulation methodology combined in decision a support system offers new quality in decision making and research. In the near future, we expect that the methodologies of Simulation and System Approach should be more intensively fused into one holistic methodology the Systems Simulation methodo-logy. Acknowledgement This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia. The author would like to express his gratitude to members of the Laboratory for Cybernetics at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, and especially to Assistant Professor A. Skraba, PhD and Andrej Knaflic young researcher for their help. References Abdelwahab, H.M., Guan, S.U. & Nievergelt, J. (1988). Shared workspaces for group collaboration - an experiment using internet and unix interprocess communications. IEEE Communications Magazine. 26 (11): 10-16. Anon. (1988). A close-up of transmission control protocol internet protocol (Tcp/Ip), Datamation, 34 (15), (August 1): 72-72. Bahill, A. T., & Gissing, B. (1998). Re-evaluating systems engineering concepts using systems thinking. IEEE TSMC Part C-Applications and Reviews, 28 (4): 516-527. Cook R.W. & Flynn M.J. (1970). System design of a dynamic microprocessor IEEE Transactions on Computers, 19(3): 213-222 Forrester, J. W. (1994). System Dynamics, Systems Thinking, and Soft OR, System Dynamics Review, 10 (2-3): 245-256. George, J.A. & Schlecht, L.E. (1993). The NAS hierarchical network management-system. IFIP Transactions C-Communication Systems, 12: 301-312. Gopinath, C. & Sawyer, J. E. (1999). Exploring the Learning from an Enterprise Simulation, Journal of Management Development, 18(5): 477-489. Hornbuck, G.D. & Ancona, E.I. (1970). lx-1 microprocessor and its application to real-time signal processing, IEEE Transactions on computers, C-19(8):710 - 720. Hosman L., Fife, E. & Armey, L.E. (2008). The case for a multi-methodological, cross-disciplinary approach to the analysis of ICT investment and projects in the developing world. Information Technology for Development, 14 (4): 308-327, DOI: 10.1002/itdj.20109. Kljajic, M. (1994). Theory of Systems. Kranj, Slovenia: Moderna organizacija. Kljajic, M. (2000). Simulation Approach to Decision Support in Complex Systems. DUBOIS, Daniel M. (ed.). Third International Conference on Computing Anticipatory Systems CASYS '99, Hec Liege, Belgium, August 9-14, 1999. International Journal of Computing Anticipatory Systems, Liege: CHAOS. Kljajic, M. & Farr, J. (2008). The role of systems engineering in the development of information systems. International Journal of Information Technologies and Systems Approach, 1(1): 49-61. 127 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 4, July-August 2009 Lazanski, T. J. & Kljajic, M. (2006). Systems approach to complex systems modeling with special regards to tourism. Kybernetes, 35(7-8): 1048-1058, DOI: 10.1108/03684920610684779. Lu, W.P. & Sundareshan, M.K. (1989). Secure communication in internet environments - a hierarchical key management scheme for end-to-end encryption. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 37(10): 1014-1023. Luthi, H.P., Almlof, J., Storm, W. & Kalinoski, R. (1992). TIMS/ DADS - a project to develop a system of linking national and international repositories of multimedia information. Ifla Journal International Federation Library, 18(3):223-227. Mingers, J. (2008). Pluralism, Realism, and truth: The keys to knowledge in information systems research. International Journal of Information Technologies and the Systems Approach, 1(1): 79-90. Mishra, P.P., Sanghi, D. & Tripathi, S.K. (1993). TCP flow-control in lossy networks - analysis and enhancement. IFIP Transactions C-Communication Systems, 13: 181-192 . Mora, M., Gelman, O., Moti, F., Paradice D.B., Cervantes, F. & Forginonne, G.A. (2008). Toward an interdisciplinary engineering and management of complex IT-intensive organizational systems: A systems view. International Journal of Information Technologies and the Systems Approach, 1(1):1-24. Petkov, D., Edgar-Nevill, D., & O'Connor, R. (2008). Information systems, software engineering, and systems thinking: Challenges and opportunities. International Journal of Information Technologies and the Systems Approach, 1(1): 62-78. Schwartz, M.F. (1993, September). Internet Resource Discovery at the University of Colorado, Computer, 26 (9):25-35. Simon, H. (1957). Administrative Behavior; a Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organisation, New York: Macmillan. Simon, H. (1967). Model of Man (Fifth printing), John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Tolcher, D.J. (1989). Project admiral - the management of services on an internet. British Telecom Technology Journal, 7(1): 20-24. WOS EXPANDED (2008). Retrieved Match 26, 2008 on the World Wide Web: http://wos.izum.si/CIW.cgi Miroljub Kljajic is Professor at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor in the field of System Theory, Decision Theory and Computer Simulation. He completed his Dipl. Eng., M.Sc, and D.Sc. at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana. He developed a method of quantitative gait evaluation and a simulation system for decision making support in the business systems. He has been the principal investigator of many national and international modeling and simulation projects. As author and co-author he has published 27 scientific articles recognized in SCI. For his successes in the research and pedagogical work he got many national and international awards. For more information about Dr. Kljajic, visit his home page at: http://kibernetika.fov.uni-mb.si/default.htm. Pomembnost sistemskih metodologij za razvoj organizacijskih sistemov V članku razpravljamo o odnosu med razvitostjo sistemov in sistemskimi metodologijami. Kot merilo razvitosti na makro nivoju smo vzeli BDP, kar je posledica raziskav in razvoja (R&R), katerega smo ocenili indirektno preko števila publikacij v revijah WoS v zadnjih 40 let. Predpostavili smo, da razvitost gospodarskih organizacij lahko dobro opišemo s proizvodnjo, managementom in informacijskimi sistemi, kjer njihova kvaliteta vpliva na dobiček in posledično na BDP države. Poleg tega predpostavljamo, da so organizacijski procesi kvalitativno odvisni z ustvarjanjem novega znanja, ki ga generirajo raziskave in posledično objave v raziskovalnih časopisih. V prispevku so nas predvsem zanimala metodološka področja kot so: sistemski pristop, sistemski inžinering, operacijske raziskave, razvoj informacijskih sistemov in simulacije. Raziskovali smo članke, ki v ključnih besedah vsebujejo atribute povezane z BDP, in vsebujejo informacijo o trajnostnem razvoju. Ugotovili smo pozitivni trend v razvoju raziskovalnih metodologij, kot so sistemski inžinering, operacijske raziskave, razvoj informacijskih sistemov, v smeri sistemskega pristopa in simulacije, kot celovitih sistemskih metodologij. Potrdili smo dinamično hipotezo visoke korelacije med BDPjem desetih najrazvitejših držav vključno s Slovenijo in R&R izraženim preko prej navedenih spremenljivk. Ključne besede: sistemske metodologije, simulacija, informacijski sistemi, management, R&R 128 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 DOI: 10.2478/v10051-009-0010-5 Heuristic Approach to Inventory Control with Advance Capacity Information Marko Jaksic1, 2, Borut Rusjan1 1University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Kardeljeva ploščad 17, Ljubljana marko.jaksic@ef.uni-lj.si, borut.rusjan@ef.uni-lj.si, 2School of Industrial Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands There is a growing trend of information sharing within modern supply chains. This trend is mainly stimulated by recent developments in information technology and the increasing awareness that accurate and timely information helps firms cope with volatile and uncertain business conditions. We model a periodic-review, single-item, capacitated stochastic inventory system, where a supply chain member has the ability to obtain advance capacity information ('ACI') about future supply capacity availability. ACI is used to reduce the uncertainty of future supply and thus enables the decision-maker to make better ordering decisions. We develop an easily applicable heuristic based on insights gained from an analysis of the optimal policy. In a numerical study we quantify the benefits of ACI and compare the performance of the proposed heuristic with the optimal performance. We illustrate the conditions in which the procedure is working well and comment on its practical applicability. Keywords: Operational research, inventory, stochastic models, advance capacity information, heuristic 1 Introduction In a realistic supply chain setting a common modeling assumption of sure deliveries of an exact quantity ordered may not be appropriate. Several factors in a production/inventory environment, such as variations in the workforce level (e.g. due to holiday leave), unexpected machine breakdowns and maintenance, changing the supplier's capacity allocation to their customers etc., affect the available supply capacity and correspondingly cause uncertainty in the supply process. Anticipating possible future supply shortages allows a decision-maker to make timely ordering decisions which result in either building up stock to prevent future stockouts or reducing the stock when future supply conditions might be favorable. Thus, system costs can be reduced by carrying less safety stock while still achieving the same level of performance. These benefits should encourage the supply chain parties to formalize their cooperation to enable the requisite information exchange by either implementing necessary information sharing concepts like the Electronic Data Interchange ('EDI') and Enterprise Resource Planning ('ERP') or using formal supply contracts. We may argue that extra information is always beneficial, but further thought has to be put into investigating in which situations the benefits of information exchange are substantial and when it is only marginally useful. In this paper, we explore the benefits of using available advance capacity information ('ACI') about future uncertain supply capacity to improve inventory control mechanisms and reduce relevant inventory costs. The assumption is that a supplier has some insight into near future supply capacity variations (the extent of the capacity that they can delegate to a particular retailer for instance), while for more distant future periods the capacity dynamics are uncertain. Thus, the supplier can communicate this information to the retailer and help the retailer reduce supply uncertainty (Figure 1). However, the simultaneous treatment of demand uncertainty and supply uncertainty proves to be too complex to establish simple and easily applicable inventory control policies. Bush and Cooper (1998) and Buxey (1993) indicate that firms facing these conditions tend to have no formal planning mechanism. Supplier Relailer Customer ACI Flow of maierials -> Information flow Figure 1: Supply chain with ACI sharing. The aim of this paper is to build a practical and reasonably accurate heuristic procedure that captures the important problem characteristics mentioned. The heuristic is developed based on insights gained from a study of the optimal policy behavior by Jaksic et al. (2008). They show that the optimal ordering policy is a base stock policy characterized by a single base stock level, which is a function of deterministic ACI that is available for a limited number of future periods. 129 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 However, they stress that the complexity of the underlying optimal dynamic programming procedure prevents an analysis of real-life situations. This problem will be addressed in this paper by considering an approximate approach to determine the parameters of the inventory policy. We now briefly review the relevant research literature. The practical importance of the effect of limited capacity has generated considerable interest in the research community. Extending the results of the classical uncapacitated inventory control, the capacitated manufacturing/supply setting was first addressed by Federgruen and Zipkin (1986). They proved the optimality of the modified base stock policy for a fixed capacity constraint and stationary demand. Kapuscinski and Tayur (1998) assume stochastic seasonal demand where they again show the optimality of a modified base-stock policy. The anticipation of future demand, due to its periodic nature, causes a corresponding increase or decrease in the base stock level. A line of research assumes stochastic capacity (Ciarralo et al., 1994; Gullu et al., 1999; Iida, 2002), within which Ciarralo et al. (1994) show that the optimal policy remains a base stock policy where the optimal base stock level is increased to account for possible capacity shortfalls in future periods. They extend this work by introducing the notion of extended myopic policies and show these policies are optimal if the decision-maker considers appropriately defined review periods. The optimality or near-optimality of myopic policies in a non-stationary demand environment was explored by Morton and Pentico (1995) and later extended with the inclusion of fixed or stochastic capacity by Bollapragada et al. (2004), Khang and Fujiwara (2000), and Metters (1998). Metters (1997) presents a heuristic constructed utilizing an analytical approximation for optimal policy. In developing heuristics, researchers have generally resorted to an approximate analysis of the optimal policies and a close inspection of the behavior of myopic policies. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we present a model incorporating ACI and its dynamic programming formulation as the basis for an optimal solution. In Section 3 we consider an alternative approach to solving the presented inventory problem by developing a heuristic procedure. Section 4 provides the results of a numerical study in which we assess the accuracy of the proposed heuristic and outline relevant managerial insights about the settings in which it should be applied. Finally, we summarize our findings in Section 5. 2 Model formulation In this section, we describe in detail the ACI model developed in Jaksic et al. (2008). We introduce the notation and present the optimality equations. The model under consideration assumes periodic-review, stochastic demand, stochastic limited supply with a fixed nonnegative supply lead time, finite planning horizon inventory control system. However, the manager is able to obtain ACI on the available supply capacity for orders placed in the future and use it to make better ordering decisions. We introduce parameter n, which represents the length of the ACI horizon, that is, how far in advance the available supply capacity information is revealed. We assume ACI z++n is revealed in each period t for the supply capacity that will be realized in period t +n. The model assumes perfect ACI, meaning that we know the exact upper limit on supply capacities limiting orders placed in the current and following n periods. Presuming that unmet demand is fully backlogged, the goal is to find an optimal policy that minimizes the relevant costs, that is inventory holding costs and backorder costs. Hence, we assume a zero fixed cost inventory system. The model presented is quite general in the sense we do not make any assumptions about the nature of the demand and supply process, with both being assumed to be stochastic non-stationary and with known distributions in each time period, however, independent from period to period. The major notation is summarized in Table 1 and some other notation is introduced later as required. Table 1: Summary of notation T : number of periods in the planning horizon L : constant nonnegative supply lead time, where L = 0 , for "zero lead time" case n : advance supply information parameter, n >0 h : inventory holding cost per unit per period b : backorder cost per unit per period xt : inventory position at time t before ordering yt : inventory position at time t after ordering Xt : net inventory at the beginning of period t zt : order size at time t ct : lack of capacity in period t at : anticipatory stock required in period t Dt : random demand in period t dt : actual demand in period t Z+ : random available supply capacity at time t z+ : actual available supply capacity at time t, for which ACI was revealed at time t —n We assume the following sequence of events. (1) At the start of the period t, the manager reviews xt and ACI z++n for supply capacity in period t +n is received, limiting order zt +n (Figure 2). (2) The ordering decision zt is made and correspondingly the inventory position is raised to yt = xt +zt . (3) The quantity ordered in period t —L is received. (4) At the end of the period demand dt is observed and satisfied through on-hand inventory; otherwise it is backordered. Inventory holding/backorder costs are incurred based on the end-of-period net inventory. Due to positive supply lead time, each order remains in the pipeline stock for L periods. We can therefore express the inventory position before ordering xt as the sum of the net inventory and pipeline stock. t —i X = xt + ^ zs • (1) s=t —L 130 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 Available supply capacity AC I Information horizon t t+1 t+n t+n+1 Figure 2: Advance capacity information updating. Correspondingly, the inventory position after ordering is y = xt > (2) where 0 + Ct +n+1 (3) Going from period t to period t +1, order zt is placed according to the available supply capacity z+ and demand in period t is realized. Before a new order is placed in period t +1, ACI z++n+ for the order that will be placed in period t +n +1 is revealed and the oldest data point z+ is dropped out of the ACI vector and ACI is updated by the new information z++n . Observe that in the case of n = 0 the ACI affecting the current order is revealed just prior to the moment when the order needs to be placed. Due to a constant non-zero lead time the decision-maker should protect the system against lead time demand, D = V+_t Dk , which is demand realized in time interval (t, t +L). Since the current order zt affects the net inventory at time t +L , and no later order does so, it makes sense to reassign the corresponding inventory-backorder cost to period t. Thus, the expected inventory-backorder cost charged to period t is based on the net inventory at the end of the period t +L, xt+L+ =y —Dtf, and we can write it in the following form of a single-period expected cost function Ct (y): Ct ( yt )= a LEDLCt +L ( yt ), (4) where a is a discount factor. The expectation is with respect to lead time demand DtL and the single-period cost function takes the following form, Ct +l (xt +L+i) = h[xt+L+1]+ +bxt+L+1] —. The minimal expected cost function, optimizing the cost over a finite planning horizon T from time t onward and starting in the initial state (xt, z+), can be written as: min +{C,(><,) MiEf^iy, —D, .z^J/J}, if T -n ° (8) Observe that atn (z+n) is a function of ACI, if ACI is available ( n >0 ). The anticipatory inventory is calculated recursively from the end of the planning horizon down to the first period. First, the anticipatory inventory for n =0 case is determined and it is then used as the building block to determine the anticipatory inventory for n =1 case. In the same manner we proceed by calculating at n for higher n, where at n is a function of all currently available ACI. Where excess supply capacity is available, we can use it to build up the anticipatory inventory. If the size of the excess supply capacity accounts for more than the anticipatory inventory needed, we only use up to the amount needed and we therefore limit ourselves to positive values of ct , by imposing a max function in the above formulation. If current excess supply capacity is not high enough some of the anticipatory inventory needs to be pre-built in earlier periods. Finally, the heuristic base stock level yf^ is determined by raising it above the myopic optimal level yf, for the extent of anticipatory inventory at n: yHn =yM (**) (9) 133 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 While with the myopic base stock level we only account for uncertainties in demand, by adding the anticipatory stock we now also account for future capacity shortages. With this the variability in future supply capacity is also taken into consideration. Given the actual supply capacity realization in the current period the ending inventory position may not be raised to the heuristic base stock level . In this case, all of the available capacity is used. In general the heuristic policy behaves in the same way as the optimal policy, where the optimal base stock level yt is replaced by its heuristic counterpart. 4 The value of ACI and heuristic performance In this section we present a numerical study to assess the value of ACI and the heuristic performance. The results are given in Table 2. Using the same base setting as in the previous section, we now look at the influence of the cost structure and the variability of both the demand and supply capacity on heuristic performance. We vary: ■ the coefficient of the variation of demand CVD =(0,0.25,0.5,0.7) and supply capacity CVZ =(0,0.25,0.5,0.7), where both CVsdo not change through time; and ■ the cost structure, by changing the backorder cost b =(5,20) and keeping the inventory holding cost constant at h =1, thus changing the cost ratio b/ h. We give the following managerial insights about the situations in which ACI considerably improves the inventory cost. The value of ACI is defined as the reduction in cost for the case where ACI is available n >0 , relative to the base case with no ACI, n =0 . Looking at the results presented in Table 1, we see that cost reductions of 5-15% can be expected and in certain situations they can exceed 20%. Several factors affect the value of ACI and we formulate the following conditions in which inventory costs can be effectively decreased: (1) when there is a mismatch between demand and supply capacity, which can be anticipated through ACI, and there is an opportunity to pre-build inventory in an adequate manner; (2) when uncertainty in future supply capacity is high and ACI is used to lower it effectively; and (3) in the case of high backorder costs, which further emphasizes the importance of avoiding stock-outs. In these circumstances, managers should recognize the importance of ensuring the necessary information exchange with their suppliers. Such relations may bring considerable operational cost savings. We proceed by establishing the performance of the proposed heuristic. To do this, we give two accuracy measures: the Absolute error and the Relative error. Both are determined based on a comparison of total inventory costs between the heuristic case and the optimal case, where the first one gives the absolute cost difference and the latter the relative one. Observe that in general the heuristic performance is within or close to 1% of the optimal. However, we can also see that there are some variations for different selections of the parameter settings we have tested. In a completely deterministic scenario (Exp. No. 1), the heuristic manages to reproduce the optimal results. For stochastic scenarios, where cost reduction through ACI is possible, we see that the relative error decreases when we extend the ACI horizon n. This is in line with the intuition which suggests that the heuristic will perform better if the general uncertainty is lower, and the uncertainty in this case is effectively reduced through ACI. This suggests that the proposed heuristic should be applied in the ACI setting in particular. While this can be observed in most of the cases where b =20, it does not hold for some scenarios where b =5 . We attribute this to the fact that the heuristic generally puts a stress on assuring enough inventory build-up, which can be suboptimal in the case of a low b/h. In a practical application this might not pose a big problem since one rarely comes across such a low b/h ratio. Also observe also that the heuristic performs well in the case where demand uncertainty, CVD, is high relative to the capacity uncertainty, CVZ +, or in the case where both demand and capacity uncertainty are similar. This is due to the heuristic being highly sensitive to demand uncertainty through the use of myopic optimal base stock levels as the simple lower bounds. However, the effect of changing CVD and CVZ+ is heterogeneous and by itself it does not exhibit any obvious monotonic properties. The heuristic performance is worst for the specific setting of high capacity uncertainty and low ACI availability, particularly the case of n =0 , which is due to the fact that the proposed heuristic does not fully account for capacity variability. However, because of the complexity of the underlying model it should be noted here that, for the base case of nonstationary demand and capacity uncertainty, no easily applicable approximation techniques are proposed in the literature apart from more complex and time-consuming algorithms involving simulation and search methods. 5 Conclusions In this paper, we propose a heuristic to evaluate the cost of the ACI inventory model and determine the value of ACI. The heuristic development was motivated by the fact that the optimal analysis of the problem is very tedious, even impossible for larger, real-life problems. Based on the insights gained from analyzing the optimal policy, we first give the relevant managerial insights by showing when ACI can bring considerable inventory cost reductions and describe the important characteristics that had to be addressed when formulating the heuristic. This, in itself, is a valuable result since it helps with building up decision-makers' intuition and helps them address the problem better in a realistic situation. We can conclude that the performance analysis of the proposed heuristic shows that the heuristic works reasonably well in the ACI setting. Especially in the case where ACI is available and the common backorder to inventory holding cost ratio is assumed, the heuristic performance is within 1% of the optimal. We foresee that efforts to establish a superior heuristic may be seriously hampered by the complexity of the underlying problem. For an inventory control policy to be applicable and effective in a practical situation, a certain degree of simplification is needed and finding a good heuristic is a compromise between remain- 134 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 Table 2: The value of ACI and heuristic performance ixp. No. CVD b 5 20 5 20 5 20 5 20 5 20 CVZ n Optimal Cost Value of ACI (%) Heuristic Cost Absolute Error Relative Error (%) 1 0 0 0 2.91 2.91 0.00 0.00 2.91 2.91 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2 0.5 0 0 21.30 30.28 0.00 0.00 22.74 30.41 1.43 0.13 6.31 0.42 3 0.25 0.25 0 13.84 20.22 13.99 21.10 0.15 0.88 1.07 4.18 1 13.13 18.47 5.17 8.66 13.32 19.03 0.19 0.56 1.46 2.96 2 12.83 17.41 7.29 13.91 13.32 17.50 0.49 0.09 3.67 0.54 3 12.77 17.06 7.76 15.60 13.43 17.07 0.66 0.01 4.94 0.03 4 12.76 17.02 7.78 15.83 13.46 17.02 0.70 0.00 5.17 0.01 4 0.25 0.5 0 19.96 36.85 20.20 42.12 0.24 5.27 1.17 12.52 1 17.60 32.41 11.85 12.04 17.63 34.26 0.03 1.85 0.18 5.40 2 16.65 29.80 16.59 19.11 16.90 30.78 0.25 0.98 1.46 3.17 3 16.35 28.76 18.10 21.95 16.85 29.34 0.50 0.58 2.96 1.98 4 16.28 28.51 18.47 22.63 16.92 28.94 0.64 0.43 3.80 1.50 5 0.5 0.25 0 22.91 35.40 23.68 35.42 0.77 0.02 3.27 0.04 1 22.50 34.09 1.79 3.73 23.31 34.19 0.81 0.10 3.49 0.31 2 22.31 33.30 2.62 5.94 23.40 33.32 1.09 0.02 4.68 0.05 3 22.26 32.96 2.81 6.89 23.56 33.02 1.30 0.06 5.52 0.17 4 22.26 32.86 2.82 7.19 23.60 32.99 1.34 0.13 5.69 0.39 6 0.5 0.5 0 28.63 54.05 28.68 58.41 0.05 4.36 0.19 7.47 1 27.01 51.00 5.65 5.64 27.21 52.52 0.20 1.52 0.74 2.90 2 26.36 49.15 7.93 9.06 26.60 49.69 0.24 0.54 0.92 1.08 3 26.18 48.37 8.55 10.51 26.47 48.70 0.29 0.33 1.10 0.68 4 26.14 48.17 8.68 10.87 26.44 48.40 0.30 0.23 1.13 0.47 7 0.7 0.5 0 38.70 76.10 39.35 78.24 0.65 2.14 1.66 2.73 1 37.44 74.09 3.24 2.64 38.24 74.48 0.80 0.39 2.08 0.52 2 36.94 72.83 4.54 4.31 38.03 73.07 1.09 0.24 2.87 0.34 3 36.81 72.24 4.88 5.07 37.97 72.53 1.16 0.29 3.05 0.40 4 36.78 72.09 4.94 5.27 37.95 72.45 1.17 0.36 3.08 0.49 8 0.5 0.7 0 40.73 93.43 41.31 100.23 0.58 6.80 1.40 6.79 1 37.12 89.21 8.86 4.51 37.32 92.11 0.20 2.90 0.53 3.15 2 35.89 86.45 11.88 7.47 36.35 88.10 0.46 1.65 1.26 1.87 3 35.49 85.22 12.87 8.78 36.27 86.04 0.78 0.82 2.15 0.95 4 35.39 84.88 13.12 9.15 36.25 85.44 0.86 0.56 2.38 0.66 9 0.7 0.7 0 49.97 115.82 50.86 124.64 0.89 8.82 1.75 7.08 1 47.14 112.92 5.67 2.50 47.69 114.65 0.55 1.73 1.16 1.51 2 46.17 110.89 7.60 4.25 46.62 111.64 0.45 0.75 0.96 0.67 3 45.88 109.99 8.18 5.03 46.25 110.52 0.37 0.53 0.79 0.48 4 45.82 109.74 8.31 5.25 46.11 110.04 0.29 0.30 0.63 0.27 ing practical and improving accuracy by increasing the complexity. The proposed heuristic could also be tested for other, more specific demand/capacity situations such as where we are dealing with two-point capacity distribution (either zero or full capacity availability). Literature Bollapragada, S. & Morton, T. E. (1999). Myopic heuristics for the random yield problem. Operations Research. 47, 713-722. Bush, C. & Cooper W. (1988). Inventory level decision support. Production and Inventory Management Journal. 29(1), 16-20. Buxey, G. (1993). Production planning and scheduling for seasonal demand. International Journal of Operations and Production Management. 13(7), 4-21. DOI: 10.1108/01443579310038769 Ciarallo, F. W., Akella R. & Morton T. E. (1994). A periodic review, production planning model with uncertain capacity and uncertain demand - optimality of extended myopic policies. Management Science. 40, 320-332. DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.40.3.320. Federgruen, A. & Zipkin P. H. (1986). An inventory model with limited production capacity and uncertain demands i. the average-cost criterion. Mathematics of Operations Research. 11, 193-207. DOI: 10.1287/moor.11.2.193. Güllü, R., Önol E. & Erkip N. (1997). Analysis of a deterministic demand production/ inventory system under nonstationary sup- 135 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 ply uncertainty. IIE Transactions. 29, 703-709. DOI: 10.1080/0 7408179708966380. Iida, T. (2002). A non-stationary periodic review production-inventory model with uncertain production capacity and uncertain demand. European Journal of Operational Research. 140, 670683. DOI: 10.1016/S0377-2217(01)00218-1. Jaksic, M., Fransoo J.C., Tan T., de Kok A. G. & Rusjan B. (2008). Inventory management with advance capacity information. Beta publicatie. wp 249, Beta Research School for Operations Management and Logistics, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. Kapuscinski, R. & Tayur S. (1998). A capacitated production-inventory model with periodic demand. Operations Research. 46, 899-911. DOI: 899-911 10.1287/opre.46.6.899. Khang, D. B. & Fujiwara O. (2000). Optimality of myopic ordering policies for inventory model with stochastic supply. European Journal of Operational Research. 48, 181-184. DOI: 10.1287/ opre.48.1.181.12442. Metters, R. (1997). Production planning with stochastic seasonal demand and capacitated production. IIE Transactions. 29, 10171029. DOI: 10.1080/07408179708966420. Metters, R. (1998). General rules for production planning with seasonal demand. International Journal of Production Research. 36, 1387-1399. DOI: 10.1080/002075498193381. Morton, T. E. & Pentico D. W. (1995). The finite horizon nonsta-tionary stochastic inventory problem: near-myopic bounds, heuristics, testing. Management Science. 41, 334-343. DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.41.2.334. Veinott, A. (1965). Optimal policy for a multi-product, dynamic, non-stationary inventory problem. Management Science. 12, 206-222. DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.12.3.206. Marko Jaksic currently holds a position of a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Economics University of Ljubljana. His area of expertise is Operations Management and especially Supply Chain Management, which are the topics he is lecturing on at the bachelor and the master level studies. He has attained his Ph.D. in cooperation with Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands, as a doctoral student at Faculty of Economics and a student at Beta School for Operations Management and Logistics. His research work is focused on quantitative analysis of inventory management strategies in supply chains and as a result he has published several papers in domestic and foreign journals and conferences. Borut Rusjan attained his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Economics University of Ljubljana in 1998. He is currently employed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Organization, primarily lecturing in the field of Operations and Quality management. He has published a series of papers in domestic and international journals and conferences, where his main research interest lies in strategic view of operations management, quality management and business excellence. Hevrističen pristop k uravnavanju zalog z informacijo o razpoložljivosti oskrbe V sodobnih oskrbnih verigah je v zadnjih dveh desetletjih močno prisoten trend izmenjave informacij, ki omogočajo izboljšanje poslovanja posameznih podjetij, kot tudi celotne oskrbne verige. S pomočjo natančnih in pravočasnih informacij, katerih prenos je z nedavnim razvojem informacijskih tehnologij močno olajšan, se podjetja uspešno spopadajo s spremenljivimi in negotovimi pogoji poslovanja. V članku predstavimo model uravnavanja zalog s periodičnim spremljanjem zalog v pogojih neenakomernega stohastičnega povpraševanja z omejeno zmogljivostjo oskrbe, kjer ima člen oskrbne verige dostop do informacije o razpoložljivosti oskrbe. Informacija o razpoložljivosti oskrbe zmanjša negotovost prihodnje oskrbe in omogoči managerju učinkovitejše naročanje. Na podlagi glavnih vpogledov pridobljenih z analizo optimalne politike naročanja razvijemo praktično uporabno hevristično metodo. Z numerično analizo določimo vrednost informacije o razpoložljivosti oskrbe in prepoznamo scenarije, kjer je ta največja. Ob tem na podlagi primerjave med rezultati optimalne politike naročanja in predlagane hevristike izmerimo natančnost le-te in podamo pogoje, ki morajo biti izpolnjeni, da hevristika doseže želeno natančnost. Ključne besede: Operacijske raziskave, uravnavanje zalog, stohastični modeli, informacija o razpoložljivosti oskrbe, hevri-stika 136 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 DOI: 10.2478/v10051-009-0011-4 Selection Criteria for Six Sigma Projects in Slovenian Manufacturing Companies Dušan Gošnik1, Matej Hohnjec2 1University of Primorska, Faculty of Management, Cankarjeva 5, 6000 Koper, Slovenia, dusan.gosnik@fm-kp.si / gosni.da@siol.net 2Šest Sigma Akademija, Resljeva cesta 40, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Researches reveal that successful six sigma implementation is related to proper six sigma project prioritisation and selection. This research is limited to the selection of six sigma projects in some manufacturing companies in Slovenia. The purpose of this study is to identify what criteria are considered for prioritisation and selection of six sigma projects and how six sigma projects are selected. A research sample is limited by the number of companies which have implemented six sigma so far. The results indicate that Slovenian manufacturing organisations tend to select six sigma projects based on criteria such as customer satisfaction, connection with a business strategy financial benefits, and growth of the organisation. Several tools and techniques such as quality cost analysis, brainstorming and interviews are used to identify and prioritise projects. Identification of the most commonly used criteria to select six sigma projects can help practitioners to select projects based on multiple criteria by using tools and techniques identified in this study. This topic has not been applied in the field of Slovenian manufacturing companies and thus it presents the first study in this field in Slovenia. Keywords: Six sigma, project management, project selection, management, manufacturing companies, preliminary study, Slovenia 1 Introduction Selection of six sigma projects is one of the most frequently discussed issues in the six sigma literature today (Goldstein, 2001; Fundin at al., 2003). Exchanged business and environment relations are directing us to focus on the customer needs, innovations and measuring differently related parameters more than ever. For many companies, the question is not whether or not to implement six sigma but how to implement a successful six sigma process improvement project. The six sigma benefits have been also a topic of many studies and are extensively reported in the literature by many authors (Hendricks and Kelbaugh, 1998; Harry, 1998; Hahn et al., 1999; Lanyon, 2003; Robinson, 2005). Many of them propose a key ingredient for successful six sigma implementation is project prioritisation and selection (Pande et al., 2000; Banuelas and Antony, 2002) (Table 1). The selection of process improvement projects is probably the most difficult aspect of six sigma (Pande et al., 2000; Snee, 2001). However, there are noticeable cases where six sigma failed to deliver the desired results. Bertels (2003) points out that the key characteristic differentiating successful six sigma projects from unsuccessful projects are a well-defined project objective which will reflect customer needs and fulfil their expectations. Methods used for selection of six sigma projects defined by different authors are shown below in Table 1. Table 1: Methods used for selection of six sigma projects Author Tool(s) Pyzdek (2000, 2003) Pareto priority index -PPI, QFD, theory of constraints -TOC) Breyfogle et al. (2001) Project assessment matrix Pande et al. (2000) QFD (Quality function deployment) Kelly (2002) Project selection matrix Adams et al. (2003) Project ranking matrix Larson (2003) Pareto analysis De Feo and Barnard (2004) Reviewing data on potential projects against specific criteria Source: (Kumar et al, 2007). 137 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 Project selection is a process of evaluating individual projects or groups of projects, and then choosing them so that the objectives of the organisation will be achieved (Meredith and Mantel, 2003). Projects should be linked to the right goals and impact at least one of the major stakeholders' issues, e.g. growth acceleration, cost reduction or cash flow improvement. (Kumar et al, 2007). A good project selection is a process itself; if properly carried out, potential benefits of six sigma can improve substantially (Pande et al., 2000). Project selection is related to the project implementation; it contributes to a success and not only to efficiency of the business processes and supports development of the project culture in the organization. Authors and consultants have proposed project selection process models, tools, and key elements in six sigma project selection producing a variety of models (Breyfogle et al., 2001; Adams et al., 2003; Pyzdek, 2003). Because of dynamics of business environment directing us to manage business activities as projects, it often occurs that many of projects are managed parallelly at the same time. In the future many companies and industries including Slovene manufacturing industry will focus more on the following projects: (Gosnik, 2009); carrying out projects on managing globalisation, research and development projects, cost management oriented projects, production cost management projects, innovative product development and brand management related projects. Thus, for a successful project selection and implementation we do not need only support of excellent product management in the company but also excellent project team management (Gosnik, 2006) supported by six sigma projects. Their selection and prioritisation might be crucial for a company's success. Successful companies do not focus only on products but also on processes (Gosnik, 2008). The lack of market aspects of products can lead to defining wrong project objectives (not customer-focused) and consequently to unsuccessful products (Gosnik, 2005). Partial views on the project are related with many risks, as well. Company's management has a crucial role in customer focused project management related to different fields of knowledge such as marketing, R&D and technology . It enables us to manage projects empowered by high degree information exchange and to connect different key elements aiming at a project success. Many researches in Slovenia have been dedicated to the studies of relations between quality, management, business process and strategies and its measurements (Vujica-Herzog et all, 2006; 2007; 2009). None of the studies so far have studied relations between quality management within companies and six sigma as a possible business strategy. This study reveals what criteria are considered for selecting six sigma projects and how and who selects six sigma projects in organisations. Consequently, this study investigates the current status of selected six sigma projects in Slovenian industry and identifies the main criteria used for project selection. The first part of this research presents an overview of the research methodology employed. The second part of the paper discusses the results of the survey and compares them with the literature. This represents the first study in this field by offering a brief summary and directions for further research. 2 Conceptual Framework of the study Many researches in the field of Slovene industry are related to quality management (Vujica-Herzog et all, 2006; 2007; 2009). Parameters such as scrap level and reworks, warranty claims, cost of scrap and reworks, quality costs in many existing models for measuring business performance represent an important content of a model (Vujica-Herzog et all, 2006; 2007; 2009). Management of those crucial parameters is very strongly related to the business performance of the company. Therefore, focus on those quality management issues can represent an important part of business efficiency of a company. Focusing on these parameters by carrying out six sigma projects can help us to detect key projects which would have a significant effect on our business performance. The role of different levels of management in identification and prioritisa-tion of six sigma projects, the tools used for identification of six sigma projects and the key criteria for six sigma project selection in the Slovenian manufacturing organisations are the main research issues in this study. This study represents the first study of exploring this topic in Slovenia in this field and it is preliminary. The number of data collected is limited by a small number of six sigma companies in Slovenia. Data collection was oriented to many manufacturing companies in Slovenia unaware of the fact if they already deal with six sigma or not. Some data of the companies which have already implemented six sigma were included by the Slovenian six sigma society. The main objective of this study is for the first time in Slovenia to detect which and how many companies are familiar with six sigma and to research how six sigma projects are indicated, prioritised and selected. The results of this study have a great orientation value for further detailed researches in this field. Research questions in this study were: RQ1. What is the role of different levels of management in identification and prioritisation of six sigma projects? RQ2. What tools are used to identify six sigma projects? RQ2. What are the key criteria for six sigma project selection in the Slovenian manufacturing organisations? This research consists of the following conceptual framework: (1) Background of the companies. (2) Participation of different levels of management in defining six sigma projects. (3) The use of different tools for identification of potential six sigma projects. (4) Key criteria for project selection and progression. 3 Research methodology The study is oriented in many different manufacturing companies, so we decided to gather information from the companies' quality managers (Table 2). We prepared a questionnaire for them. Questions were defined based on experiences, literature and previous researches of the authors in the respective field. These questions were produced for Slovenian manufacturing 138 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 companies and are useful for further researches and continuous studies in this field and for further possible comparison studies. The data were collected in April 2008 (Table 2). Originality/value The provision of empirical data on the criteria used to select six sigma projects and how six sigma projects are selected in manufacturing companies. This topic presents unique study in this field in Slovenia. Sample The data analysed in this study were gathered using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was e-mailed in April 2008 to 100 large production companies in Slovenia. Some of the data were gathered from Slovenian six sigma society data base. The others were collected according to available public data for organisations, functions and addresses. Because the whole expansion of six sigma in Slovenia was not known before this research, a huge number of organisations from different industries was included in the research. Out of 100 questionnaires e-mailed, 21 totally completed questionnaires were returned within 3 month. This represented a 21 percent response rate (Table 2). Because this is the first study in this field in Slovenia the study represents only a preliminary study. Data collection in this study consists of several main sections: background of the companies, participation of different levels of management in defining six sigma projects, use of different tools for identification of potential six sigma projects and key criteria for project selection. The first section was intended to determine fundamental issues such as the companies' industry sector, the maturity of six sigma in the companies investigated regarding the number of projects carried out and the number of years since six sigma was launched. The second section focuses on participation of different levels of management in defining six sigma projects. The third and the fourth section consist of the use of different tools for six sigma project detection and criteria for six sigma project selection. The companies were asked to rank the criteria if and which of the claims fit to their practice in their organisation. Simple yes/no type of questions in the questionnaire was defined to provide us a better perspective of the current six Table 2: Characteristics of the sample. Sample Number e-mail 100 Response e-mail 21 Companies Companies implementing six sigma Other companies 13 Total 21 Number of employees in companies 50 to 100 100 to 500 9 500 to 2000 more than 2000 2 Industrial sector - manufacturing companies Automotive Electro Chemical Mechanical engineering Telecomunication Participants - position of all respondents in the company MBB BB GB YB Six sigma implemented projects within the company Less than 10 Between 10 and 20 Between 20 and 30 More than 30 1 Current status on 6 sigma in the organisation Less than 1 year Between 1-3 years More than 3 years 1 139 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 sigma practices in this field of the research in Slovenian companies. The questions in each sector were defined based on literature, similar researches abroad, and practice experiences of some authors. 4 Results of the study (1) Background of the companies Characteristics of the sample The first part of the data collected helps us to understand the findings of this study better. Several crucial aspects were analysed such as; number of employees, therefore, aspects such as number of the employees in each organisation, the position of the respondents in their organisations, the areas of industry, the status of six sigma implementation, number of years of presence of six sigma in the company and number of completed six sigma projects within the organisation. (2) Participation of different levels of management in defining six sigma projects The first step of six sigma project selection is establishment of a cross-functional team including the top management (Davis, 2003). The responsibility of a team or a steering committee is to identify, prioritise, select, monitor and evaluate six sigma projects (Banuelas et al, 2006). Top management helps company strategy to be included in six sigma projects. It supports project management by removing the obstacles and barriers more effectively (Kelly, 2002). Accordingly, respondents in this survey were asked about people involved in their six sigma projects selection process. About 33 percent of functional managers and even 34 percent of direct top managers were included in the survey (executive managers, directors of business areas). This top-bottom approach to select projects has three main advantages. First, the projects would fit with the business strategy. Second, it is more structural and managerial and finally, it has benefit to six sigma projects with management support (Harry and Schroeder, 2000). Klefsjo et al. (2001), six sigma methodology is a top-down, rather than a bottom-up approach. In addition, adopting the bottom-top approach can result in lack of management commitment, selection of wrong projects, a failure in incorporate both the external customer satisfaction and the business strategy (Lynch and Soloy, 2003). Final projects in Slovenian companies are chosen by top management (50 percent). Less frequently the final decision is made by functional management, and even less frequently by senior managers. The final decision about six sigma project selection is the least frequent decision made by a project management team. That is not so surprising and is related to a strong commitment of top management and its role in project identification and using top-bottom strategy at project definition. That can be related also to the fact that majority (Table 2) of the companies included in this research employs six sigma up to three years. That can be considered as an early stage of implementation. The crucial role and responsibility for it is entitled to top management which is interested in demonstrating the best possible effects of six sigma on business. (3) The use of different tools for identification of potential six sigma projects Selecting adequate sources and identifying useful information to identify six sigma projects are seen as the key step in project selection. (Banuelas et al, 2006). Adams et al. (2003) propose seven main sources for identification of potential six sigma projects, including customers, suppliers, employees, benchmarking, development in technology, extension of other six sigma projects and waste. 140 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 The understanding of markets, operations, measures used and creativity to maximise value and performance are the core elements of six sigma approach (Pande et al., 2000). Consequently, the "voice of customer" (VOC) should be used to identify potential six sigma projects (Johnson, 2002; Man, 2002). During this survey companies were asked if they identify projects according to customer requirements. About 60 per cent of the companies identify potential projects from their customers. This result shows the alignment with the thinking that six sigma should include customers need into improvement projects (Pande et al., 2000). Six Sigma teams employ different tools to identify potential projects from several sources, i.e. customers, waste, employees, suppliers, technology or extension of projects (Banuelas, 2006). Respondents were asked which tools of six sigma they are currently employing. In this survey, almost 90 per cent of respondents identify projects by means of quality cost analysis, 60 percent by means of brainstorming of the project team and 50 percent by means of customer interviews, a CTQ tree and the Pareto analysis follow. Figure 2. Focus groups, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Kano diagram and business score card are employed by the minority of the companies. A detailed analysis shows us that all of the companies use more than one tool at the same time to identify potential six sigma projects. (4) Criteria for six sigma project selection Effective project selection is based on identifying the projects that best match the current needs, capabilities and objectives of organisations (Pande et al., 2000). Different measurements, rules and standards which help us to guide the six sigma project selection are proposed in the literature. During this survey the criteria found in the literature were grouped into six main criteria as is shown in Table 2. Regarding literature overview (Harry and Schroeder, 2000; Pande et al, 2000; Snee, 2001; Goldstein, 2001; Breyfogle et al. 2001; Pyzdek, 2000, 2003; Antony, 2004) respondents were asked to rank the following critical criteria for six sigma project selection (Table 4). Selection criteria need to be prioritised so that those which are most critical to the overall success of the organisation will have the most impact on the project selection. Sometimes, a particular criterion is a useful gauge of how well a project will deliver several outcomes (Banuelas, 2006). As it can be seen from Figure 4, these criteria, customers, connected to business strategy, finance and learning and growth factor present significant influence on selection of six sigma projects in Slovenian manufacturing companies. These results can be related to previous studies of critical success factors for six sigma implementation, where customer focus, linkage to business strategy, top management commitment and financial benefits are considered as essential factors for successful implementation of six sigma (Banuelas and Antony, 2002; Antony, 2004). This can be related to the beginning stage of implementation of the six sigma in Slovenian companies where analysis shows (Table 2) that 49 percent of the companies use six sigma up to 1 year and even 87 per cent of the companies use six sigma from 1 to 3 years. In this early stage of implementation it is reasonable that the first projects - pilot projects - are oriented in customer benefit, strategy and in finances, because they are usually used to demonstrate the best effects on a later stage or further projects. In addition, they are much more oriented in quick wins with high probability of success. 5 Discussion and implications of the results The results of this study represent a study of selection criteria for six sigma projects in Slovenian manufacturing companies by investigating; ■ the role of different levels of management in identification and prioritisation of six sigma projects; ■ the quality management tools used for identification of six sigma projects; ■ key criteria for six sigma project selection in the Slovenian manufacturing companies. Research consisted of the following conceptual framework; study of the background of the companies, study of the participation of different levels of management in defining six Table 4: Impact factor on six sigma project selection Impact factor on six sigma project selection Number of answers Percent % Customer benefit 6 75 Connected to business strategy 4 50 Finance benefit 4 50 Learning and growth 4 50 Feasibilty 4 50 Measurable results 3 37.5 Duration time of project 3 37.5 Contribution to company development 3 37.5 Top management support 2 25 Availability of knowledge 1 12.5 Resources capacity 1 12.5 Availability of data 1 12.5 141 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 sigma projects, study of the use of different tools for identification of potential six sigma projects and study of the key criteria for project selection and progression. Results show that: most of the companies that completed the questionnaire use the top-bottom strategy for identification of six sigma projects. Selection criteria are usually prioritised to those, who are from the top management recognised as the most critical to the overall success of the organisation. This topbottom approach to select projects has three main advantages. First, the projects would fit with the business strategy. Second, it is more structural and managerial and finally, it has benefit to six sigma projects with management support. In opposite, adopting the bottom-top approach can result in lack of management commitment, selection of wrong projects, a failure in incorporate both the external customer satisfaction and the business strategy. Final projects in Slovenian companies are chosen by top management (50 percent). Final decisions are less frequently made by functional management, senior managers follow and the least frequent final decision-making processes about six sigma project selection are allotted to a project management team. Almost 90 per cent of respondents identify projects by means of quality cost analysis, 60 percent by means of brainstorming of project team and 50 percent by means of customer interviews, followed by CTQ tree and Pareto analysis. All of the companies employ more than one tool to identify potential projects, including brainstorming, CTQ tree, focus group, interviews, customer visits, QFD and Kano analysis, among others. Focus groups, quality function deployment (QFD), Kano diagram and business score card are employed by the minority of the companies. A detailed analysis shows us that all of the companies use more than one tool at the same time to identify potential six sigma projects. The main criteria to select six sigma projects are focused on customers, connection to business strategy, finance and learning and growth. These results can be related to previous studies of critical success factors for six sigma implementation, where customer focus, linkage to business strategy, top management commitment and financial benefits are considered as essential factors for the successful implementation of six sigma. This can also be related to the beginning stage of the implementation of the six sigma in Slovenian companies where analysis shows (Table 2) that 49 percent of the companies use six sigma up to 1 year and even 87 per cent of the companies use six sigma from 1 to 3 years. In this early stage of implementation it is reasonable that the first projects - pilot projects - are oriented in customer benefit, strategy and in finances, because they are usually used to demonstrate the best effects on a later stage or further projects. In addition, they are much more oriented in quick wins with high probability of success. Six Sigma within manufacturing companies in Slovenia is a rapidly emerging methodology. On the other hand many of the Slovenian manufacturing companies are still unaware of six sigma and many of them do not use it. One of the reasons for not using six sigma in Slovenia might also be that management in manufacturing companies is often satisfied with the current quality management system in their organisation, which can be related to the fact that companies do not exactly know the relation between customer satisfaction, processes management, costs and possible savings inside the company. Limitations and Further Research This paper is limited to the selection of six sigma projects in manufacturing companies in Slovenia. A sample is limited by the number of companies which have implemented six sigma. The identification of the most commonly used criteria to select six sigma projects can help practitioners to select projects based on multiple criteria and using tools and techniques identified in this survey. This study was carried out with some boundaries such as a number of companies, available resources and it is also limited to Slovenian organisations. An important limitation of this paper is the respondent rate, however, the response rate is similar to other surveys on six sigma. The results presented in this study are preliminary and are based primarily on descriptive statistics. Future studies will be focused on research of some other basic six sigma status in Slovenia, and further attempts to generalise some of the findings will be proceeded. 6 References Adams, C., Gupta, P. & Wilson, C. (2003). Six Sigma Deployment. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Antony, J. (2004). Six sigma in the UK service organisations: Results from a pilot survey. Managerial Auditing Journal, 19 (8), 10061012, DOI: 10.1108/02686900410557908. Banuelas, R. & Antony, J. (2002). Critical success factors for the successful implementation of six sigma projects in organisations. The TQM Magazine, 14(2), 92-99. Banuelas, R., Tennant C., Tuersley I. & Tang S. (2006). Selection of six sigma projects in the UK. The TQM Magazine, 18(5), 514-527. Bertels, T. (2003). Rath and Strong's Six Sigma Leadership Handbook. New York: Wiley, Hoboken. Breyfogle, F., Cupello, J. & Meadws, B. (2001). Managing Six Sigma. New York: Wiley Inter-Science. Davis, A. (2003). Six sigma for small companies. Quality, 42(11), 20. De Feo, J. & Barnard, W. (2004). Juran institute's six sigma breakthrough and beyond. Quality Performance Methods. New York. McGraw-Hill. Fundin, A. & Cronemyr, P. (2003). Use customer feedback to choose six sigma projects. ASQ Six Sigma Forum Magazine, 3(1), 1722. Goldstein, M.D. (2001). Six sigma program success factors. ASQ Six Sigma Forum Magazine, 1(1), 36-45. Gošnik, D. (2005). Market aspects of inovativeness of the product as an integrated part of market strategy and competitive advantage of the company. Faculty of economy and business, University of Maribor. Master thesis. Gošnik, D. (2006). Project management in dynamic new product development process. Project management review, IX(3), 8-10, 12-20, 43. Gošnik, D. (2006). Innovation focused new product development. Living changes in marketing. Slovene marketing conference proceedings, 30. and 31. May 2006. Portorož, Slovenia, 101, 102. 142 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 Gošnik, D. (2007). Some factors of new product development and their management. Our economy, Review of current issues in economics, 53(3-4), 141. Gošnik, D. (2008). Cooperation between marketing, R&D and technology as a basis for development of innovative Products. 27th International conference on organizational science development. Conference proceedings. 19.-21. March 2008, Portorož, Slovenia. 174. Gošnik, D. (2009). Globalni izzivi v svetovni industriji bele tehnike. Management. (University of Primorska, Faculty of Management, Koper). 4(2). Hahn, G.J., Hill, W.J., Hoerl, R.W. & Zinkgraf, S.A. (1999). The impact of six sigma improvement - a glimpse into the future of statistics. The American Statistician, 53(3), 208-15. Harry, M. & Schroeder, R. (2000). Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionising the World's Top Corporations. New York: Currency. Harry, M.J. (1998). Six sigma: a breakthrough strategy for profitability. Quality Progress, 31(5), 60-4. Hendricks, C.A. & Kelbaugh, R.L. (1998). Implementing six sigma at GE. The Journal of Quality and Participation, 21(49), 43-8. Ingle, S. & Roe, W. (2001). Six sigma black belt implementation. TQM Magazine, 13(4), 273-80. Johnson, A. (2002). Six sigma in R&D, Research Technology Management, 45(2), 12-6. Kelly, M. (2002). Three steps to project selection. ASQ Six Sigma Forum Magazine.2(1), 29-33. Klefsjo, B., Wiklund, H. & Edgeman, R. (2001). Six sigma seen as a methodology for total quality management", Measuring Business Excellence, 5(1), 31. Kumar, U., Crocker, J., Chitra, T. & Saranga, H. (2006). Reliability and Six Sigma. Berlin. Springer. Kumar, D., Saranga H., Nowicki & Rami'rez-Ma'rquez, J. D. (2007). Six sigma project selection using data envelopment analysis. The TQM Magazine, 19(5), 419-441. Lanyon, S. (2003). At Raytheon six sigma works, too, to improve HR management processes. Journal of Organizational Excellence, 22(4), 29-42, DOI: 10.1002/npr.10088. Larson, A. (2003). Demystifying Six Sigma. New York. American Management Association. Lynch, D. & Soloy, B. (2003). Improving the effectiveness of six sigma project champions. Paper presented at ASQ's Six Sigma Conference 2003. Man, J. (2002). Six sigma and lifelong learning. Work Study. 51(4/5), 197-201. Meredith, J. & Mantel, S. (2003). Project Management: A Managerial Approach. New York. Wiley. Pande, P., Neuman, R. & Cavanagh, R. (2000). The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola and Other Top Companies are Honing their Performance. New York: McGraw-Hill. Pyzdek, T. (2000). Selecting six sigma projects. Quality Digest, available from: www.qualitydigest.com/sept00/html/sixsigma.html (July 27, 2008). Pyzdek, T. (2003). The Six Sigma Project Planner. New York: McGraw-Hill. Robinson, B. (2005). Build a management system based on six sigma. ASQ Six Sigma Forum Magazine, 5(1), 28-34. Snee, R.D. (2001). Dealing with the Achilles Heel of six sigma initiatives - project selection, Quality Progress, 34(3), 66-72. Vujica-Herzog, N., Polajnar, A. & Pižmoht, P. (2006). Performance measurement in business process re-engineering. Strojniški vest-nik, 52(4), 210-224. Vujica-Herzog, N, Polajnar, A., & Tonchia, S. (2007). Development and validation of business process reengineering (BPR) variables: a survey research in Slovenian companies. International Journal of Prod. Reearch, 45(24), 5811-5834, DOI: 10.1080/0 0207540600854992. Dušan Gošnik, MBA finished the postgraudate study of marketing management (2005) in at the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Maribor Slovenia. He is also a master of science in the field of technical sciences. His research work is oriented in project and product management, new product development, quality management, six sigma, marketing and innovations. He is a IPMA (International Project Management Association) certified senior project manager (CSPM) and six sigma green belt (GB) with ten years of experiences in industry as a project manager, and lately as a researcher, senior lecturer and doctoral student. Matej Hohnjec finished the postgraduate study of process management in 2008 at the Faculty of Organisational Studies, University of Maribor, Slovenia. He is a certified six sigma master black belt (MBB) and six sigma consultant in the field of six sigma education and consulting with ten years of working experiences in industry and lately as a researcher and senior lecturer. Kriteriji izbire šest sigma projektov v slovenskih proizvodnih organizacijah Raziskave kažejo, da je uspešno uvajanje šest sigma metodologije v organizaciji povezano z določanjem kriterijev in s primerno izbiro projektov. Ta raziskava se osredotoča na merila izbire šest sigma projektov, ki se izvajajo v proizvodnih organizacijah v Sloveniji. Namen te raziskave je raziskati, katera merila se v slovenskih proizvodnih organizacijah uporabljajo pri določanju in pri izbiri šest sigma projektov prioritet in pri izbiri šest sigma projektov. V raziskavo vključen vzorec organizacij je omejen s številom organizacij, ki so do sedaj v Sloveniji že uvedle metodologijo šest sigma. Rezultati te raziskave kažejo, da slovenske organizacije najpogosteje izbirajo projekte na osnovi koristi, ki jih bodo rezultati projekta doprinesli k zadovoljstvu kupca, skladnost in povezanost projekta s strategijo organizacije ter njeno rastjo. Kot pomoč pri določitvi nabora potencialnih šest sigma projektov in njihovi izbiri se uporablja več orodij kot je analiza stroškov, viharjenje možganov, pogovori s kupci. Identifikacija najbolj pogosto uporabljenih metod in uporaba njihovih kombinacij strokovnjakom iz prakse pomaga pri izbiri njihovih šest sigma projektov. Ta raziskava predstavlja prvo študijo na tem področju v Sloveniji in je preliminarna. Ključne besede: Šest sigma, Projektni management, Izbira projektov, Management, Proizvodne organizacije, Študija primera, Preliminarna raziskava, Slovenija, 143 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 DOI: 10.2478/v10051-009-0012-3 The Salary System in the Private Sector in the Republic Slovenia Etelka Korpič-Horvat1, Bojan Tičar23, Rado Bohinc34 1Faculty of Law, University of Maribor, Mladinska ulica 9, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia, etelka.korpic-horvat@uni-mb.si 2Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor, bojan.ticar@fvv.uni-mb.si 3Faculty of Management, University of Primorska, Cankarjeva 5, 6104 Koper, Slovenia 4Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva ploščad 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. rado.bohinc@fm-kp.si In the article the authors discuss the salary system in the private sector in the Republic of Slovenia. They present relevant legislation dealing with remuneration, in particular the Employment Relations Act, which regulates individual employment relations and in a separate chapter regulates remuneration. Remuneration includes a salary and other additional payments. The authors treat all the components of a salary, i.e. the basic salary, extra payments, the part of the salary based on job performance, and the payment for positive business performance. Other additional payments are payments in kind or in money, in securities, or profit-related pay, i.e. the participation of employees in profit sharing. The authors also treat other income of employees laid down in the Employment Relations Act and collective agreements as well as the reimbursement of expenses related to work. The authors also focus on the obligatory content of an employment contract with reference to remuneration. Finally, they address open issues regarding types of other additional payments and possible solutions for determining individual remuneration instruments in collective agreements and in employment contracts. Key words: salary system, remuneration, salary, components of a salary, other additional payments 1 Introduction Following the declaration of independence in 1991, the Republic of Slovenia embarked on labor law reform fairly late. Until 2003 employment relations were regulated by the Basic Rights Stemming from the Employment Act,1 which was a law of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Labor law reform only began after the ownership transformation of companies in the mid-nineties of the past century. The new Employment Relations Act2 (hereinafter referred to as the ERA) was adopted only in 2002, and it entered into force on the 1st January 2003. The ERA is a fundamental act that regulates individual employment relations. The salary system is regulated in a separate chapter entitled Remuneration. The new ERA retained the unity of employment relations. It applies to all employees, in the private as well as in the pub- lic sector, and thus it also regulates the employment relations of the employees hired by the state bodies, local communities, institutions, other organizations, and private persons performing public services. In July 2002, the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the Civil Servants Act3 (hereinafter referred to as the CSA), which in the first part regulates common principles and other common issues of the civil service system for the entire public sector, and in the second part determines the particularities of the employment relations of civil servants employed in state bodies and in local community administra-tions.4 In relation to the ERA, the CSA is a special law for which the doctrine lex specialis derogat legi generali applies, i.e. a law governing a specific subject matter (lex specialis) is not overridden by a law governing general matters (lex generalis). 1 Zakon o temeljnih pravicah iz delovnega razmerja, Official Gazette SFRY, Nos. 60/1989, 42/1990. Following the declaration of independence in 1991, on the basis of the Constitutional Act Implementing the Basic Constitutional Charter on the Independence and Sovereignty of the Republic of Slovenia (Ustavni zakon za izvedbo temeljne ustavne listine o samostojnosti in neodvisnosti Republike Slovenije, Official Gazette RS, No. 1/1991), until issuing its own regulation, the Republic of Slovenia was to apply, mutatis mutandis, as its own regulations the regulations of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia which were not contrary to its legal order and if this Constitutional Act didn't provide otherwise. 2 Zakon o delovnih razmerjih, Official Gazette RS, Nos. 42/2002, 103/2007. 3 Zakon o javnih uslužbencih, Official Gazette RS, Nos. 63/2007 - officially consolidated text, 65/2008 4 Civil servants are individuals employed in the public sector. Civil servants are officials who perform public tasks and professional-technical civil servants who perform demanding auxiliary work. High officials in state bodies and local community bodies are not deemed to be civil servants. 144 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 In the field of salary system regulation, the ERA, as already stated above, dedicated an entire chapter to the mentioned subject and regulated to a fairly high degree of detail salaries and some other income (e.g. pay for annual leave, retirement severance pay) as well as the reimbursement of expenses related to work. In this respect autonomous acts are also important, i.e. collective agreements, which, as a general rule, regulate the salary system in a salary annex to the relevant collective agreement. Furthermore, a special act was adopted for employees in the public sector, i.e. the Salary System in the Public Sector Act5 (hereinafter referred to as the SSPSA), which regulates all details of the salary system of high officials, directors, and other representatives of legal entities governed by public law (e.g. deans, principles, hospital administrators), and civil servants in the public sector.6 The SSPSA regulates only salaries, and not other employees' incomes. In the field of collective labor law, the Collective Agreements Act7 was adopted in May 2006. New collective agreements at the branch level and collective agreements at the company level are adopted on its basis. The General Collective Agreement for the Commercial Sector8 was abrogated in 2005 and ceased to be in force at the end of June 2006. An important feature of the cited collective agreement was that it applied for all employers in the private sector, which was to the benefit of employees, as they were recognized more rights than determined in the ERA. Pursuant to the Collective Agreements Act, employers are bound by those collective agreements at the branch level which apply to employers associations that the employer is member of (e.g. a commercial company is a member of a commercial association and thus the employer is bound by the collective agreement for commerce). In view of the fact that membership in employers' associations is voluntary many employers are not members of such associations and therefore they are not bound by collective agreements at the branch level. However, in order to avoid great differences between employees with reference to the harmonization of salaries, payments for annual leave, and the reimbursement of expenses related to work, the social partners signed a special collective agreement which determines the minimum payments for the above-stated purposes and which applies to employers who are not bound by any of the collective agreements at the branch level. In 2003, the new Labor and Social Courts Act9 was adopted, which contains a new regulation of judicial protection in individual and collective labor disputes as well as in social disputes. Furthermore, the Minimum Wage Act10 and recently the Financial Participation Act11 were also adopted. The ERA is the most important act by which the salary system in the Republic of Slovenia is regulated along with autonomous acts, primarily collective agreements. 2 General Information on the Salary System and the Statutory Basis for Remuneration One of the fundamental rights of employees is to receive remuneration for their work and one of the fundamental obligations of employers is to pay their employees for the work performed. A salary is the basis for paying contributions for various social insurances, e.g. retirement insurance, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, parental leave insurance, maternity leave insurance. Employees are the weaker parties in a contractual relation with their employer and thus the provisions of labor law protect them against irregularities in determining their remuneration. Employees are entitled to a salary, which must always be paid in the form of money, as well as to other additional payments (e.g. payments in kind, securities), the reimbursement of expenses related to work, various salary compensations, and other incomes (e.g. pay for annual leave, a bonus based on years of service, solidarity allowance). Remuneration is not only an important component of the employment contract in a bilateral relation between employee and employer, but the established salary system in the country greatly influences, inter alia, the socio-economic conditions in the country, its economic and social development, the labor market, unemployment, inflation, gross domestic product growth, as well as the degree of respect of human rights, especially rights to social security. This is why the sate also interferes with the salary system by adopting regulations and by being a partner in social bargaining. The social partners determine the frameworks of the salary system by a social agreement. Consequently, determining remuneration is not left merely to a contractual agreement between employees and employers. Finally, this field is regulated by international as well as national provisions which guarantee a minimal scope of rights to the employees, whereas collective agreements at the branch level and collective agreements at the company level determine in more detail the scope of the rights which are recognized. In addition to the ERA, which is a fundamental act that regulates the salary system in the private sector, the Minimum Wage Act is also important. The latter determines a minimum 5 Zakon o sistemu plač v javnem sektorju, Official Gazette RS, Nos. 95/2007 - officially consolidated text, 17/2008. The SSPSA entered into force in 2002, and will be fully implemented in September of this year. 6 The CSA and the SSPSA both determine what the public sector comprises: state bodies and local community administrations; public agencies, public funds, public institutions, and public commercial institutions; other entities governed by public law provided that they indirectly use state or local budgetary funds. 7 Zakon o kolektivnih pogodbah, Official Gazette RS, No. 43/2006. 8 Splošna kolektivna pogodba za gospodarske dejavnosti, Official Gazette RS, No. 40/2097. 9 Zakon o delovnih in socialnih sodiščih, Official Gazette RS, Nos. 2/2004, 10/2004 - corr. 10 Zakon o določitvi minimalne plače, Official Gazette RS, No. 114/2006. 11 Zakon o udeležbi delavcev pri dobičku, Official Gazette RS, No. 25/2008. 145 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 salary which employees must be guaranteed regardless of their work results.12 The ERA lays down the minimal scope of rights regarding remuneration, which may be broadened by collective bargaining or the employment contract. This is a principle in favorem laboratoris, which is determined in the second paragraph of Article 7 of the ERA, and according to which the employment contract and collective agreement may determine rights which are more favorable for employees than those determined by the ERA. The statutory remuneration regulations in the Republic of Slovenia respect relevant international documents which bind employers to appropriately pay employees for their work. These international documents are: ■ the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948) in Article 23 binds together the right to remuneration and the right to work, and in the relevant part reads as follows: "Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection."; ■ the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1966), which in Article 7 determines the right to remuneration which provides all workers, as a minimum, with fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular women being guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work and a decent living for themselves and their families; ■ the European Social Charter (first adopted by the Council of Europe in 1961 and revised in 1996), which recognizes all workers the right to fair remuneration sufficient for a decent standard of living for themselves and their families (the fourth paragraph of Part I of the revised Charter); ■ numerous conventions of the International Labor Organization (hereinafter referred to as the ILO), e.g. ILO Convention No. 100 concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, ILO Convention No. 95 concerning the Protection of Wages.13 The Republic of Slovenia has also implemented all directives referring to individual labor law, including the directives referred to remuneration. These directives are: ■ Council Directive 75/117/EEC of 10 February 1975 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women; ■ Council Directive 76/207/EEC of 9 February 1976 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions, amended by the Council Directive 2002/73/EEC; . Council Directive 80/987/EEC of 20 October 1980 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer; ■ Council Directive 91/533/EEC of 14 October 1991 on an employer's obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship; ■ Council Directive 97/80/EC of 15 December 1997 on the burden of proof in cases of discrimination based on sex; ■ Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin; ■ Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation; ■ Council Directive 2001/23/EC of 12 March 2001 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of undertakings or businesses. 3 The Salary System as Determined by the Employment Relations Act In the former system remuneration for employees' work was regulated only by collective agreements at different levels, particularly by the general collective agreement and collective agreements at the branch level. The ERA laid down the salary system in a separate chapter entitled Remuneration primarily in order to ensure the greater security of employees.14 The first paragraph of Article 126 of the ERA determines that remuneration is composed of the salary and other additional payments if they are provided for in the collective agreement. The ERA does not define a salary, however, it does determine that the salary is composed of: ■ he basic salary; ■ the part of the salary based on job performance; ■ extra payments; ■ the payment for positive business performance, if so determined by a collective agreement or the employment contract. The ERA explicitly determines that the salary must always be paid in the form of money and that the employer must respect the minimum salary laid down by the law or the collective agreement. Other additional payments are not regulated in the ERA, however, the ERA does determine that 12 A minimum wage is determined by ILO Convention No. 131 concerning Minimum Wage Fixing. The objective of the Convention was to prevent exceptionally low salaries and thereby to ensure the minimum social security of employees and their families. The Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia ratified the Convention in 1982, and the Republic of Slovenia acceded to it in 1992. At present, the gross minimum wage in the Republic of Slovenia is 566 EUR, which places us in the middle of all 27 Member States of the EU. 13 The Republic of Slovenia has not ratified this Convention. 14 Employers criticize the detailed regulation of remuneration in the law. In their opinion, the salary system should be regulated by collective agreements. 146 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 eventual payments in kind must be provided in a manner laid down in the employment contract with regard to the nature of the work and existing custom. The legislature thus left it to autonomous acts, i.e. collective agreements and employment contracts, to determine any other eventual payments, except for the salary, which is defined by law in order to protect the weaker party in the employment relation, i.e. employees. On the basis of the above-mentioned provisions of the ERA, it may be concluded that the salary is an obligatory remuneration, whereas other additional payments are obligatory only if laid down by a collective agreement or an employment contract. Collective agreements determine starting salaries for individual tariff classifications.15 The starting salaries in each of the tariff classifications may not be lower than the minimum salaries determined in the Minimum Wage Act.16 The minimum salary is the lowest salary which must be ensured to the employees. The minimum salary prevents employers from paying low salaries in the lower tariff classifications and ensures that the salary has a "social element" in order to ensure employees and their families a decent life. These provisions protect employees, as the weaker party in the employment relation, against receiving salaries under the precise limit and against receiving payment in kind instead of money (e.g. in vouchers, in products that the employer produces), which would not cover the employees' living expenses and those of their families.17 3.1 Salary A salary is one of the types of remuneration specified by employment contract. It is an obligatory and principal remuneration, which must be paid in the form of money. It is one of the fundamental rights of employees, and is regulated in detail by the ERA. The ERA defines that the salary is composed of: ■ the basic salary; ■ the part of the salary based on job performance; ■ extra payments; ■ the payment for positive business performance, if determined by a collective agreement or the employment contract. The ERA does not provide a definition of salary. The only definition that can be found is that of the basic salary in individual collective agreements at the branch level, which defines that the basic salary for full-time work, job perform- ance defined in advance, and normal working conditions may not be lower than the starting salary of the relevant tariff classification. The ERA does not define the amount of the basic salary. The amount of the basic salary is determined by the social partners in the collective bargaining and in salary annexes to collective agreements. In accordance with the ERA, the job performance of an employee is determined by taking into consideration the economy, quality, and amount of work performed for which the employee has concluded the employment contract. The actual amount of this part of the salary is left to collective bargaining in accordance with the criteria defined in advance, whereby the ERA does not specify the upper limit. Even if the employee does not achieve the required work results, i.e. if the economy, quality, and agreed amount of his or her work are not satisfactory, his or her salary may nevertheless not be lower than the minimum salary. The ERA determines that employees are entitled to extra payments for special working conditions related to the schedule of the work hours. Such extra payments must be paid for night work, overtime work, Sunday work, and work on certain statutory holidays and non-working days.18 The amount of such extra payments is determined by collective agreements at the branch level. Other extra payments for jobs having an extra work load, for working in a hazardous environment, and for work hazards may also be determined by collective agreements. The ERA also provides for an extra payment for years of service, whereas its amount is specified by collective agreements at the branch level.19 Pursuant to the transitional provision of Article 238 of the ERA, the employees who at the time of the coming into force of the ERA received an extra payment for years of service in the amount of 0.5% of the basic salary for each completed year of service, keep such extra payment regardless of the amount of the extra payment defined by the collective agreement at the branch level unless the ERA or the employment contract stipulate a higher amount. It represents a payment which was implemented in the former social order in which employment relations were not based on bilateral employment contracts between employees and employers, but the employees worked with resources which were socially owned (i.e. an associative employment relation). Thus, the extra payment for years of service was recognized for all years of service regardless of how much time the employee had been working for the individual employer. 15 As a general rule, collective agreements contain IX tariff classifications, into which job positions are classified according to the level of education required. 16 A minimum salary is the salary of an employee who works full time or whose working time is regarded as a full time if so determined by law, collective agreement, or a general act, regardless of the employee's job performance. Since March 2008, the gross minimum salary in the Republic of Slovenia has been 566 EUR. 17 In 2007 approximately 23,000 employees in the Republic of Slovenia, i.e. 3% of all employees, received the minimum salary. 18 Zakon o praznikih in dela prostih dnevih v Republiki Sloveniji (The Holidays and Non-Working Days in the Republic of Slovenia Act), Official Gazette of RS, Nos. 26/1991, 112/2005, regulates statutory holidays and the days that are not statutory holidays but are non-working days, i.e. certain religious holidays (Easter Sunday and Monday, White Sunday, Assumption Day, Reformation Day, and Christmas) are non-working days. 19 Employers argue that an extra payment for years of service should be abolished. In their opinion it is an institution from the former system of employment relations. 147 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 A payment for a positive business performance is an integral part of the salary if so determined by a collective agreement or the employment contract. Neither the ERA nor any other law determines in which cases it is considered that the company has had a positive business performance. The definition of positive business performance is autonomously defined by the company. As a general rule it is measured in terms of the realized business objectives of the individual company. If we consider Article 126 of the ERA, which states that the payment for positive business performance is also an integral part of the salary and that the salary must always be paid in the form of money, then the above-mentioned statutory provision regarding the payment for positive business performance is rigid. In view of the fact that it is a variable and optional part of the salary which depends on the positive business performance of the company and not on the individual employee, this part of the salary could be paid to the employees also in the form of securities, business shares, or in kind. The Council Recommendation of 27 July 1992 concerning the promotion of participation by employed persons in profits and enterprise results (including equity participation) (92/443/EEC) also requires that the Member States should encourage financial participation in the profits and enterprise results, however, not as part of the salary. It determines that the existence of financial participation schemes should not, however, stand in the way of normal negotiations dealing with the wages and conditions of employment or of setting wages and working conditions through such negotiations. 3.2 Other Additional Payments In addition to the salary, employees may also receive other additional payments. The ERA does not define other additional payments. The legislature left the settlement of such payments to collective agreements or employment contracts, thus to autonomous regulation. A commentary on the ERA (Belopavlovic and Meznar, 2003, 518) states that such payments are various payments in kind, e.g. accommodation, food, use of a vehicle for personal purposes, other goods or services, vouchers. With regard to the payments in kind, the ERA determines that if the parties to the employment contract agree on such payments, the manner in which such payments are provided is laid down in the employment contract (the fifth paragraph of Article 134 of the ERA). The right to such payments and their form are thus stipulated in the employment contract. Such payments are in practice known as bonuses. This term derives from taxation regulations, primarily from the Personal Income Tax Act20 (hereinafter referred to as the PITA). Article 27 of the PITA determines that bonuses are all benefits in the form of products, services, or other benefits in kind which are given to employees or their family members by employers or other persons stemming from employment. Bonuses include use of a vehicle for personal purposes, accommodation, a loan without interest or with an interest rate lower than the interest rate on the market, a discount on goods or services, tuition fees for employees or their family members, insurances or similar payments, gifts given by employers to former, present, or future employees or their family members, and the right of employees to buy shares. From the labor-law point of view, the above-listed bonuses can only help define other types of payments in kind. In addition to the above-listed bonuses, the following can also be regarded as payments in kind, e.g. the use of vacation or health resort apartments, a parking space, clothing, payments in the form of vouchers or products, the payment of collective voluntary supplementary pension insurance or other voluntary insurance (e.g. life, accident, health insurance), purchasing pension credit for the period of time spent at university or in the military. The ERA does not restrict the contractual autonomy in stipulating types of payments. The only rule that must be observed is the general principle that parties may not agree on payments which are explicitly prohibited by regulations or are contrary to morals, and that employees may not be awarded other additional payments instead of the salary. In Slovenia, all the above-listed forms of payments are not widely applied in practice primarily because of taxation obligations and obligations concerning contributions for social security. The exceptions are bonuses in the form of the use of a vehicle for personal purposes for managers, and various supplementary insurances as well as the use of vacation or health resort apartments for other employees. With the reference to recognizing other types of payments, the question whether such payments are part of the salary in a broader sense will need to be answered de lege ferenda considering the fact that the taxes and contributions must be paid also for such payments the same as for salaries, and thus they should be taken into account when calculating the pension basis for an employee. According to the present regulation, however, irrespective of the fact that contributions for social security must be paid from such payments, they are not considered when a pension basis is calculated. 4 Profit-Related Pay (i.e. The Participation of Employees in Profit Sharing) as a Type of Remuneration In the chapter on remuneration, the ERA also regulates the profit-related pay of employees although the participation of employees in profit sharing is an institution of commercial law (Article 139 of the ERA). In accordance with the Companies Act,21 distributable profit may namely be distributed among the employees if such is provided for by the articles of association of the company and if the annual general meeting of the company so decides. Profit-related pay is not part of the salary but is an additional payment which is regulated by the Financial Participation Act. 20 Zakon o dohodnini, Official Gazette RS, No. 21/2006 - officially consolidated text. 21 Zakon o gospodarskih družbah, Official Gazette RS, Nos. 15/05, 42/06, 60/06, 10/08. 148 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 In the European Union this type of payment has developed in the last decade. Council Recommendation No. 92/443/EEC encourages the Member States to increase the participation of employed persons in profits and enterprise results, thus they should ensure that legal structures are adequate to allow the introduction of the financial participation by means of fiscal or other financial advantages. 5 Other Payments In addition to the salary and other additional payments, the ERA also regulates other payments to which employees are entitled due to their status. Such payments are compensations, which the employers are obliged to pay, the reimbursement of expenses, and other income. 5.1 Salary Compensation The ERA determines for which types of absences from work employees are entitled to compensation that employers are obliged to pay. The ERA also lays down the amount of such compensation. According to the ERA, employees are entitled to salary compensation which is paid from the employers' funds for the period of absence from work in the following instances: illness or injury which is not related to work, occupational illness and injury at work, annual leave, statutory holidays and non-working days, education, when the employee does not perform his or her work due to reasons from the side of the employer, paid absence due to personal circumstances (e.g. employee's wedding, death of a family member), and others. In all the above-stated instances, except for absence from work due to illness or injury not related to work, employees are entitled to salary compensation in the amount of their average monthly salary during the past three months or during the period they worked in the past three months. If during the entire period of the past three months an employee did not receive at least one monthly salary, he or she is entitled to salary compensation in the amount of the minimum salary. In instances of absences from work due to illness or injury not related to work, an employee is entitled to salary compensation in the amount of 80 percent of the employee's salary in the previous months for full-time work (the seventh and eighth paragraphs of Article 137 of the ERA). 5.2 Pay for Annual Leave Pay for annual leave does not need to be regulated in collective agreements because it is regulated by the ERA and is also a subject of regulation and bargaining of the social partners in the social agreement. Pay for annual leave may, however, be regulated by collective agreements at different levels if such regulation is more favorable for employees. The ERA ensures employees an annual pay for annual leave at least in the amount of the minimum salary.22 5.3 Retirement Severance Pay The ERA determines that employees are entitled to retirement severance pay upon retirement in the amount of two average monthly salaries in the Republic of Slovenia for the past three months or in the amount of two average monthly salaries of the employee for the past three months, whichever is more favorable for the employee (the first paragraph of Article 132 of the ERA). Collective agreements may determine that the amount of a retirement severance pay is higher than the amount determined by the ERA, taking into consideration the principle in favorem laboratoris. 5.4 Reimbursement of Expenses Related to Work With the reference to the reimbursement of expenses related to work, a basic principle applies whereby such expenses must be reimbursed to employees if they in fact incurred such. The ERA determines that the employer must ensure employees the reimbursement of meal expenses during the work, for travel expenses to and from the work, and of expenses employees incurred during business trips while performing tasks related to work. In accordance with the second paragraph of the Article 130 of the ERA, if the amount of the reimbursement of expenses is not determined by a general collective agreement, it must be determined by an executive regulation. In view of the fact that an executive regulation is an authoritative act of the state, the above-cited provision can be understood such that the state protects employees in cases in which the social partners did not agree on the amount of the reimbursement of expenses to the employees. The employers criticize the statutory regulation of the reimbursement of expenses for meals during the work and travel expenses to and from the work, as, in their opinion, recognizing such expenses to employees has a negative influence on their competitiveness on the international market, as such expenses are not determined by law in other members states of the European Union and the reimbursement of expenses to employees is therefore not obligatory. 6 Other Payments Determined by Collective Agreements Certain payments to employees are not determined by the ERA, they are, however, recognized to employees on the basis of collective agreements. 22 Collective agreements determine that gross pay for annual leave in 2008 amounts to 665 EUR, or for companies which operated with a loss in the last financial year, it amounts to at least the statutorily determined gross minimum salary, i.e. 566 EUR, on the day that pay for annual leave is paid. In 2009 gross pay for annual leave will amount to 686 EUR, or in companies which operated with a loss in the last financial year, it will amount to at least the statutorily determined gross minimum salary on the day that pay for annual leave is paid. 149 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 6.1 Allowance for Living Apart from One's Family An employee is entitled to an allowance for living apart from one's family if he or she lives away from his or her permanent or temporary residence because of work. The allowance for living apart from one's family is intended to cover expenses for accommodation and meals while the employee lives away from his or her permanent or temporary residence. Collective agreements or an employment contract may determine the amount of such allowance, and the period of time and the distance from the employee's permanent or temporary residence that are required for such allowance to be recognized. 6.2 Bonuses Based on Years of Service The ERA does not determine any bonus based on years of service; such bonus is, however, determined in collective agreements. The bonus based on years of service is, as a general rule, recognized for either 10, 20, 30, or 40 years of service with the last employer. 6.3 Solidarity Allowance As a general rule, collective agreements provide for solidarity allowances for employees and their family members in cases of accidents and longer illnesses. Collective agreements precisely determine in what instances employees are entitled to such allowance, who is considered an employee's family member, and what the amount of such allowance is to be. 7 Employment Contracts and Reimbursements Provisions on reimbursement are obligatory components of each employment contract, as reimbursement is one of the fundamental rights of employees. The obligatory components of an employment contract are determined in Article 29 of the ERA. An employment contract is a pecuniary contract. Thus, one of the obligatory components of the employment contract is the provision on the amount of the employee's basic salary expressed in Euros, which the employee is entitled to in accordance with the employment contract, the provision on the part of the salary based on job performance and extra payments, as well as the provision on the payment for positive business performance and other additional payments, if such are agreed. 7.1 Provisions on the Amount of the Basic Salary Employment contracts must contain a provision on the amount of the employee's basic salary, which must be expressed in Euros. The basic salary of an employee is determined in accordance with the classification of his or her job position in the tariff classification in the relevant collective agreement. If the employee does not achieve the required work results, his or her basic salary may be lower; nevertheless, it may not be lower than the minimum salary determined by the law. 7.2 Other Additional Payments Other additional payments may be provided to employees in a manner as stipulated in the employment contract regarding the nature of his or her work and the existing practice. Other additional payments are payments in kind, e.g. the use of a vehicle for personal purposes, accommodation, securities (shares) or business shares, money. Other additional payments are provided to employees on the basis of collective agreements, or they may be stipulated in the employment contract. 7.3 Provisions on Other Components of the Salary, on the Payment Intervals, on the Day of Payment, and on the Manner of Paying the Salary Other components of the salary are part of the salary based on job performance, extra payments, and the payment for positive business performance. The second paragraph of Article 29 of the ERA determines that these payments must not be stipulated in the employment contract, but the parties may refer to the laws, collective agreements, or the employer's general act. Provided that the parties to the employment contract refer to the above-mentioned acts, they must precisely state the titles of these acts, the date of their publication, and where they were published, so that the employee may at anytime review their content. The provisions of the above-mentioned acts to which the employment contract refers are deemed components of the employment contract, which entails that any amendment to the law, collective agreement, or employer's general act does not affect the rights determined in the employment contract, i.e. the employee must retain all the rights which are stipulated in the employment contract if they are more favorable for the employee (Article 49 of the ERA). However, if the provisions of the amended acts are more favorable for the employee, they do apply. 7.4 Payment Intervals The salary must be paid to employees in payment intervals which may not be longer than one month. The salary must be paid at the latest on the 18th day in the month for the previous month. If the day of the payment is not a working day, the salary must be paid at least on the first following working day of the employer (Article 134 of the ERA). The most common manner of paying the salary is payment to the employee's bank account, which is laid down in the employment contract. The provisions on payment intervals are important from the point of view of the predictability and regularity of payments so that the employees may plan their expenses accordingly. 150 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 8 Conclusion In every country the salary system is an important segment of the regulation of macroeconomic relations and of employment relations between employees and employers. In the Republic of Slovenia, statutory provisions lay down minimum standards of remuneration, which may be further developed in collective bargaining agreements between social partners by determining more rights for employees. Furthermore, the complete freedom of determining more favorable rights for employees is left to employers and employees, who may agree on a higher salary or more favorable other additional payments in an employment contract. The autonomy of contracting parties is, however, restricted by a minimum salary determined by law and by the provision that the salary must always be paid in the form of money. This does not apply for other payments which may be paid to the employees in kind, in securities, business shares, or money. In practice, other additional payments are being used increasingly; however, the development of these is slow due to the taxation obligations and those for paying various contributions. According to the taxation regulation, other additional payments are regarded as bonuses and for all bonuses and other income stemming from the employment relation (except for a few exceptions) employers must pay taxes and contributions. According to the present regulation, however, irrespective of the fact that taxes and contributions must be paid from such payments, they are not considered when the pension basis is calculated. Literature Belopavlovič, N. & Mežnar, D. (2003), Zakon o delovnih razmerjih s komentarjem, GV Založba, Ljubljana. Blanpain, R. (1990), Flexibility and Wages, A Comparative Treatment, Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations, No. 19-1990, Kluwer, Deventer-Boston. Ivanjko, Š. (1999), Udeležba na dobičku z davčnega vidika, Pravna praksa, 18(4), Ljubljana, annex I-VII. Končar, P. (2002), Splošni akti delodajalcev v sistemu delovno-pravnih virov, Inštitut za delo pri Pravni fakulteti v Ljubljani, Delavci in delodajalci, 2002(2), 397- 407. Kresal, B. (2001), Pravna ureditev plače, Bonex založba, Ljubljana. Mermet, E. (2001), Wage Formation in Europe, Brussels. Mežnar, D. (1998), Plačilo za delo v pogodbenih delovnih razmerjih, Podjetje in delo, 1998(6-7), 1106-1116. Vaughan-Whitehead, D. (1995). Workers' financial participation: East-West experiences, ILO Geneva. Sources Act Amending the Minimum Wage Act (Zakon o dopolnitvi Zakona o določitvi minimalne plače), Official Gazette RS, No. 36/2008. Act Fixing the Reimbursement Amounts for Work Related Expenses and Certain Other Income (Zakon o višini povračil stroškov v zvezi z delom in nekaterih drugih prejemkov), Official Gazette RS, Nos. 97/1997, 9/1998. Basic Rights Stemming from Employment Act (Zakon o temeljnih pravicah iz delovnega razmerja), Official Gazette SFRY, Nos. 60/1989, 42/1990. Civil Servants Act (Zakon o javnih uslužbencih), Official Gazette RS, Nos. 63/07 - official consolidated text, 65/2008. Collective Agreements Act (Zakon o kolektivnih pogodbah), Official Gazette RS, No. 43/2006. Companies Act (Zakon o gospodarskih družbah), Official Gazette RS, Nos. 15/2005, 42/2006, 60/2006, 10/2008. Employment Relations Act (Zakon o delovnih razmerjih), Official Gazette RS, Nos. 41/2002, 103/2007. Financial Participation Act (Zakon o udeležbi delavcev pri dobičku), Official Gazette RS, No. 25/2008. Holidays and Non-Working Days in the Republic of Slovenia Act (Zakon o praznikih in dela prostih dnevih Republiki Sloveniji), Official Gazette of RS, Nos. 26/1991, 112/2005. Labour and Social Courts Act (Zakon o delovnih in socialnih sodiščih), Official Gazette RS, Nos. 2/2004, 10/2004 - corr. Personal Income Tax Act (Zakon o dohodnini), Official Gazette RS, No. 21/2006 - official consolidated text. Salary System in the Public Sector Act (Zakon o sistemu plač v javnem sektorju), Official Gazette RS, No. 95/2007 - official consolidated text, and No. 17/2008. Etelka Korpic-Horvat, assistant professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Maribor, graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana in 1971, and holds a Master's Degree (1984) and a Doctorate (1991) from the same university. She has taken part in various national and international conferences and seminars primarily focusing on labour law, social security law, public law, and budgetary law. She is also a member of the commission for the state legal examinations in labour law. She is the author of numerous articles from the fields of labour law, state audit law, and budgetary law. She is the editor of the Human Resource Management Journal, a journal on labour law. She is the co-author of the first commentary on the Court of Audit Act in the Republic of Slovenia, co-author of the Budgetary Law and Employment Contract and Collective Agreement and author of The Influence of Employment Home and Abroad on De-agrarization of Pomurje Region. Bojan Ticar graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana in 1990 and holds a Master's Degree (1995) and a Doctorate (2001) in public and financial law from the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana. In 2005 he joined the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security of the University of Maribor and the Faculty of Management of the University of Primorska where he teaches as associate professor Administrative Law, Legal Regulation of Management in Public Sector, and Tax Law. Dr. Ticar's interests cover the public-private partnership regulation in the EU, salary systems in the EU member states public sectors, public and corporate governance as well as privatization issues in transition countries. At present he is professionally involved as a vice dean of the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security of the University of Maribor and works on articles dealing with public sector legal regulation. 151 Organizacija, Volume 42 Research papers Number 5, September-October 2009 Rado Bohnic is a Rector of the University of Primorska and full professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has published over 200 scientific and professional articles, discussions and commentaries, as well as cooperated in numerous symposia at home as well as abroad. He has cooperated in numerous international scientific research projects and exchange programmes. He has research and pedagogical experiences in numerous universities, notably in the United States, Austria, Sweden, Netherlands and so forth. Plačni sistem v zasebnem sektorju v Republiki Sloveniji Avtorji obravnavajo plačni sistem v zasebnem sektorju v Republiki Sloveniji. Predstavljajo plačilo za delo po Zakonu o delovnem razmerju, ki zajema plačo in druge vrste plačil. Nadalje razdelajo posamezne elemente plače: osnovno plačo, dodatke in del plače za delovno ter poslovno uspešnost. Poleg plače zaposleni lahko prejmejo tudi druge vrste plačil, v naravi ali v denarju, v skladu z ureditvijo v kolektivnih pogodbah ali pogodbi o zaposlitvi. Ključne besede: plačni sistem, plačilo za delo, plača, sestavine plače, drugi prejemki 152 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 Razvoj modela investiranja v IT infrastrukturo z uporabo metod sistemske dinamike Miran Šik Cesta na Markovec 73, 6000 Koper, Slovenija, miran.sik@actual-it.si V članku je z uporabo metod sistemske dinamike predstavljena zasnova modela za podporo odločanju pri investiranju v IT infrastrukturo. Raziskane so vzročno posledične povezave med investicijami v IT in doseženim dobičkom. Z modelom so popisani vplivi investicij v IT infrastrukturo na povečanje dobička preko povečane strateške prožnosti. Predstavljene so simulacije vrednosti dobička pri različnih vrednostih zunanjih spremenljivk in pri različnih funkcijah medsebojnih vplivov spremenljivk. V raziskavi ugotavljamo, da so funkcije medsebojnih vplivov spremenljivk slabo raziskane in da bi njihovo boljše poznavanje bistveno pripomoglo k izboljšanju kvalitete modela. Ključne besede: sistemska dinamika, modeliranje, podpora odločanju, investiranje v IT infrastrukturo 1 Uvod Informacijska tehnologija predstavlja za mnoge firme največji delež investicij. Vsak IT projekt se lahko z investicijskega zornega kota obravnava kot portfelj, ki vsebuje enega ali več investicijskih ciljev, vrednost njihovih deležev v konkretnem projektu pa se spreminja. V študiji, ki sta jo izvedla Weill in Aral (2006), so firme kar 54% vrednosti vložile v doseganje infrastrukturno usmerjenih ciljev, 13% pa v transakcijske sisteme, ki so izkoriščali to infrastrukturo, v informacijske sisteme in v sisteme za doseganje strateških ciljev pa 20% oziroma 13%. Dejstvo je, da je investiranje v IT infrastrukturo tvegano, ker so časi v katerih se investicija povrne relativno dolgi in pomenijo negotovost v obdobjih hitrih tehnoloških sprememb. Kot vsaka investicija mora tudi tista v IT imeti pozitivne učinke na poslovanje. Merjenje prispevka IT investicij k uspešnosti poslovanja in preverjanje, ali so investicije res dosegle pričakovane učinke na poslovanje, zahteva mnogostranski pristop, saj se prepletajo finančni, organizacijski, družbeni, procesni in tehnološki dejavniki. Vrednotenje IT investicij, tako iz finančnega vidika (otipljivega ^ ang. tangible) kot po ostalih nemerljivih kriterijih (neotipljivi ^ angl. intangible), je težavno ker (Lin et al., 2005): a) organizacije napačno prepoznavajo pomembna tveganja, stroške in pridobljene prednosti, b) običajne finančne metode ocenjevanja so neustrezne za ovrednotenje pridobitev in stroškov IT investicij, c) nove tehnologije prinašajo večja tveganja, kar vpliva na stroške, čas izvedbe in pravočasnost izvedbe, d) premalo pozornosti je posvečene sprotnemu spremljanju in ocenjevanju IT investicij, e) težko je ovredno- titi nemerljive kriterije in postaviti vzročno povezavo med IT investicijo in dobičkonosnostjo. Nobelovec Solow je že leta 1987 v New York Times (Solow, 1987) zapisal, da se računalniki pojavljajo povsod, razen v statistikah o produktivnosti. Pojavil se je tudi izraz »paradoks produktivnosti« v informacijski tehnologiji (Bry-njolfsson, 1993), ki označuje omenjeno nesorazmerje (vložena sredstva - pridobljene koristi). Seveda je to sprožilo val raziskav, ki so hotele dokazati pravilnost oziroma napačnost trditve v paradoksu. Nekatere študije potrjujejo, da ni mogoče dokazati odvisnosti organizacijske učinkovitosti od IT investicij (Hu in Plant, 2001). Prav Brynjolfsson (Brynjolfsson, 1998) pa je zapisal, da »komputerizacija« avtomatsko ne poveča produktivnosti, je pa pomembna potrebna komponenta pri sistemskih in organizacijskih spremembah. Zaradi velikih investicijskih vložkov je razumljivo, da se pričakujejo tudi občutna povračila investicij. Hitt in Brynjolfsson (1996) ugotavljata, da so različna uporabljena merila za ocenjevanje investicij, pripeljala do različnih razlag poslovne vrednosti IT. Empirične izkušnje in tudi teoretični argumenti pričajo, da imajo investicije v IT lahko pozitiven vpliv na učinkovitost poslovanja firm. Porter in Millar (1985) prepoznata tri najpomembnejše neposredne učinke, ki jih informacijska tehnologija prinese firmi: a) znižanje stroškov - avtomatizacija zalog, novi prodajni procesi, b) poudari diferenciacijo - kupcem prilagojeni proizvodi in povečana izbira in c) vpliv na spremembo ciljev poslovanja - povečana sposobnost obvladovanja aktivnosti znotraj firme in povečane komunikacijske sposobnosti z zunanjim okoljem. A 179 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 Identifikacija učinkov investiranja v IT in njihovo merjenje je postala tema obširnih raziskav, ki so jih izvajali na praktičnih primerih (Hu in Plant, 2001, Hu in Quan, 2003, Wimble, 2006, Hosman et al.,2008), drugi avtorji pa so razvili teoretične modele za pomoč pri ocenjevanju uspešnosti IT investicij (Benaroch, 2002, Dutta et al., 2004, Fichman, 2004, Dehning et al., 2005, Silvius, 2006). Wang in Liu (2005) sta uporabila pristop s sistemsko dinamiko, da sta raziskala dinamiko uvajanja informacijskih sistemov in ovrednotila uspešnost IS. Z namenom, da bi se lažje spopadli z izzivi, je predvsem za managerje na strateškem nivoju, potrebno zgraditi primerne modele in analitične okvire, ki bodo pokrivali zelo dinamično, spremenljivo in kompleksno sodobno okolje upravljanja. Nekateri raziskovalci (Van Bruggen et al., 1998) so ugotovili, da se odločevalci - managerji, ki uporabljajo orodja za podporo odločanju, manj odločajo na podlagi zasidranih preteklih odločitev kot tisti, ki takih orodij ne uporabljajo. Uporaba modelov v sistemih za podporo odločanju je povečala uporabnost in učinkovitost teh sistemov. Temeljni problem, ki ga zaznavamo pri planiranju in investiranju v IT infrastrukturo je, da ne vemo ali bo investicija pripomogla k uspešnejšemu poslovanju, torej k doseganju in povečevanju dobička. V prispevku bomo prikazali zasnovo modela za podporo odločanju pri investiranju v IT infrastrukturo z metodami sistemske dinamike. Glede na predstavljene dileme glede vrednotenja investicij v IT bomo predstavili model, v katerem se investiranje v IT infrastrukturo odraža posredno v povečanju dobička preko povečane strateške prilagodljivosti firme. Ob samem razvoju modela bomo pokazali pomembnost funkcije medsebojne odvisnosti rasti dobička in IT investicij ter njen vpliv na obnašanje modela. 2 Metode Sistemska dinamika so metode, s katerimi lahko opazujemo obnašanje dinamičnih sistemov in trdnost izbranih politik, primerne pa so za modeliranje kompleksnih, nelinearnih, naravnih, tehničnih in organizacijskih sistemov. Dinamičnost in kompleksnost sistemov se namreč ne kažeta zgolj v velikem številu komponent ali v velikem številu možnih kombinacij pri sprejemanju odločitev, temveč predvsem v medsebojnem delovanju komponent skozi čas. Časovne zakasnitve med sprejeto odločitvijo in njenim vplivom na stanje sistema so pogoste in njihovi vplivi niso linearni. Včasih so tako prepleteni, da spravijo sistem v neravnovesje. Večkratne povratne zveze otežujejo pregled nad delovanjem sistema. Težko je izolirati opazovano spremenljivko od dogajanja v celotnem sistemu, ker se mnogo spremenljivk spreminja sočasno, s tem pa se zabriše jasnost vplivov na obnašanje sistema. Metode sistemske dinamike je razvil in objavil Forrester (1961, 1968) v 60tih letih 20. stoletja na MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) s prvotnim namenom, da bi modelirali upravljavske in industrijske procese. Bistvo tehnike sistemske dinamike je v uporabi povratne vzročnosti (ang. circular causality) in povratne zveze (ang. feedback) za simuliranje obnašanja kompleksnih siste- Slika 1: A 180 Vplivi investicij v IT na doseganje lastnosti strateško prilagodljive firme Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 mov. Osnovni gradniki sistemske dinamike so stanja in tokovi, ki zajamejo spremembe stanj, časovne zakasnitve in nelinear-nosti (Kljajic, 1994). Lastnosti metodologije, kot so splošna uporabnost, enostavnost komuniciranja, možnost eksplicitne predstavitve fizičnih tokov, naravna sposobnost za modeliranje nelinearnosti in sposobnost popisati obnašanje modela v nekem časovnem obdobju, omogočajo sistemski pristop k razumevanju sistema in celovitemu reševanju problemov. Modeliranje označuje Sterman (2000) kot del procesa učenja in kot iterativen in ponavljajoč proces oblikovanja hipotez, testiranja in ponovnega pregledovanja formalnih in miselnih modelov. Modeliranje je vzročno posledični proces in ne linearno zaporedje opravil. Proces iterativnega modeliranja je sestavljen iz petih podprocesov: a) določitev problema (postavitev omejitev) b) postavitev dinamične hipoteze c) postavitev simulacijskega modela d) testiranje e) zasnova strategije in ocena. Modeli so široko uporabljeni pri testiranju in napovedovanju obnašanja poslovnih sistemov in odločitvenih procesih (Kljajic et al., 2000, Škraba et al., 2003, Franko et al., 2004) ter kot pomoč pri odločanju na strateških nivojih družbenoekonomskega upravljanja (Kljajic et al., 2005a, Kljajic et al., 2005b). Ne glede na možne poglede na vrednotenje organizacijske učinkovitosti se prej ali slej učinkovitost pokaže tudi v povečanem dobičku. Strateško prilagodljivost. Hilhorst in sodelavci (2005) navajajo kot pomemben pogoj, da firma v dinamičnem, nepredvidljivem in konkurenčnem okolju uspešno posluje, ustvarja dobiček in se razvija. Strateško prilagodljiva firma lahko hitro spremeni ključne poglede na poslovno strategijo in uporabi svoje potenciale za izboljšanje konkurenčnih pozicij. Sposobna je hitro odgovoriti na spremembe v povpraševanju, prilagoditi produkt ali storitev individualni stranki, hitro odgovoriti na ponudbo novih produktov s strani konkurence, hitro odgovoriti na spremembe cen s strani konkurence, enostavno izvesti širitev na nove trge, hitro osvojiti in uvesti nove tehnologije za hitrejše, boljše in cenejše proizvode ali storitve,korenito prenoviti proizvode, na različne načine sodelovati s partnerji, da se znižajo stroški, izboljša kvaliteta ali čas dostave. Doseganje lastnosti strateško prilagodljive firme kot posledico investicij v IT smo prikazali z vzročno posledičnim diagramom na sliki 1. Diagram prikazuje, da so s povečanim investiranjem v IT, bolje obvladane poslovne zahteve po informacijski tehnologiji, kar pripomore k znižanju poslovnih stroškov, s pospešenim investiranjem pa omogočamo učinkovitejšo uporabo obstoječih IT tehnologij, kar zmanjšuje skupne stroške. Investiranje v IT in večja uporabnost IT omogočata optimiranje poslovnih procesov in odpravljanje podvajanja opravil, posledično pa zniževanje stroškov. S povečanim investiranjem v IT se vzpostavljajo pogoji za povečano tekmovalnost na IT trgu. To sicer povečuje stroške zaradi potreb povečanega pojavljanja na trgu, hkrati pa se zaradi tega povečujejo tudi prihodki. Povečanje pri- letna rast dobička A 181 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 hodkov je zaznati tudi zaradi boljšega doseganja zastavljenih strateških ciljev firme, na kar nedvomno vpliva povečano investiranje v IT. Posledice večjega investiranja se poleg ostalega kažejo v izboljšanju kvalitete storitev in možnosti pridobivanja novih poslov, kar posredno (preko povečanega zadovoljstva kupcev) ali neposredno povečuje prihodke firme. Povečanje prihodkov izboljšuje pogoje za povečanje investiranja v IT, nasprotno pa povečanje stroškov te pogoje slabša. 2.1 Opis in analiza modela Prepoznavanje problema je prvi korak k njegovi rešitvi. Sledi mu teoretična razlaga dinamike problema, ki ji pravimo tudi postavitev dinamične hipoteze, ker podaja razlago dinamičnega obnašanja opazovanega sistema z vidika povratnih povezav ter strukture stanj in pretokov. Sistemska dinamika išče notranje (s tujko endogene) razlage pojavov in preučuje dinamiko med spremenljivkami v sistemu. Poleg odločitev, ki jih sprejmemo znotraj sistema, vplivajo na uspešnost poslovanja oziroma doseganje dobička tudi vplivi okolja, na katere neposredno ne moremo delovati. Dinamičnost problema se v preučevanem primeru kaže v povratnih zvezah, ki nastopajo v modelu. Časovni zamiki učinkov so pomemben element, ki določajo vzorec obnašanja sistema. Na sistem, poleg učinkov investiranja, odločilno vpliva tudi ukrepanje managementa, ko zazna razkorak med zastavljenimi cilji in doseženimi učinki. Ukrepanje, ki se poleg operativnih aktivnosti kaže predvsem v strateški prenovi procesov, ima neposreden vpliv na uspešnost poslovanja, hkrati pa je tudi vir pobud za nadaljnje investiranje, saj je lahko razkorak med pričakovanimi in dejanskimi učinki tudi posledica preskromnih investicij v infrastrukturo, kar ima za posledico premajhno organizacijsko učinkovitost in slabo strateško prožnost. Z vzročno posledičnim diagramom na sliki 2 predstavljamo osnovni miselni model, ki pomeni izhodišče za nadaljnje iteracije. Njegov namen je, da predstavi spremenljivke, ki vplivajo na obnašanje sistema in njihovo medsebojno povezanost, da popiše osnovne relacije in povratne zveze med najpomembnejšimi spremenljivkami, in s tem zajame dinamiko sistema. V modelu so prisotne tri povratne zanke, ki smo jih poimenovali: investiranje, pobude in upravljanje. Pozitivna povratna zanka investiranje predstavlja krepitev dobička zaradi uspešnega poslovanja, ki je posledica povečanih učinkov zaradi večjih investicij. Le-te so se povečale zaradi večje razpoložljivosti sredstev, ki so posledica povečanega dobička. Ostali dve zanki sta ravnovesni. Zanka upravljanje je ravnovesna, ker se zaradi večanja učinkov investicij zmanjšuje razkorak med pričakovanimi in dejanskimi učinki, ob povečevanju pričakovanih učinkov pa se razkorak povečuje. S tem se povečuje potreba po ukrepih, z ukrepanjem in prenovo procesov pa povečujemo uspešnost poslovanja, nato dobiček, razpoložljiva sredstva, investicije in učinke. Tudi zanka pobude je ravnovesna, saj podobno kot zanka upravljanje, zaradi večjih pričakovanih učinkov, povečuje razkorak med pričakovanimi in dejanskimi učinki. S tem postajajo močnejši ukrepi in prenova procesov, ki pozitivno vplivajo na pobude za investiranje. Zaradi teh iz razpoložljivih sredstev za investiranje namenijo več za investicije. Spremenljivke, ki nastopajo v vzročno posledičnem diagramu modela in njihove lastnosti so naslednje: ■ dobiček predstavlja za naš sistem ključno spremenljivko, ki jo opazujemo. ■ razpoložljiva sredstva za investicije so sredstva, ki jih organizacija nameni za investiranje. ■ drugi investicijski viri so poleg investiranja iz dobička drugi vir razpoložljivih sredstev za investicije. ■ investicije je spremenljivka, ki predstavlja porabo sredstev, ki so se nakopičile v spremenljivki «razpoložljiva sredstva za investicije«, za investiranje v določenem obdobju. ■ učinki investicij ali učinkovitost investiranja (angl. efficiency) predstavlja delež povečanja uspešnosti poslovanja zaradi večjega investiranja v infrastrukturo oziroma faktor povečanja dobička zaradi investiranja. ■ pričakovani učinki so indeks s katerim označujemo pričakovanja ali planirane vrednosti učinkov. ■ razkorak med pričakovanimi in dejanskimi učinki je brezdimenzijska spremenljivka, predstavlja pa razliko med pričakovanimi učinki na poslovanje zaradi investiranja in dejanskimi doseženimi učinki. ■ ukrepi-prenova procesov je spremenljivka, ki je posledica kontrolnega delovanja sistema in zaznave nastanka razlike med pričakovanimi in doseženimi cilji. ■ pobude za investiranje predstavljajo delež porabe razpoložljivih sredstev za investiranje. ■ omejitve za ukrepanje je spremenljivka, ki zajema v sebi vse ovire, ki onemogočajo, da bi se ukrepi v celoti izvedli. ■ uspešnost poslovanja (angl. effectiveness) je spremenljivka, ki predstavlja indeks povečanja zaslužka, zaradi učinkov investiranja in prenove procesov. ■ zunanje motnje pomenijo vse negativne vplive na poslovanje in so lahko okrepljena konkurenca, nestabilen trg, nesolidni dobavitelji, nezaupanje kupcev in ostalo. ■ letna rast dobička iz prihodkov je s faktorjem povečanja izraženo povečanje dobička zaradi povečanja prihodkov iz poslovanja firme. 3 Rezultati Vzorce obnašanja v vzročno posledičnem diagramu lahko preizkusimo na simulacijskem modelu z različnimi scenariji. Simulacijo izvedemo tako, da spremenimo vrednost spremenljivke »delež drugih virov« in opazujemo obnašanje spremenljivk »dobiček«, »razpoložljiva sredstva za investicije« in »vrednost investicij«. Praktično bi to pomenilo, da bo delež virov financiranja iz virov, ki niso dobiček (npr. krediti), narasel iz 30% na 40%, medtem ko bomo iz dobička še vedno odvedli 20% za investicije. Vpeljemo funkcijo, ki naj popisuje odvisnost učinkov investiranja od vrednosti investicije. Imenujemo jo »vpliv vrednosti investicij na učinke«. V prvem in drugem scenariju simulacije je to linearna funkcija prikazana na sliki 3. V nadaljevanju bomo njen potek spremenili in prikazali vrednosti opazovanih spremenljivk v scenariju 3. Za potrebe simulacije smo s funkcijo zajeli vrednosti investicije od 0 do 100€ in predvideli, da se bo dobiček zaradi A 182 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 Vpliv vrednosti investicij na učinke 0 25 50 75 vrednost investicije (€) Slika 3: Funkcija linearne odvisnosti učinkov od vrednosti investicij v IT 100 tega sorazmerno povečeval s faktorjem od 0 do , kar pomeni, da se pri investiranih 25€, dobiček poveča za 25% pri večjih investicijah pa več. Potek funkcije je bil izbran kot primer, za njen natančnejši potek pa predlagamo nadaljnje empirične raziskave. Pri simulaciji sistema uporabimo v scenariju 1 naslednje začetne vrednosti za zunanje spremenljivke: zunanja spremenljivka vrednost max delež dobička za investiere 0,2 delež drugih virov 0,3 investicijsko obdobje 1 čas do učinkovitosti investicije 1 pričakovani učinki 1,3 zunanje motnje 0,2 omejitve za ukrepanje 0,2 čas za pripravo ukrepov 1 letna rast dobička iz prihodkov 0,1 začetni dobiček 1 povprečna življenjska doba 5 druge pobude in eksperimenti 0,1 Če uporabimo vrednosti iz zgornje tabele, je obnašanje opazovanih spremenljivk prikazano na diagramih na slikah 4, 5 in 6 s krivuljo označeno s številko . Viden je padec vrednosti »dobiček«, prikazan s krivuljo 1 na sliki 4 zaradi predvidenega 20% deleža dobička namenjenega investiranju. V tem primeru učinki investiranja niso dovolj veliki, da bi nadomestili zmanjševanje dobička zaradi investiranja, vendar imajo učinki neprestan pozitivni vpliv, saj se trend padanja zmanjšuje in proti kon- cu opazovanega obdobja krivuljo dobička preusmerijo v blago rast. Ostali dve spremenljivki imata blago eksponentno rast. Scenarij 2 je prikazan na diagramih na slikah 4,5 in 6 s krivuljo 2. Povečali smo vrednost spremenljivke »delež drugih virov« iz 0,3 na 0,4. Za »razpoložljiva sredstva za investiranje« bomo torej namesto 30%, uporabili 40% zunanjih virov, ostalo pa predstavlja 20% dobička. Obnašanje opazovanih spremenljivk se občutno spremeni predvsem na račun povečane učinkovitosti zaradi povečane vrednosti investicij. Krivulja 2, na diagramu »dobiček« (slika 4), ima manjši trend padanja vrednosti kot v scenarijul, ko pa začne po približno 15 letih naraščati, je trend rasti večji. Tudi ostali dve spremenljivki (slika 5 in slika 6, krivulja 2) dosegata večje vrednosti in trende rasti kot v primeru variante . Posebej moramo poudariti, da sta simulaciji obnašanja sistema v scenarijih 1 in 2 izvedeni s predpostavljeno linearno naraščajočo funkcijo odvisnosti »vpliv vrednosti investicij na učinke« (predstavljena na sliki 3). Če funkcijo vpliva spremenimo, se obnašanje sistema bistveno spremeni. Simulacija v scenariju 3 predpostavlja, da imajo investicije na začetku naraščajoč vpliv na učinke. To pa ne more trajati v nedogled. Od neke vrednosti naprej se njihov vpliv ne povečuje več proporcionalno z rastjo vrednosti investicije, temveč se zmanjšuje in ustali na konstantni vrednosti, kar prikazuje slika 7. Vrednosti, ki jih ob taki funkcijski odvisnosti investicij in učinkov dosežejo spremenljivke, so prikazane na grafih s krivuljo 3. Zunanje spremenljivke ohranijo iste vrednosti kot v scenariju 2. Najbolj očitno se sprememba opazi pri spremenljivki »dobiček« (slika 4, krivulja 3), ki s časom preide iz stanja eksponentne rasti v stanje približevanja cilju. Opazno je, da dobiček ne narašča eksponentno, ker se učinkovitost vrednosti investicij zmanjšuje, saj se z večanjem investicij njihov učinek A 183 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 6 4 € 2 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Čas (leta) Scenarij 1 - 30% zunanjih virov ---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1---1--- Scenarij 2 - 40% zunanjih virov —2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2— Scenarij 3 - 40% zunanjih virov, nelinearna odvisnost —3—3—3—3—3—3— Slika 4: Vrednosti spremenljivke »dobiček« v simuliranih scenarijih 400 300 € 200 100 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Čas (leta) Scenarij 1 - 30% zunanjih virov ---1—1—1---1—1—1---1—1—1---1—1—1--- Scenarij 2 - 40% zunanjih virov —2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2— Scenarij 3 - 40% zunanjih virov, nelinearna odvisnost —3—3—3—3—3—3— Slika 5: Vrednosti spremenljivke »razpoložljiva sredstva za investiranje« v simuliranih scenarijih A 184 dobiček razpoložljiva sredstva za investicije / / / / / / / - Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 vrednost investicij 200 150 100 50 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Čas (leta) Scenarij 1 - 30% zunanjih virov —1—1---1—1—1---1—1—1---1—1—1---1— Scenarij 2 - 40% zunanjih virov —2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2—2— Scenarij 3 - 40% zunanjih virov, nelinearna odvisnost —3—3—3—3—3—3— Slika 6: Vrednosti spremenljivke »vrednost investicij« v simuliranih variantah Vpliv vrednosti investicij na učinke € 0 25 50 100 vrednost investicije (€) Slika 7: Nelinearen vpliv vrednosti investicij na učinke investiranja ne kaže vedno enako. S povečevanjem investiranja je namreč potrebnih vedno več sredstev, da bomo dosegli enak učinek. Dobro poznavanje funkcijskih odvisnosti med spremenljivkami sistema ima bistven vpliv na kvaliteto in uporabnost modela, saj smo pokazali, da močno vplivajo na vrednosti spremenljivk in obnašanje modela. 4 Zaključna analiza modela Mnoge raziskave so t.i. »paradoks produktivnosti« razložile s tem, da pri ocenah niso bili upoštevani posredni vplivi, ki jih imajo investicije na povečano uspešnost poslovanja oziroma na povečanje dobička. Predstavljeni model je z vpeljavo A 185 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 spremenljivke učinki investiranja ter funkcije vpliva vrednosti investicij na učinke, zajel to pomanjkljivost. Nakazali smo odgovor na vprašanje kako investiranje v informacijsko infrastrukturo vpliva na dobiček. V predstavljenih treh simulacijskih scenarijih smo povečali delež zunanjih sredstev za investicije in spremenili funkcijo odvisnosti učinkov od vrednosti investicij. Izkazalo se je, da z večanjem deleža investicij v infrastrukturo, povečujemo odvisne stroške, kar zmanjšuje dobiček, istočasno pa z investiranjem v infrastrukturo povečujemo strateško prožnost (učinke), ki vpliva na povečanje dobička. Pozitiven vpliv investiranja na učinke se bolj poudarjeno izrazi, če povečamo sredstva za investiranje iz zunanjih virov, kar smo pokazali v scenariju 2. Uporabniki modela lahko s spreminjanjem vrednosti katere koli spremenljivke, preigravajo možne scenarije in posledice odločitev v daljših časovnih obdobjih. Za nadaljnje raziskave so s stališča prikazanega modela najpomembnejša raziskovanja funkcij medsebojnih vplivov spremenljivk. Izkazalo se je, da bi njihova boljša raziskanost bistveno pripomogla k izboljšanju kvalitete modela, kar smo pokazali s simulacijo obnašanja pri dveh različnih funkcijah. Kot nadaljnjo implementacijo modela predlagamo, da se model za podporo odločanju na področju infrastrukture vključi v širši model odločanja, kjer bi bila upoštevana tudi druga strateška upravljavska področja (na primer marketing, finance, kadri...). Za podporo odločanju na najvišjem nivoju, bi pomenil koristno orodje za simuliranje obnašanja poslovnega sistema in koristen pripomoček za strateške načrtovalce in upravljavce. Razvoj celovitega modela, ki bi zajel veliko večje število spremenljivk, predvsem pa natančno popisal medsebojne vplive spremenljivk, zahteva timski in interdisciplinaren pristop. 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In Proceedings of the 12th-Americas Conference on Information Systems. 4.-6. Avgust 2006. Acapulco, Mehika. Miran Šik je zaposlen v firmi Actual IT d.d. kot vodja sektorja infrastrukture. Diplomiral je na Fakulteti za strojništvo Univerze v Ljubljani. Po diplomi se je zaposlil v gospodarstvu, kjer je delal v informatiki na področju razvoja poslovnih informacijskih sistemov, najdlje pa na načrtovanju in upravljanju IT infrastrukture v velikih poslovnih okoljih. A 187 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 Notranji pogled na razvoj znamke I feel Slovenia: soustvarjanje njene identitete s pomočjo mnenj strokovnjakov Maja Konečnik Ruzzier Univerza v Ljubljani, Ekonomska fakulteta, Kardeljeva ploščad 17, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenija, maja.konecnik@ef.unMj.si Pričujoči prispevek osvetljuje notranji pogled na razvoj nove znamke Slovenije oz. znamke I feel Slovenia. V danem pogledu predstavljamo rezultate začetnega oblikovanja njene identitete, ki je bila osnovana na podlagi mnenj 30 strokovnjakov, ki smo jih povabili k sodelovanju v okviru izvedene delfi metode. Delfi metoda je bila izvedena v dveh krogih, katerih rezultati so podrobneje predstavljeni v prispevku. Mnenja strokovnjakov s ključnih področij predstavljajo začetno, vendar pomembno osnovo pri postavitvi in oblikovanju iden-titetnih elementov znamke Slovenije. V kolikor povzamemo le ključno razmišljanje strokovnjakov, lahko rečemo, da mnenje strokovnjakov jasno nakazuje, da je potrebno v izhodišče identitete Slovenije vključiti naravo, nanjo pa navezati tudi ostale pomembne elemente njene identitete. Ključne besede: znamka, država, Slovenija, identiteta, delfi metoda, I feel Slovenia 1 Uvod Na prehodu v 21. stoletje so se tudi države začele zavedati dejstva, da je za uspešen in konkurenčen nastop na trgu potrebno njihovo celovito managiranje in trženje. Prepuščanje trženja države trenutnim razmeram in dogajanju v tako konkurenčnem okolju brez sistematičnega načrta ne more prispevati k ohranjanju njene konkurenčne in dolgoročne pozicije na trgu, še posebej pa ne k njenemu izboljševanju (Konečnik, 2005). Zaradi slednjega postaja tematika proučevanja in analiziranja znamk držav tema, katere aktualnost narašča iz leta v leto. V kolikor je bilo mogoče še na prehodu tisočletja najti zagovornike, ki so ostro nasprotovali prenašanju koncepta blagovne znamke tudi na raven države oz. destinacije (O'Shaughnessy in O'Shaughnessy, 2000), število naraščajočih prispevkov in s tem gorečih zagovornikov koncepta znamke države v zadnjih nekaj letih močno narašča (Cai, 2002; Morgan in Pritchard, 2002; Pride, 2002; Olins, 2002; Papadopoulus in Heslop, 2002; Konečnik, 2004; Konečnik in Gartner, 2007; Konečnik in Go, 2008). Zaključimo lahko, da postaja tematika proučevanja znamk držav v znanstvenih in strokovnih krogih ena izmed aktualnejših tem, ki si utira svojo pot na trženjskem in turističnem raziskovalnem področju. Podoben razvoj dogodkov je zaslediti tudi na praktičnih primerih, saj so v zadnjem času mnogoštevilne države začele načrtno razvijati svoje znamke, katerih podlago je mogoče najti v managerskih in trženjskih strategijah, ki navajajo ključne pristope k njenemu dolgoročnemu razvoju. Avstraliji kot pionirski državi na tem področju (Blackadder, 2006) so v zadnjih letih s sistematičnimi pristopi sledile še države, kot je Nova Zelandija (Morgan, Pritchard in Piggot, 2002), Španija, Švica, Irska in druge. Podobno kot znanstveniki tudi praktiki v zadnjem obdobju zagovarjajo, da so za uspešen in učinkovit nastop države tako na domačem, kakor tudi tujem trgu, potrebni napori notranjih interesnih skupin države, ki se zavedajo pomena sistematičnega razvoja znamke države. Omenjenega problema se je v zadnjem obdobju začela zavedati tudi Slovenija. Jasne usmeritve na področju razvoja znamke države Slovenije bi lahko pomembno pripomogle k povečanju njenega premoženja v očeh ciljnih javnosti. V letu 2007 izpeljani projekt predstavlja od osamosvojitve države Slovenije prvi resen korak k razvoju znamke Slovenije. Projekt je za naročnika Ministrstvo za gospodarstvo izvedlo podjetje Pristop v sodelovanju z zunanjimi strokovnjaki in se je navezoval na oblikovanje identitetnih značilnosti države Slovenije. Vsebina projekta obravnava postavljanje osnovnih temeljev nove znamke Slovenije, rezultat projekta pa izpostavlja ključne identitetne elemente znamke Slovenije, na osnovi slednjih pa podaja priporočila za njeno nadaljnje managiranje in trženje. V skladu z naročnikovim dogovorom je izvajalec projekta pristopil k razvoju identitete znamke Slovenije celostno, saj je pred pričetkom oblikovanja identitete Slovenije določil relevantna področja in ključne interesne skupine, ki vplivajo na identiteto znamke Slovenije, oziroma bodo najbolj pomembna pri njenem izvajanju. S pomočjo predstavnikov izbranih področij so bile izbrane ključne osebe, ki jih je izvajalec projekta tekom oblikovanja identitete Slovenije povabil k sodelovanju s pomočjo ene A 188 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 izmed spodaj navedenih oblik. V začetni fazi oblikovanja identitete znamke Slovenije so k sodelovanju povabili strokovnjake s ključnih področij in jih prosili, da so izrazili svoje mnenje z odgovori na dva kvalitativna vprašalnika. V tem primeru je bila izvedena delfi metoda med ključnimi strokovnjaki vseh področij. Postopek oblikovanja identitete znamke Slovenije so nadaljevali s povabilom sodelovanja predstavnikov iz vseh ključnih področij, katerim so poslali kvantitativne vprašalnike. Kot zadnjo, vendar zaradi tega nič manj pomembno ciljno skupino, ki tvori znamko Slovenije, pa so povabili predstavnike širše javnosti, predvsem s povabili na odgovore, ki so se nahajali na spletni strani projekta. Na ta način so poskušali identiteto znamke Slovenije oblikovati s pomočjo mnenj vseh interesnih skupin, ki soustvarjajo in tvorijo znamko Slovenije. Pričujoči prispevek osvetljuje dogajanje in rezultate začetnega oblikovanja identitete znamke Slovenije na osnovi mnenj strokovnjakov, ki so sodelovali v okviru izvedene delfi metode. Njihova mnenja predstavljajo ključne usmeritve, na osnovi katerih je bila tekom procesa oblikovana identiteta znamke Slovenije oz. t.i. identiteta znamke I feel Slovenia ali Slovenijo čutim (Priročnik znamke Slovenije, 2007). 2 Uravnotežen pogled na znamko države Podobno kot prihajajo v ospredje znanstvenih razprav s področja managementa blagovnih znamk pozivi o celovitem pogledu na blagovne in storitvene znamke (de Chernatony, 1999; de Chernatony in McDonald, 2001), je mogoče zametke o uravnoteženem pogledu na koncept blagovne znamke zaslediti v novejših prispevkih s področja managementa in trženja znamk držav. V danem pogledu avtorji zagovarjajo, da je potrebno na znamko države gledati s tkim. dvodimenzionalnega vidika, ki zaradi različnega zornega kota zagotavlja uravnotežen pogled nanjo (Konečnik in Go, 2008; Konečnik in Ruzzier, 2009). Dvodimenzionalni pogled na znamko države je tako sestavljen iz pogleda njenih soustvarjalcev in izvajalcev znamke, ki s pomočjo osnovnega odgovora na vprašanje 'Kdo smo?' iščejo ključne identitetne značilnosti države. V tem primeru torej govorimo o notranjem pogledu na znamko države oz. tkim. konceptu identitete (Konečnik in Go, 2008), ki naj bi v skladu z zadnjimi dognanji avtorjev predstavljal ključni pogled, ki je potreben za izpeljavo celovitega in strateškega managementa in trženja znamke države. Seveda pa tudi pri oblikovanju identitete znamke države njeni soustvarjalci in izvajalci znamke ne smejo spregledati pogleda njenih porabnikov, ki ga je mogoče opisati s konceptom premoženja znamke v očeh porabnikov (Konečnik in Gartner, 2007). V tem primeru govorimo predvsem o tujih, pa tudi domačih porabnikih oz. ciljnih segmentih, na katere cilja znamka države. 3 Delfi metoda o opredeljevanju ključnih elementov identitete Slovenije s pomočjo mnenj strokovnjakov Pri opredeljevanju ključnih elementov identitete Slovenije, v katero smo vključili mnenja strokovnjakov, smo sledili zakonitostim delfi metode. Delfi metoda je sistematična interaktivna metoda za napovedovanje, ki temelji na predpostavki, da je mnenje skupine strokovnjakov bolj zanesljivo, kot je lahko mnenje individualnega strokovnjaka. Jedro predstavlja skupina izbranih neodvisnih strokovnjakov, ki podajo svoja mnenja oz. napovedi v dveh ali več zaporednih krogih. Po vsakem krogu moderator predstavi anonimni povzetek napovedi skupaj z utemeljitvami in pozove strokovnjake, naj ponovno razmislijo o svojih prvotnih napovedih in jih spremenijo ali popravijo, če tako menijo. Postopek naj bi tako pripeljal do neke rešitve, s katero se strinja večina vpletenih strokovnjakov (Dalkey in Helmer, 1963; Dalkey, 1969; Linstone in Turoff, 1975). Sistematična uporaba delfi metode je bila uporabljena tudi že prej na slovenskem poslovnem področju (Dekleva in Zupančič, 1996). S pomočjo delfi metode lahko vključimo in pridobimo mnenje posameznikov, ki tvorijo določeno entiteto. Zaradi narave proučevane entitete - države Slovenije, ki vključuje raznolike deležnike, je bila delfi metoda izbrana kot primerna ZNAMKA DRŽAVE IDENTITETA ZNAMKE DRŽAVE (soustvarjalci in izvajalci znamke) PREMOŽENJE ZNAMKE DRŽAVE (porabniki - tuji in domači) Slika 1: Uravnotežen (dvo-dimenzionalni) pogled na znamko države. Vir: Konečnik, 2005; Konečnik in Ruzzier, 2009 A 189 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 začetna metoda za oblikovanje identitete znamke Slovenije. K sodelovanju smo povabili ključne predstavnike z različnih področij (npr. gospodarstva, turizma, kulture, športa, znanosti, umetnosti ipd.), saj smo z njihovim mnenjem želeli pridobiti vpogled na vsa pomembna področja, ki tvorijo znamko Slovenije. Z njihovo pomočjo smo želeli pridobiti mnenje o identitet-nih elementih znamke Slovenije in njeni dolgoročni viziji. V delfi metodi je sodelovalo 30 strokovnjakov s ključnih področij. Vključitev posameznikov je bila usklajena z naročnikom projekta. Postopek smo izpeljali v dveh iteracijah, s čimer smo poleg pridobivanja mnenj in predlogov za oblikovanje identitete znamke Slovenije in njene dolgoročne vizije, katerih grobo osnovo smo pridobili s prvim krogom izvedenega postopka, v drugem krogu že pridobivali soglasje o elementih znamke Slovenije in njenem dolgoročnem razvoju. Prvi krog se je začel sredi meseca julija 2007 in končal v začetku avgusta 2007, nato je bila opravljena individualna in tudi skupinska analiza vprašalnikov. Analiza dobljenih odgovorov iz prvega kroga delfi raziskave, kakor tudi delni rezultati kvantitativnega vprašalnika, so predstavljali osnovo za pripravo vprašalnika za drugi krog, ki je bil izveden v drugi polovici avgusta 2007 in se je zaključil konec istega meseca. V obeh vprašalnikih smo sodelujočim zastavili odprta vprašanja. Oba vprašalnika sta bila sodelujočim posredovana v elektronski obliki. 4 Rezultati delfi metode o ključnih elementih identitete Slovenije s pomočjo mnenj strokovnjakov 4.1 Rezultati prvega kroga delfi študije V prvem krogu smo predstavnikom ključnih področij zastavili splošna vprašanja, s pomočjo katerih smo želeli pridobiti mnenje posameznikov o znamki Slovenije. Vprašanja so se tesno navezovala na predhodno postavljen teoretičen model identitete znamke, ki pa so bila delno prilagojena glede na predpostavljene posebnosti znamke Slovenije. Vprašanja so bila temeljna in le redko usmerjena v specifična področja, iz katerih so bili udeleženci izbrani. Kljub temu pa smo v nagovoru posameznike povabili, da na zastavljena vprašanja podajajo mnenja o svojem splošnem pogledu na znamko Slovenije ter te poglede še osvetlijo z vidika njihove področne usmeritve. Sodelujoče smo povprašali po njihovem mnenju, ali se, in če da, kako se Slovenija razlikuje od drugih držav, kakšna bi želeli, da Slovenija postane v prihodnosti ter s čim bo Slovenija v prihodnosti bogatila Evropo. Prav tako nas je zanimalo, kakšne so po njihovem mnenju vrednote Slovencev in njihove osebne vrednote ter prevladujoča čustva Slovencev. V nadaljevanju smo jih povprašali, v čem naj bi se Slovenci spremenili, da bi dosegli izraženo želeno prihodnost. Nekaj vprašanj je bilo namenjenih identificiranju najbolj prepoznavnih slovenskih simbolov in ikon. Večina anketirancev je bila mnenja, da imamo značilnosti in posebnosti, ki Slovenijo razlikujejo od ostalih držav, a imamo hkrati tudi značilnosti, zaradi katerih je Slovenija podobna drugim državam. Le malo izmed sodelujoči je zagovarjalo samo mnenje, da je Slovenija popolnoma drugačna ali nasprotno mnenje, da je Slovenija drugim državam izjemno podobna. Med odgovori, ki so nakazovali na našo drugačnost, so bili najpogostejši tisti, ki so se navezovali na raznolikost Slovenije (naravno, kulturno, podnebno) na izjemnem geografskem prostoru, ki je križišče Alp, Mediterana in Panonske nižine ter romanske, germanske in slovanske kulture; njeno relativno majhnost in istočasno prisotnost velikega števila naravnih lepot in znamenitosti ter značilnosti Slovenije, ki so povezane z njeno ohranjeno naravo. Kar nekaj posameznikov je izpostavilo slovenski jezik in njegov izjemen pomen pri ohranjanju naroda in njegovih kulturnih posebnosti. Prav tako pa se je nekaj odgovorov posameznikov navezovalo na posamezne značilnosti, kot je naša oblika tranzicije, slovenska obrtniška tradicija in znanje, mladost ipd. Po mnenju sodelujočih pa naj bi bila Slovenija podobna tudi ostalim (predvsem centralno evropskim) državam, saj je del evropskega gospodarskega, kulturnega in političnega prostora. V tem pogledu je podoben tudi način življenja Slovencev, ki je podoben načinu življenja ostalih Evropejcev. Med osebnostnimi vrednotami sodelujočih so se najpogosteje pojavile poštenost, delavnost, iskrenost, resnicoljubnost, doslednost, svoboda, znanje in družina. Večina izmed njih je bila navedena tudi kot izstopajoča vrednota Slovencev. Po mnenju anketirancev je najbolj izstopajoča vrednota Slovencev delavnost, njej pa sledijo družina oz. navezanost Slovencev na družino in okolje, varnost, solidarnost, a hkrati tudi individualnost oz. sebičnost. Kot večkrat omenjene vrednote Slovencev so se pojavile tudi varčnost, lastno premoženje in čisto okolje. Zanimivo je, da po mnenju anketirancev Slovence najbolje opisujejo negativna čustva, kot sta zavist in strah, melanholija, zaprtost vase, privoščljivost in samopomilovanje. Edino pozitivno čustvo, ki se je na lestvici pojavilo za zavistjo in strahom, je pripravljenost pomagati. Sicer so bila enkrat oziroma tudi dvakrat omenjena še številna ostala čustva, med njimi približno polovica s pozitivnim in polovica z negativnim nabojem. O tem, kaj naj Slovenija postane v naslednjih 10 letih, kakšno vizijo naj zasleduje, so vprašani na prvem mestu izpostavili, da si želijo Slovenije, ki bo okolju prijazna, a vendar gospodarsko uspešna ter država z visoko kakovostnim izobraževalnim sistemom. V naslednjih 10 letih naj bi bila Slovenija tudi socialna in solidarna država, bolj tolerantna in odprta ter inovativna, moderna in prepoznana država. Da bi zgornje dosegli, moramo predvsem povečati sodelovanje tako doma kot s tujino, se otresti preteklih ideološko-političnih obremenitev ter povečati kvaliteto izobraževanja in zavest o varstvu okolja. Prav tako moramo postati bolj samozavestni, povečati državljansko pripadnost ter preseči občutek majhnosti. Slovenija lahko k izboljšanju Evrope oziroma k njenemu bogatenju prispeva z zgledom preostalim pridružitvenim kandidatkam ter s svojim razvojnim modelom. Pomemben prispevek Slovenije k bogatenju Evrope vidijo anketiranci v dodajanju slovenske pestrosti, ki jo je smiselno ohranjati tudi dolgoročno. Anketirance smo tudi povprašali, katere so po njihovem mnenju ključne blagovne oziroma storitvene znamke. V celoti so anketiranci navedli preko 100 znamk. Med njimi so največkrat navedli znamke podjetij oz. korporativne znamke kot so Gorenje, Elan, Krka, Petrol, Mercator, Rogaška (v navezavi na kristal), Akrapovič, Mura, Seaway, Lek ipd. Poleg korporativ- A 190 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 nih znamk se je njihovo naštevanje navezovalo tudi na znamke slovenskih mest, med katerimi sta bila največkrat omenjena Portorož in Bled. Kot edina, a vendar kar nekajkrat omenjena blagovna znamka, je bila izpostavljena znamka slovenskih zdravilišč v splošnem, brez njenega navezovanja na konkretna imena podjetij. Močno pozicijo v očeh anketirancev ima tudi slovenski ansambel Avsenik. Med znamkami je bilo kar veliko znamk oseb Slovencev, vsaka izmed njih pa je bila omenjena samo enkrat. Enkratna navajanja znamk so se navezovala tudi na nekaj ostalih slovenskih podjetij, blagovnih in storitvenih znamk, slovenskih mest ali ostalih področij ter prireditev. Poleg mnenja o najpomembnejših slovenskih blagovnih in storitvenih znamkah, smo anketirance povprašali tudi o tem, katera so najznačilnejša slovenska vizualna znamenja, podobe, slike, zvoki, barve in osebe. Tudi na to vprašanje so sodelujoči navedli nekaj čez 100 različnih odgovorov. Med vizualnimi znamenji, podobami in slikami po mnenju anketirancev izstopa predvsem Triglav, temu pa sledi blejsko jezero z otokom, Piran, Postojnska jama, Tromostovje in Ljubljanski grad. Med barvami prevladuje zelena, sledi pa ji modra barva, ki jo anketiranci največkrat povezujejo z modrino vode. Tretje mesto je glede na odgovore sodelujočih zasedla bela barva. Med anketiranci predstavlja največkrat omenjeni zvok pesem 'Na Golici' ter slovenska himna, sicer pa so posamezniki navajali tudi raznovrstne zvoke, ki se povezujejo z naravo - v smislu šumenja gozdov, žuborenja rek, tudi kapljanja stalagmitov ipd. Med največkrat omenjenimi Slovenci izstopa predvsem Prešeren, njemu pa sledita Plečnik in Trubar. Enkratna omenjanja Slovencev je zaslediti tudi pri nekaterih ostalih pokojnih posameznikih, kakor tudi pri trenutno delujočih Slovencih na različnih področjih. 4.2 Rezultati drugega kroga delfi študije Rezultati prvega kroga študije delfi nakazujejo na kar nekaj skupnih pogledov sodelujočih o glavnih značilnostih znamke Slovenije. Kljub določenemu številu značilnosti, ki so bile skupne večini sodelujočih v študiji, je ostalo po prvem krogu delfi študije kar nekaj značilnosti o znamki Slovenije, ki so bile nakazane s strani določenih posameznikov. Posamezne izmed omenjenih značilnosti so bile tekom analize identificirane kot morebitni možni in ključni elementi identitete znamke Slovenije. Drugi krog študije delfi je bil tako namenjen iskanju soglasja o posameznih elementih znamke Slovenije ter njihovi ustrezni vsebinski prenosljivosti na različna proučevana področja. Vprašalnik drugega kroga je bil tako pripravljen na osnovi analize rezultatov iz prvega kroga. Prav tako pa smo si pri snovanju vprašalnika za drugi krog že pomagali z delnimi rezultati iz kvantitativne raziskave, saj smo do tistega trenutka prejeli okoli 150 izpolnjenih vprašalnikov. Vprašanja so se tako navezovala na preverjanje ključnih elementov identitete znamke Slovenije, za katere smo na osnovi delno zbranih rezultatov predpostavljali, da bi utegnile tvoriti znamko Slovenije. Sodelujoče smo poprosili, da na zastavljena vprašanja odgovarjajo v prvi vrsti z njihovim splošnim pogledom na znamko Slovenije. V nadaljevanju pa se je večina vprašanj nanašala na mnenje sodelujočih o pomembnih elementih identitete znamke z vidika področja, na katerem trenutno delujejo. Z omenjenimi podvprašanji smo želeli preveriti, ali bodo splošni elementi identitete znamke Slovenije prenosljivi tudi na njena podpodročja. V skladu s predhodnimi rezultati prvega kroga delfi študije smo kot eno izmed ključnih razlikovalnih prednosti Slovenije izpostavili geografsko majhnost Slovenije, ki jo kljub temu zaznamuje pestra raznolikost. V nadaljevanju smo poudarili, da naša prednost ni samo raznolikost, pač pa predvsem to, da se bogata raznolikost dopolnjuje in sobiva na tako majhnem prostoru. V primerjavi z drugimi državami je »Slovenija bližina razlik«. Z omenjenim razmišljanjem o eni izmed ključnih razlikovalnih prednosti Slovenije se je večina sodelujočih strinjala. Nasprotnega mnenja sta bila le dva sodelujoča, saj po njunem mnenju to ne more biti razlikovalna prednost. Kar nekaj izmed sodelujočih pa je na omenjeno strinjanje dodalo smiselne komentarje, kot npr., da je lahko omenjena razlikovalna prednost edinstvena za specifične ciljne skupine, da lahko skovanka »Slovenija - bližina razlik« sporoča, da v Sloveniji vidimo, vemo, občutimo oziroma si prizadevamo za to, da se razlike dopolnjujejo, da skupaj tvorijo novo, boljšo celoto. Po mnenju ene izmed anketirank pa bi bilo smiselno skovanko 'bližina razlik' spremeniti v 'bližino razdalj', pri čemer pa bi bil poudarek na kratkih razdaljah in majhnosti Slovenije. V nadaljevanju smo preverjali pomen slovenskega jezika kot ključnega gradnika identitete znamke Slovenije. Slovenija se ponaša z bogato zgodovino in kulturo, skozi katero nas spremlja lasten jezik in spoštljiv odnos do njega. Na majhnem, a raznolikem območju, so se izoblikovala bogata narečja in jezikovne posebnosti. Vprašanje, ki se je navezovalo na pomen slovenskega jezika, se je glasilo: Ali lahko slovenski jezik, ki ga govorita le 2 milijona ljudi, zbližuje ter posredno s svojimi posebnostmi prispeva k razlikovalnim prednostim Slovenije na svetovnem zemljevidu množice jezikov in držav? Vsi udeleženci so poudarili pomen slovenskega jezika, katerega je smiselno ohranjati tudi v bodoče, saj se tudi z njegovo pomočjo ohranja in nadgrajuje kulturna dediščina Slovenije. Pa vendar je večina izmed udeležencev bila mnenja, da je poudarjanje slovenščine smiselno predvsem pri komunikaciji znamke na domačem trgu, torej pri nas, Slovencih. Slovenščina nas zbližuje, motivira in dodatno utrjuje samozavest Slovencev, s čimer lahko pomembno prispeva k notranji izgradnji znamke Slovenije. Po mnenju večine udeležencev pa slovenščina ne more predstavljati razlikovalnega kriterija pri komuniciranju znamke tujcem, saj obstaja verjetno le peščica tujcev, katerim slovenščina predstavlja nekaj, kar bi želeli podrobneje spoznati in odkriti. V danem primeru je torej pomembno, da poleg maternega jezika Slovenci znamo govoriti tuje jezike, s pomočjo katerih lahko posredno tujcem približamo značilnosti, posebnosti in kulturo našega naroda, ki izhajajo tudi iz ohranitve lastnega jezika skozi tisočletja. Med sodelujočimi smo preverjali tudi primernost in strinjanje s predpostavljeno vizijo Slovenije, ki smo jo oblikovali na osnovi odgovorov sodelujočih v prvem krogu delfi raziskave. Z vizijo Slovenije, ki temelji na inovativnosti, osnovani z velikim posluhom za spoštovanje narave ter zavesti o sonaravnosti bivanja, ki jo poskušamo zapolniti z iskanjem globalnih niš za način butične podjetnosti, se je večina udeležencev strinjala. Mnogo izmed njih je poudarilo, da nam lahko le takšna strategija omogoča dolgoročni razvoj. Sodelujoči pa so poudarili, A 191 Organizacija, letnik 42 Razprave številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 da tovrstna vizija predstavlja za Slovenijo izziv, s katerim se je smiselno spopasti ter da bo potrebno za njeno uresničitev dodatno notranje izobraževanje, s pomočjo katerega bomo Slovenci sposobni navedeno vizijo udejanjiti. Dva izmed sodelujočih pa se s predpostavljeno vizijo Slovenije nista poistovetila. Bila sta mnenja, da je vizija daleč stran od dejanskega odraza Slovenije oz. da Slovenci samo mislimo, da delujemo oziroma bi lahko delovali v skladu z navedeno vizijo, medtem ko ta razmišljanja ostajajo samo stvar našega mišljenja, ne pa tudi našega delovanja. Že po prvem krogu delfi raziskave smo izluščili najpomembnejše vrednote, ki veljajo za Slovence: pristnost, narava, bližina, družina, varnost, soodgovornost, ponos in odgovornost do majhnosti našega prostora. S pomočjo ponovnega preverjanja vrednot Slovencev smo prišli do zaključka, da je Slovencem najpomembnejša vrednota družina, tej pa sledita navezanost na lokalno okolje, zdravje in odgovornost do sebe in drugih. Prav tako smo ponovno preverjali najpogostejše lastnosti, ki smo jih izluščili na podlagi predhodnega vprašalnika in sicer lastnosti, kot so individualizem, iznajdljivost, zadržanost, navezanost na domači kraj, urejenost, aktivnost in motivacija, ki jo v nas sproži zavidanje sosedu. Tudi v tem krogu so se anketiranci strinjali z najpogostejšimi predhodno navedenimi lastnostmi Slovencev, za katere menijo, da so aktivni in delavni, vendar individualistični. Prav tako imajo močno željo po uveljavitvi, zaradi česar so prizadevni pri dejavnostih, še posebej tistih, ki jih imajo radi. Tekom prvega in drugega kroga delfi raziskave smo sodelujoče spraševali tudi o prisotnosti dvojnosti, ki se morebiti kažejo v življenju Slovencev. Na morebitne dvojnosti so opozarjali tudi posamezni sodelujoči v prvem krogu delfi raziskave. Posameznike smo povprašali, ali opazijo predpostavljene dvojnosti pri državi Sloveniji in njenih prebivalcih, pri čemer smo navedli sledečih 6 parov dvojnosti: v Sloveniji je zaznati modernost na različnih področjih, a kljub temu je istočasno prisotna tradicija; Slovenci smo čustveni, a hkrati tudi razumski; radi potujemo, vendar se ne selimo; Slovenija je mlada država, ki pa ima tisočletno zgodovino; zaznamujejo jo pokrajinska, podnebna in kulturna raznovrstnost, a vendar homogenost v etični sestavi njenih prebivalcev; Slovenci smo v splošnem naklonjeni varnosti, a kljub temu pripravljeni tvegati na določenih področjih, ki se navezujejo npr. na ekstremne športe in nišne dejavnosti. Z izjemo enega izmed sodelujočih, so anketiranci izrazili popolno strinjanje o predpostavljenih dvojnostih, ki obstajajo ter da jih je mogoče srečati v vsakdanjem življenju Slovencev. Večina izmed udeležencev je še poudarjala, da ne gre toliko za obravnavanje posameznih parov dvojnosti kot izoliranih dejstev, temveč bolj za ustvarjanje povezanosti in ravnotežja med njimi, ki se izkazujejo skozi dinamične napetosti. Z njihovo pomočjo pa je mogoče dosegati dinamičen razvoj države in njenega naroda. 5 Sklep Notranji pogled na znamko države oz. koncept identitete (Konečnik in Go, 2008) v skladu z zadnjimi dognanji avtorjev predstavljal ključni pogled, ki je potreben za izpeljavo celovitega in strateškega managementa ter trženja znamke države. Seveda pa tudi pri oblikovanju identitete znamke države njeni soustvarjalci in izvajalci znamke ne smejo spregledati pogleda njenih uporabnikov, ki ga je mogoče opisati s konceptom premoženja znamke v očeh uporabnikov (Konečnik in Gartner, 2007). Oba pogleda predstavljata tkim. dvodimenzionalni pogled na znamko države, ki zaradi različnega zornega kota zagotavlja uravnotežen pogled nanjo (Konečnik in Go, 2008; Konečnik in Ruzzier, 2008). V okviru prispevka osvetljujemo identitetni pogled na znamko Slovenije in predstavljamo ključne rezultate začetnega oblikovanja identitete znamke Slovenije oz. znamke I feel Slovenia (Priročnik znamke Slovenije, 2007). Rezultati so predstavljeni na osnovi mnenj 30 strokovnjakov s ključnih področij, ki so sodelovali pri odgovarjanju na dva kvalitativna vprašalnika. Z namenom pridobitve njihovih mnenj smo izvedli delfi metodo, ki smo jo ponovili v dveh korakih. Osnova mnenj strokovnjakov predstavlja osnovne gradnike pri oblikovanju identitetnih elementov znamke Slovenije. V kolikor povzamemo le ključna razmišljanja strokovnjakov, lahko rečemo, da njihovo mnenje jasno nakazuje, da je potrebno v izhodišče identitete Slovenije vključiti naravo, nanjo pa navezati tudi ostale pomembne elemente njene identitete. Tako predstavlja slovenska narava ključni poudarek pri sledečih identitetnih elementih: razlikovalnih prednostih, koristih, poslanstvu in viziji ter delno tudi pri vrednotah. V močni navezanosti na naravo se po mnenju strokovnjakov izkazuje tudi zelena barva, ki je najbolj značilna za Slovenijo. Tekom ostalih korakov pri izgradnji identitete Slovenije smo preko narave in njene zelene barve zgodbo znamke Slovenije na najvišji ravni predstavili preko izkustvene obljube, ki v primeru znamke Slovenije predstavlja doživetje slovenske zelene. Mnenja strokovnjakov s ključnih področij so predstavljala začetno, vendar pomembno osnovo pri postavitvi in oblikovanju identitetnih elementov znamke Slovenije. V nadaljevanju so bila mnenja strokovnjakov dopolnjena in nadgrajena z mnenji večjega števila predstavnikov ter mnenji splošne javnosti. Brez dvoma lahko trdimo, da gre za celostni pristop k oblikovanju nove znamke Slovenije oz. znamke I feel Slovenia. 6 Literatura in viri Blackadder, J. (2006). Australia - the story of a destination brand. Research News, December, 13-16. Cai, L.A. (2002). Cooperative branding for rural destination, Annals of Tourism Research, 29(3), 720-742. Dalkey, N. & Helmer, O. (1963). An experimental application of the Delphi method to the use of experts, Management Science, 9(3), 458-467. Dalkey, N.C. (1969). The Delphi method: An experimental study of group opinion, Rand Corporation, Santa Monica California. de Chernatony, L. (1999). Brand management through narrowing the gap between brand identity and brand reputation, Journal of Marketing Management, 15(1-3), 157-179. de Chernatony, L. & McDonald M. (2001). 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(2002) Country equity and country branding: Problems and prospects, Journal of Brand Management, 9(4-5), 294-314. Pride, R. (2002). Brand Wales: 'Natural revival'. Destination branding: Creating the unique destination proposition (Morgan N., Pritchard, A. in Pride, R., uredniki.), str. 109-123, ButterworthHeinemann, Oxford. Priročnik znamke Slovenije (2007). Pristop. Maja Konečnik Ruzzier je docentka na Ekonomski Fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani, Katedri za trženje. Poleg pedagoškega dela, v katerem pokriva področje trženja, trženja v turizmu in managementa blagovnih znamk, dela tudi na raziskovalnem in svetovalnem področju. V okviru raziskovalnega dela jo posebej zanimajo izzivi proučevanja blagovnih znamk in njihov prenos na turistično destinacijo. Je članica znanstvenih združenj s področja trženja in turizma ter avtorica številnih prispevkov v slovenskih in tujih znanstvenih revijah. A 193 Organizacija, letnik 42 Predlogi za prakso številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 Planiranje in optimizacija proizvodnje z informacijskim sistemom APO (Advanced Planning and Optimisation) Alenka Kopina1, Franci Čuš2 1Podbreznik 110, 8104 Novo mesto, alenka.kopina@.gmail.com 2Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za strojništvo, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor - SI, franc.cus@uni-mb.si Podjetje za svoje uspešno delovanje potrebuje dobro informacijsko podporo, ki strateškemu in taktičnemu managementu prinaša lažjo in učinkovito sprejemanje odločitev, saj bodo le-te zasnovane na točnih, preglednih in pravočasnih podatkih. Izhodišče prispevka je nadgradnja informacijskega sistema SAP R3 z novim sistemom naprednega planiranja in optimizacije (Advanced Planning and Optimisation, v nadaljevanju APO). Ker se obseg logističnih operacij iz dneva v dan v podjetju povečuje, je nujno zagotoviti kakovostno in zanesljivo informacijsko podporo tudi operativnemu delu. Odločitve o izbiri in načinu uporabe posameznih orodij so ena izmed kritičnih nalog. V podjetju Krka d.d. se uporablja poslovni informacijski sistem SAP R3 za večino procesov, za vodenje in nadzor proizvodnje se uporablja proizvodni informacijski sistem Werum PAS-X, v logističnem centru se uporablja poleg SAP R3, tudi APO, ki je nadgradnja SAP R3 in je tudi vodilni sistem za planiranje v podjetju. Vsi trije sistemi, ki so tudi med sabo integrirani, so postavili temelje novemu sodobnemu, učinkovitemu in transparentnemu sistemu izvajanja logističnih in drugih operacij. Ključne besede: logistika, oskrbovalna veriga, planiranje in optimizacija proizvodnje, informacijski sistem APO, optimizacija zalog 1 Uvod Za sodobne poslovne sisteme je značilna velika dinamika sprememb in nedeterminiranost. Pomembno je, da se poslovni sistem na spremembe odziva hitro in da se okolju prilagaja, pa tudi vpliva nanj. Za hitro odzivanje imajo pomembno vlogo informacije, ki morajo biti pravočasne in pravilne, usmerjene v prihodnost, ne samo v preteklost, in predvsem na voljo pravim ljudem ob pravem času (Kopina, 2008). Potrebe po podatkih so privedle do preoblikovanja procesa odločanja v podjetjih. Sprejemanje odločitev mora biti ustrezno podprto s podatki o dogajanju v podjetju. Zbiranje in priprava podatkov za sprejemanje pravilnih odločitev na vseh ravneh odločanja je postalo izjemno zahtevno opravilo, tako glede stroškov kot glede hitrosti. Glavni cilji proizvodnje in s tem tudi kriteriji planiranja proizvodnje, kakor tudi celega podjetja so: minimalna vrednost zalog, maksimalna izkoriščenost strojev, zagotavljanje dobavnih rokov, čim krajši pretočni čas ter hitro in učinkovito reagiranje na tržne priložnosti (Balič in Čuš, 2007). Različne navedbe v literaturi so pokazale, da je logistični informacijski sistem, v nadaljevanju IS, ključen dejavnik konkurenčnosti podjetja. Računalniško podprti IS, kot so sistemi za planiranje materialnih potreb (Material Requirements Planning, v nadaljevanju MRP I), sistemi za planira- nje virov (Manufacturing Resource Planning, v nadaljevanju MRP II), sistemi za planiranje distribucije (Distribution Resource Planning, v nadaljevanju DRP) in sistem „točno v pravem času" (Just-in-time, v nadaljevanju JIT) so že uveljavljeni v mnogih proizvodnih organizacijah. Omogočajo integracijo številnih logističnih aktivnosti od obdelave napovedi prodaje ali naročila do kontrole zalog, naročanja pri dobavitelju, napovedovanje in terminiranje proizvodnje. Računalniško podprti IS in informacijska tehnologija so bistveni dejavniki, ki bodo vplivali na rast in razvoj logistike (Čižman, 2002). Podjetja so ugotovila, da izboljšava poslovanja enega oddelka ali člena v procesu ne predstavlja nujno izboljšave v celotni verigi. K izboljšavi lahko pripomorejo tudi boljše povezave med oddelki oziroma členi v verigi. Optimizacija procesa kot celote in ne samo posameznih delov (npr. poslovnih funkcij) lahko pripelje k uspešnejšemu poslovanju podjetja kot celote. Tako je poleg ostalih poslovnih funkcij izrednega pomena planiranje preskrbovalne verige. S preskrbovalno verigo razumem povezavo od naročnika (kupca), ki naroči blago, preko prodajne službe, nabave poslovnih prvin, proizvodnje, do predaje blaga kupcu. Planiranje je eno od področij v podjetjih, ki povezuje posamezne poslovne procese: prodajo, logistiko, nabavo in proizvodnjo v funkcionalno A 194 Organizacija, letnik 42 Predlogi za prakso številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 celoto in zagotavlja usklajeno delovanje podjetja (ČUŠ et al., 2004) Kljub temu, da se vsi v podjetju zavedamo pomembnosti dobrega planiranja, velikokrat ugotavljamo, da je prav planiranje ena od šibkih točk. V prispevku potrjujemo tezo, da je za planiranje potrebna učinkovita informacijska podpora. 2 Analiza preskrbovalne verige in tradicionalni proces planiranja Ko analiziramo celotno preskrbovalno verigo podjetja in še posebej člene, ki vključujejo proizvodne procese, ugotovimo nekaj dejstev (Kopina, 2008), ki so jasna in se ne spreminjajo: ■ proizvodni obrati predstavljajo ključne omejitve v pre-skrbovalni verigi, ■ nepredvideni in neplanirani dogodki ostajajo splošna značilnost, ■ uspešnost in konkurenčnost podjetja bo še bolj odvisna od tega, kako učinkovito bo proizvodnja izvajala zastavljene plane. V poslovnem sistemu se planiranje začne s poslovnim planiranjem na dolgoročnem, strateškem nivoju. Poslovni plan prikazuje zlasti finančne vidike poslovanja, element poslovnega plana je tudi tržni plan, ki pa navaja predvsem, katero paleto oziroma program izdelkov bo podjetje proizvajalo in tržilo v naslednjem srednjeročnem obdobju, tržne deleže in ocenjeno raven povpraševanja. Naloga spremljanja povpraševanja je predvsem, da iz različnih virov zagotavlja vhodne informacije za druge procese planiranja. Glavni vir informacije je proces napovedovanja povpraševanja, ki ima zlasti velik pomen v okolju izdelave na zalogo. Služba prodaje mora za obdobje enega leta posredovati predlog plana prodaje. Strateško planiranje zajema oblikovanje planov, ki se nanašajo na ocenjevanje bistvenih problemov in priložnosti podjetja, spoznavanje dolgoročnega okvira ekonomskih, tehnoloških, kulturnih in drugih dejavnikov, ki bodo pomembno vplivali na poslovanje podjetja (Kopina, 2008). Preverjanje in postavljanje razvojnih konceptov podjetja zajema odločanje na osnovi dolgoročnega časovnega horizonta s postavljanjem strateških ciljev, oblikovanjem strategij, in njihovim ocenjevanjem. Vključuje izbiro ter izdelovanje napisanih planov praviloma za nekajletno prihodnje obdobje. Posebnosti pri planiranju proizvodnje je veliko. Najtežje je planirati posamično proizvodnjo. Potrebno je še omeniti nekaj pomembnih posebnosti serijske in množične proizvodnje. V več fazni proizvodnji izdelujemo še predračune (plane) sestavnih delov. Pri tem nam je danes v veliko pomoč t. i. sistem MRP, ki na osnovi opredeljenih standardnih potroškov izračunajo količine potrebnega izdelavnega materiala, sestavnih delov in izdelavnega dela za planirano količinsko proizvodnjo. Seveda pa to zahteva od dobaviteljev pogostejše izdo-bave in predvsem strogo spoštovanje dobavnih rokov. lzde-lan in sprejet predračun (plan) količinske proizvodnje je temelj za planiranje potrebnega neposrednega materiala in sestavnih delov, potrebnega neposrednega dela, planiranje investicij, za planiranje proizvodnih stroškov pa potrebnih finančnih virov za financiranje planirane proizvodnje (Puč-ko, 2006). 3 Analiza procesa za odločitev nadgradnje SAP R3 z novim sistemom APO Podjetje se je odločilo, da informacijski sistem SAP R3, nadgradi z novim sistemom APO na osnovi temeljitih raziskav. Doslej je podjetje za večino svojih procesov uporabljalo SAP R3 in ugotovilo, da ima planski proces to slabost, da ima zamrznjen horizont, znotraj katerega prodaja 80 dni MRP II APS Brez omejitveno planiranje Omejitveno planiranje Nizka hitrost Visoka hitrost Postopno planiranje Hkratno planiranje Kratek horizont Daljši horizont Orientacija v potiskanje Orientacija v vlečenje Planiranje potreb MRP Obl. velikosti, lotov Planiranje kapacitet Razvrščanje horizont Slikal: Razlika med MRP II in APS A 195 Organizacija, letnik 42 Predlogi za prakso številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 (kar je veliko) ne more spreminjati količinskih napovedi za specifičen končni izdelek. To pomanjkljivost je reševalo tako, da je izdelalo posebne obrazce za spremembo napovedi v zamrznjenem obdobju in obrazce za spremembo varnostne zaloge. Prodaja izpolni obrazec in pošlje v logistični center, kjer to ročno obdelajo v sistemu. V celoviti analizi podjetja se je ugotovilo: ■ Notranje funkcionalno pokritje paketa Sistemi celovitih informacijskih rešitev (Enterprise resource planning, v nadaljevanju ERP) je doseglo svoje meje. ■ Uvedba naprednega planiranja in načrtovanja (Advanced Planning and Scheduling, v nadaljevanju APS) je veliko bolj vezana na modelno izgradnjo kot ERP, zahteva celovito razumevanje koncepta - ne le mehanike. ■ ERP/APS so samo orodja s funkcionalnimi omejitvami - pričakovanja do njih morajo biti realna. ■ Ljudje se morajo prilagajati spremembam in ostajajo ključni dejavnik uspešnega poslovanja ■ Večja integracija pomeni zahtevnejše vzdrževanje poslovnih podatkov. Na osnovi analize se je podjetje odločilo, da informacijski sistem SAP R3, nadgradi z novim sistemom APO. APO je nabor orodij v okviru informacijskega sistema SAP R3 za obvladovanje procesov planiranja prodaje in proizvodnje (Kopina, 2008). Da bi dosegli ta cilj, je uvedba večjih organizacijskih sprememb bistvenega pomena. Časi za izvedbe dejavnosti in vmesni časi se morajo skrajšati v vseh oddelkih. Kvaliteto podatkov v sistemu je potrebno stalno spremljati in izboljševati. Točnost napovedi za gotove izdelke je potrebno izboljšati. Pri vseh zaposlenih v različnih organizacijskih področjih je potrebno uveljaviti programske rešitve za upravljanje oskrbovalne verige - SCM filozofijo (Supply Chain Management, v nadaljevanju SCM). Če želijo podjetja učinkovito tekmovati s konkurenco, morajo predvidevati spremembe razmer na trgu in se jim prilagajati. To pomeni, da morajo biti ustrezne informacije na voljo vsem členom oskrbovalne verige. SCM lahko pomagajo obvladovati zahteve kupcev, nadzirati stanje zalog in zgodaj zaznati zamude v proizvodnji ali dobavi. Osrednja pozornost je namenjena koordinaciji in učinkovitemu upravljanju z resursi (ljudje, materiali, tehnologije in sistemi), ki so potrebni za proizvodnjo in menjavo izdelkov ali storitev, kar vključuje razumevanje in razvoj procesov, taktično in strateško planiranje, merjenje uspešnosti poslovanja in izvajanje ukrepov za doseganje boljših poslovnih rezultatov. Management dobavne verige praviloma vključuje nabavo, gospodarjenje z materiali in logistiko. 4 Cilji in koncept prenove procesa planiranja in uvajanje APO sistema Proces se začne s posredovanjem napovedi iz planiranja potreb v planiranje proizvodnje. Proizvodni plan bo osnova za nakupe in izvedbo proizvodnje. Cilj je imeti oprijemljiv proizvodni plan, ki upošteva razpoložljivost materialov in kapacitete virov (Kopina, 2008). V podjetju je planiranje potreb proces, ki se izvaja na mesečni osnovi, za mesečna obdobja, in zahteva naslednje vnose podatkov: ■ zgodovina prodaje (obračunane količine iz Business Warehousea), ■ odprti prodajni nalogi (iz SAP R3), ■ marketinški načrt (Flat file upload), PP/DS je del komponente SAP APO (rešitev SAP SCM) SAP SCM 5.0 Komponente EM Upravljanje dogodkov Plan potreb (DP) I 1 Globalni ATP PI an *—*■ proizvodnje PP/DS Plan oskrbovalne mreže (SNP) i Uporaba Î t Plan transporta Slika2: Rešitev SAP SCM A 196 Organizacija, letnik 42 Predlogi za prakso številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 ■ letni plan (v APO), ■ napoved prodaje (v APO), ■ zaloge podružnic (iz Business Warehousea), ■ prodaje podružnic (iz Business Warehousea). Rezultat procesa planiranja potreb je: ■ oprijemljiv proizvodni plan in oprijemljiv plan nabave, ki temelji na prodajnih potrebah, ■ 24-mesečni pregled potreb po kapacitetah za planiranje kapacitet in izravnavanje, ■ 24-mesečni prokuratorski pregled za strateško nabavo, da bi omogočili dogovore o letnih oskrbovalnih pogodbah. V optimalnih pogojih bi moral avtomatiziran potek planiranja dajati najboljše možne rešitve, pri katerih je potrebnih kar se da malo popravkov med ročnim planiranjem s strani proizvodnih planerjev (Kopina, 2008). Vendar to v praksi ni bilo tako. Zato sta se ustanovili dve delovni skupini, postavljeni so bili glavni cilji in naloge projekta ter časovni termini za udejanjanje projekta na sliki 3. Glavni cilji izvedbe ApO projekta so naslednji: izboljšati kvaliteto plana potreb, skrajšati zamrznjeno obdobje za napoved prodaje iz 80 na 45 dni zmanjšati zalogo končnih izdelkov, izboljšati razpoložljivost izdelkov in kvaliteto storitve za stranko, izboljšati kvaliteto planiranja proizvodnje (optimalni plan proizvodnje), zagotoviti jasne in natančne povratne informacije prodajnim oddelkom, izboljšan nadzor nad nepričakovanimi prodajnimi potrebami znotraj zamrznjenega horizonta, nepričakovanimi dogodki v proizvodnji (izjeme) itd. skrajšati planski cikel, izboljšati stabilnost finega plana, skrajšati proizvodni cikel/skrajšani vmesni časi (kot posledica optimiziranega planiranja), vpeljati hitro, natančno in stabilno plansko orodje. Glavne naloge ožje delovne skupine so: vpeljati in integrirati dolgoročno, srednjeročno in kratkoročno planiranje v oskrbovalno verigo ter izboljšati planske procese, prodati projekt ključnim uporabnikom. reanalizirati in optimizirati (zboljšati) procese planiranja proizvodnje in detajlnega načrtovanja, zagotoviti preglednost podatkov skozi celoten proces oskrbovalne verige, prikazati projektne cilje (dogovore) ključnim uporabnikom in zagotoviti njihovo sprejetje med uporabniki. Poslovni cilji projekta APO: povečati fleksibilnost plana - zmanjšati zamrznjene prodajne planske horizonte na največ 2 meseca, optimizirati (zmanjšati) zaloge gotovih izdelkov, embalažnih materialov in surovin, minimizirati odpise vhodnih materialov z optimizacijo planiranja, optimizirati procese in pretok podatkov skozi oskrbovalno verigo in zagotoviti maksimalno preglednost. Značilnosti oziroma prednosti planiranja proizvodnje z APO PP/DS (Advanced Planning and Optimisation Production Planning / Detailed Scheduling) so: boljše/natančnejše upoštevanje kapacitet in časov pre-montaž (set-up matrika) pri planiranju proizvodnje, upoštevanje razpoložljivosti materialov pri planiranju proizvodnje upoštevanje rokov uporabe (datumov zapadlosti serij) pri planiranju „Alert monitor" - semafor izjem (opozoril); planer naj se osredotoči na problematične izdelke funkcija "pegging" - natančen pregled povezave med potrebo (sedmica) in vsemi odvisnimi potrebami, ki jih le-ta povzroča povezovanje predhodnik naslednik (velika menjava šifer za isti izdelek) Slika 3: Pregled prenovljenega procesa v APO A 197 Organizacija, letnik 42 Predlogi za prakso številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 Vzdrževanje matičnih stavkov materiala je centralna točka delovanja SAP R3 in APO sistema (Kopina, 2008). Cilj je točno in pravočasno vnašanje in vzdrževanje podatkov, kar je predpogoj za nemoteno delovanje sistema. Podatki se vnesejo v SAP R3 in se preko vmesnika prenesejo v APO. Za pravilno delovanje sistema morajo biti obvezno pravilno vnešeni naslednji podatki: delovni koledar resursov, izdelavni časi, časi čiščenja in premontaž med različnimi izdelki, prioritete alternativnih resursov, prioritete MBR-ov, datumi v MBR-ih, pravilnost MBR-ov, pravilni resursi v MBR-ih, planirani dobavni roki na materialih, datumi dobav na eksternih naročilih, planirani časi analiz/sproščanja in datumi sprostitve na inšpekcijskih šaržah. Delovni koledar vnašamo v SAP R3- ju, v katerega vnesemo število izmen za posamezno linijo, delovne sobote, nedelovne dneve (remont, dopust). Osnova za planiranje proizvodnje je napoved prodaje, ki jo prodaja vnese v plansko tablo in je posredovana v PP/DS tedensko. Da bi izboljšali fleksibilnost in upoštevali tudi kratkoročne spremembe je vzpostavljen avtomatski zagon plana. Planski zagon je sestavljen iz predhodno definiranega zaporedja korakov, da bi ustvarili proizvodni plan, ki potrebuje kar se da malo ročnih popravkov s strani Planiranja proizvodnje. Po avtomatskem zagona plana planerji preverjajo rezultate. Njihovo dnevno aktivnost bo v veliki meri izpolnjevalo reševanje nasprotujočih si situacij v planu, za katere sistem ne bo našel rešitve. V ta namen bo postavljen opozorilnik, ki bo planerju posredoval vse potrebne podatke o nasprotjih (opozorila) v proizvodnem planu (Kopina, 2008). Proizvodni plan, ki nastane ob tem procesu, služi kot osnova za plan nabave in tudi za izvedbo proizvodnje. Plan nabave se večinoma izvaja tedensko, razen za materiale s krajšim dobavnim rokom, za katere se planira dnevno. Novo predstavljeni 24-mesečni horizont v katerem se planirajo napovedi za končne izdelke, daje nabavi potrebne podatke o količinah, ki so potrebne na daljši rok. Dejanska količina nabavljenega materiala bo temeljila na oceni različnih dejavnikov v nabavi, kot so količine, potrebne za proizvodnjo, velikosti trgovskih lotov, življenjski cikel inventarja itd. Nabava za svoje delo še vedno uporablja SAP R3, vsi podatki se prenesejo iz APO v SAP R3. Smo pa v tem času kar precej spremenili podatke, spremenil se je tudi način naročanja. Izračun materialnih potreb (MRP) je planiranje materialov v zahtevani količini in času na podlagi planiranih potreb prodaje in na podlagi drugih za izračun veljavnih parametrov. Izvajal se bo na nivoju Krke kot celote. 5 Avtomatiziran planski potek s sistemom APO V podjetju proizvodnjo načrtujemo na podlagi letnega načrta prodaje in operativnih prodajnih napovedi. Logistični center zagotavlja izpolnjevanje potreb na osnovi prodajnih napovedi in neposrednih prodajnih naročil. Logistični cen- ter skrbi tudi za racionalno izrabo proizvodnih zmogljivosti (Kopina, 2008). Za učinkovito izvajanje procesov so predhodno izdelani in preneseni v proizvodnjo tehnološki postopki za nove izdelke in tehnološki postopki prenosov tehnologij na drugo opremo. Prodaja v APO vnese svojo napoved po mesecih, za več mesecev naprej, njihov zaprti horizont je dva meseca. Svojo napoved lahko večkrat spreminjajo. Vsak petek se njihove napovedi prenesejo v sistem planiranja proizvodnje in nabave ter nadaljnjo obdelavo, kjer se v soboto po MRP-ju tvorijo novi planski nalogi ter potrebe po komponentah. Potrebno je preveriti novo nastale naloge ter pripraviti kombinacije serij. Proizvajamo standardne serije polizdelka, ki jih kasneje vgradimo v različne oblike pakiranj v različne trge 5.1 Sestava avtomatiziranega planskega poteka dela Avtomatiziran planski potek dela ima dve glavni področji dela: a.) Področje neskončnega planiranja, ki ne upošteva omejitev kapacitet resursov (infinite planning, za katerega uporabljamo izraz MRP - Material Requirement Planning), in ki kreira planske naloge in interna nabavna naročila (Kopina, 2008). Upošteva pa: ■ čas zahteve prodaje, kdaj mora izdelek biti na voljo za prodajo; - vhod iz napovedi prodaje - planski prodajni nalogi - prodajni nalogi, ■ sestavnico materialov za izdelke in polizdelke, ■ zalogo, ■ odprta nabavna naročila, ■ nabavne čase surovin in embalažnih materialov, ■ čase analiz vhodnih materialov, ■ čase izdelav izdelkov in polizdelkov po operacijah in resursih, ■ čase premontaž in čiščenj pri menjavah izdelkov in polizdelkov na resursih (različni časi glede na kombinacijo), ■ čase analiz končnih izdelkov, ■ začetno fiksirano obdobje, v katerem ne sme spreminjati planiranega ■ horizont planiranja (do kdaj se planira - recimo za naslednjih 12 mesecev), ■ potrjene planske naloge, ki jih ne sme spreminjati, ■ koledar resursa. b.) Področje končnega planiranja (finite planning), namesto katerega s hevristikami lahko uporabljamo optimi-zator, ki je še optimalnejši (Kopina, 2008). Končno planiranje ne kreira novih elementov, ampak le premika obstoječe. Poleg naštetega algoritem upošteva še koliko naj poudari optimalnost predvsem glede: ■ zamud glede na zahteve ■ premontaž in čiščenj ■ čas trajanja optimiziranja A 198 Organizacija, letnik 42 Predlogi za prakso številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 ■ ali naj upošteva povezave med nivoji (primer povezavo med ■ nalogom polizdelka, ki vstopa v nalog izdelka, da se izdelava ■ polizdelka zaključi pred začetkom izdelave izdelka), ■ ali naj planira proizvodnjo kolikor zgodaj/pozno je možno glede na ostale omejitve, ■ alternativne resurse in proiritete le-teh. Rezultat planskega poteka sistema APO so kreirani planski nalogi za proizvodnjo na nivoju končnih izdelkov in polizdelkov in kreirana interna naročila za nabavo materialov. Podana je pravilna/končna razporeditev operacij po resursih v pravilnem zaporedju s čim manj zamudami in premontažami (strojev) ter čiščenji. 5.2 Uporaba standardnih orodij Pri delu planskega poteka si planerji pomagajo z orodji: ■ Alert Monitor - za preverjanje opozoril, ki jih sporoča sistem, ■ Product View - za pregled elementov potreb po materialih in elementov, ki predstavljajo trenutno oziroma bodočo zalogo teh materialov v časovnem obdobju v prihodnosti (ekvivalent transakciji MD04 v SAP), ■ Detailed Scheduling Board - je grafična tabla za prikaz resursov in operacij planskih oziroma procesnih nalogov, ki se bodo izvajali v prihodnosti. Za končno planiranje v drugem koraku se uporablja bodisi hevristika ali pa optimizator. 5.3 Tehnike optimiranja procesov Hevristika je določena planska funkcionalnost in je v bistvu postopek oziroma algoritem. To je neke vrste planska lego kocka. APO ima množico standardnih hevristik, katere med seboj sestavljamo in gradimo lastne hevristike (Kopina 2008). Na primer nočni planski cikel, ki ga izvajamo ponoči, sestavimo iz zaporedja hevristik in je nova hevristika. Za rešitev problemov hevristika uporablja pravila, ki jih določimo glede ne naše zahteve oz. potrebe. V nasprotju z optimizatorjem namen hevristike ni poiskati najoptimal-nejšo rešitev, ampak obravnava specifične probleme pri planiranju po principu zahtev, ki jih predhodno definiramo. Določimo uteži. To so časi premontaž, čiščenj, dobavni časi in drugo. Tak pristop dopušča obravnavo ogromno problemov hkrati. Tudi za planiranje več sto izdelkov uporabljamo hevristiko za generiranje elementov kot npr. varnostne zaloge in za planiranje oziroma kreiranje nalogov. Njihova glavna naloga je optimalno prerazporediti elemente oz. operacije na resursih. S hevristiko se: ■ kreira seznam potreb iz naslova varnostnih zalog (V SAP R3-ju je MRP povzročil potrebe zaradi varnostne zaloge takoj, v APO pa povzroči potrebe v obdobju izven zamrznjenega horizonta); ■ razporedi oz. zaplanira materiale od najnižjega nivoja (izdelki so najnižje) navzgor (Eksplozija potreb je večstopenjska. MRP povzroči potrebe na vseh nivojih od izdelka, polizdelka pa do surovin in embalaže.); ■ zagotovi planiranje po vrsti glede na vrstni red z upoštevanjem prioritet, materialne pokritosti in razpoložljivih kapacitet; ■ kreira planske naloge in pobriše vse nefiksirane naloge kot v SAP-u ■ izvede izračun neto potreb z upoštevnjem podatkov o velikosti serije (enako je MRP izvedel v SAP-u); ■ upošteva roke uporabe materialov (MRP navadno roka uporabe materiala oz. izdelka ne upošteva, medtem ko APO rok uporabe upošteva); ■ premakne morebitne prezgodnje ali pozne dobave bliže k potrebam (APO premakne potrebe, če tako želimo. Vendar ne fiksiranih nalogov, SAP javi opozorilo, a naloga ne premika.). Sistemi za planiranje materialnih potreb MRP in optimizator uporabljamo za končno planiranje (Kopina, 2008). Je posebna funkcionalnost sistema, ki uporablja posebne algoritme (genetske algoritme) za optimalno razporeditev operacij po resursih. Upošteva se tako materialna pokritost kot tudi kapacitete. Optimizator preračunava več variant, ki jih oceni. Iz množice ocen izbere optimalno. Optimizatorju je možno nastaviti precej parametrov in uteži. Te so lahko : ■ interval izvajanja po časovni premici, ■ čas izvajanja optimizacije (glede na velikost oddelka), ■ prioritete optimizacije v obliki uteži (zamude, premon-taže ...), ■ smer optimizacije (naprej - nazaj), ■ upoštevanje polizdelka / izdelka. Genetski algoritmi so algoritmi, ki jih APO uporablja za rešitev in optimizacijo težav pri planiranju (Kopina, 2008). S pomočjo teh algoritmov sistem preigrava razne možne variante. Slabše rešitve ignorira oz. zavrne, boljše pa preigrava naprej. Na koncu procesa nam sistem predlaga na podlagi dobljenih rezultatov po predhodno definiranih zahtevah najoptimalnejšo varianto. Možna uporaba hevristik in optimizatorja: ■ nočno planiranje, ■ ročno planiranje po šifri, resursu ... - večnivojsko, ■ ročno planiranje po šifri - enonivojsko, ■ ročno planiranje preko planske tabele po resursu. Možen izbor hevristik: ■ Product Planning (Comp.acc. LLevl Code), uporabljamo za večnivojski MRP ■ Planning of Std Lots with Shelf Life ■ Planning of Std Lots with SL+UNTOL ■ MRP with BottomUp ■ Rescheduling: BottomUp ■ MRP with BottomUp STR ■ Rescheduling: BottomUp for STR ■ Fix Pegging Relationships ■ Delete Fixed Pegging Relationships ■ Create Safety Stock in SAP liveCache, za surovine ■ Create Safety Stock with Offset 0 days, uporabljamo za varnostno zalogo za 07 ■ Heuristic for Supersession Chains A 199 Organizacija, letnik 42 Predlogi za prakso številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 V podjetju uporabljajo Product Planning (Comp.acc. LLevl Code), Create Safety Stock in SAP liveCache in Create Safety Stock with Offset 0 days), ostale se izvajajo ponoči. Hevristika je enkraten ciklus, medtem ko je optimizacija ciklično primerjanje. Optimizator izbere in na koncu ponudi za njega najoptimalnejšo rešitev. Glavna prednost SAP APO informacijskega sistema je primarno izdelava optimalnega plana, ki je tudi izvedljiv. To pomeni zasedenost resursov ne več kot 100%, s tem da upošteva razpoložljivost materialov, čas premontaž in čiščenj, čas izdelave ter zamude. Izdelke razporedi po resursih z upoštevanjem prej navedenih parametrov po časovni premici. SAP tega ni upošteval (Kopina, 2008). S tem načinom dela je: nabava materialov bolj enakomerna, kar posledično vpliva tudi na stroške nabave in skladiščenja in izkoristek resursov je višji. 6 Dodatne potrebne ročne aktivnosti za avtomatsko delo sistema APO Rezultat avtomatskega zagona plana je proizvodni plan, ki potrebuje kolikor je le mogoče malo ročnega planiranja s strani planerja. Avtomatski zagon plana ne bo mogel razrešiti vseh obstoječih nasprotij, zaradi katerih je ročni poseg planerja nujen (Kopina, 2008). Nadalje, izjeme in nepredvideni dogodki zahtevajo ročne posege planerja, npr. izvedba proizvodnje zaostane za planirano zaradi okvare stroja, dobava vhodnega materiala zamuja, planer potreb potrebuje dodatne količine itd. Osredotočenost planskih aktivnosti se spreminja skozi čas. Dolgoročno je poglavitna prioriteta spremljanje (v grobem), če prihaja do bistvenih odstopanje med potrebnimi in razpoložljivimi kapacitetami. V pomoč pri njegovih dnevnih opravilih je planerju na voljo nabor orodij. Za kratkoročno kontrolo izjem, ki zahtevajo takojšnje ukrepanje, lahko planer dobi potrebna opozorila iz opozorilnega pregleda. Odvisno od vrste in resnosti izjeme lahko planer nato uporabi tablo za podrobno razporejanje (DS Board), da bi priredil proizvodni plan novim razmeram z prerazporeditvijo nalogov/aktivnosti na virih. Z informacijo iz opozorilnega pregleda lahko planer podrobneje razpozna neskladje v DS Tabli in uporabi možnosti, ki so mu na voljo za prerazporeditev in razrešitev neskladja. Če po posodobitvi plana ni več neskladij, lahko planer shrani prirejeni proizvodni plan in opozorilo je razrešeno. Planer mora pri svojem delu uporabljati plansko tablo, da lahko pripravi oprijemljiv plan, ki temelji na rezultatih avtomatskega planskega zagona . Ker končna hevristika ali optimizator nista zmožna upoštevati vseh potrebnih posebnosti, ki vplivajo na proizvodni plan, je potreben ročni poseg planerja (Kopina, 2008). Planska tabla je glavno orodje za razporejanje nalogov in aktivnosti na način, da se doseže oprijemljiv plan in da se doseže vse datume potreb iz napovedi ali prodajnih nalogov na najboljši možni način. Na planski tabli določimo končne in neskončne resurse. Pri končnih resursih sistem upošteva razpoložljivost kapacitet in jih razporedi le v primeru, ko ima na voljo dovolj kapacitet. Pri neskončnih resursih pa sistem ne upošteva razpoložljivosti kapacitet, operacije so prekrite v istem časovnem intervalu. Opozorilni pregled zagotavlja planerju podatke o različnih vrstah neskladij, ki se pojavljajo v proizvodnem planu, npr. potrebe niso pokrite z dobavnicami, prezasedenost vira, ali pa je vhodni material razpoložljiv kasneje od datuma potreb dotične zahteve. Dodatno lahko planer med podrobnim razporejanjem uporabi ostale aplikacije APO, ki mu bodo v pomoč pri izdelavi oprijemljivega plana, npr. pogled proizvoda, ki da hiter pregled planske situacije za en proizvod. Dolgoročno lahko planer z uporabo dobavnega pogleda in pogleda potreb, pa tudi preko opozorilnega pregleda preverja, če je MRP zagon ustvaril dobavne elemente za vse potrebe. Opozorilni pregled se lahko uporablja tudi za informacijo o izkoriščenosti vira. Prav tako je planerju na voljo poročilo, ki vsebuje to informacijo (Kopina, 2008). Posredovanje planerja je potrebno le v primeru bistvenega neskladja med potrebnimi in razpoložljivimi kapacitetami. 7 Analiza nabave desetih najbolj pogostih materialov s pomočjo ABC analize V raziskavi je izdelana ocena glavnih učinkov ob zaključeni uvedbi novega informacijskega sistema, predvsem zmanjšanje stroškov zaradi zmanjšanja zalog, optimalnejša izraba virov in sredstev. Da ugotovimo ali je nakup in uvedba novega informacijskega orodja res smiseln lahko ugotovimo tudi s pomočjo AbC analize in dokažemo prednosti prenove sistema (Kopina, 2008). V praksi se je pokazalo, da lahko stroške nekega proizvoda ali storitve razčlenimo po naslednjem vzorcu: ■ 5 %, tako imenovani "A" deli, povzročajo 75 % stroškov, ■ 20 %, tako imenovani "B" deli, povzročajo 20 % stroškov, ■ 75 %, tako imenovani "C" deli, povzročajo 5 % stroškov. Tako označujemo "A" kot malo število pomembnih in "C" kot veliko nepomembnih delov nekega proizvoda. Tako imenovani "B" deli ležijo po tej razdelitvi z 20 % skupnih stroškov približno na sredini stroškovnih nosilcev proizvoda. ABC analiza je pomemben inštrument pri odločanju vrednostnega analitika, saj dokaj objektivno kaže, kje so koncentrirani stroški pri določenem proizvodu ali storitvi. Tako začne vsaka stroškovna analiza z izdelavo ABC analize. V večini primerov zadostuje, da se analizirajo le "A" deli, od količine in prometa proizvodov včasih tudi "B" deli, le redko "C" deli (Čuš, 2004). Ob vsem tem je pomembno ločiti bistveno od nebistvenega. Za prenovo sistema smo naredili analizo nabave desetih najbolj pogostih materialov v podjetju, ter ugotovili število dobav pred uporabo optimizatorja (Tabela 1) in število nabav po uporabi optimizatorja (Tabela 2). Iz tabele 2 je razvidno da se je pri določenih materialih zmanjšalo število dobav kot rezultat delovanja optimizatorja in pravilno razporejenih nalogov po operacijah in s tem A 200 Organizacija, letnik 42 Predlogi za prakso številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 Tabela 1: Število dobav in cena pred uvedbo Šifra Cena Nabavna količina Vrednost Dobava Stdobav v % % vrednosti na enoto (KG) nabav lxx 1,89 816450 1543091 52 47,71 57,65 2xx 4,37 132950 580992 14 12,84 21,70 3xx 1,9 173800 330220 16 14,68 12,34 4xx 1,43 80875 115651 9 8,26 4,32 5xx 2,81 20700 58167 7 6,42 2,17 6xx 0,03 600000 18000 2 1,83 0,67 7xx 10,06 2000 20120 3 2,75 0,75 8xx 22,72 300 6816 3 2,75 0,25 9xx 0,02 100000 2000 2 1,83 0,07 10x 0,03 60000 1800 1 0,92 0,07 2676856 109 100,00 100,00 pravilnim podatkom nabavi o naročanju materialov (Kopi-na, 2008). Nabava lahko materiale naroča bolj točno, stroški zalog so nižji, v primeru manjšega števila dobav je tudi manj analiz, ki predstavljajo tudi kar nekaj stroškov. Tabela 2: število dobav in cena po uvedbi Z logističnega vidika je obvladovanje novega tipa fleksibilnosti proizvodnje vse obsežnejše, saj imamo opraviti v podjetju z vsak dan večjo količino podatkov (manjše serije, veliko število novih trgov, novi izdelki). Šifra Cena Nabavna količina Vrednost Dobava Št.dobav v % % vrednosti na enoto (KG) nabav lxx 2,56 597000 1528320 28 50,91 60,88 3xx 1,9 148500 282150 9 16,36 11,24 2xx 4,27 103925 443760 7 12,73 17,68 5xx 2,89 17100 49419 3 5,45 1,97 4xx 1,47 89079 130946 2 3,64 5,22 8xx 22,51 400 9004 2 3,64 0,36 9xx 0,02 500000 10000 1 1,82 0,40 6xx 0,03 1150000 34500 1 1,82 1,37 10x 0,03 80000 2400 1 1,82 0,10 7xx 9,97 2000 19940 1 1,82 0,79 2510439 55 100,00 100,00 A 201 Organizacija, letnik 42 Predlogi za prakso številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 8 Sklep Obvladovanje logističnih procesov, kot so planiranje proizvodnje, zagotavljanje pokritosti materialnih potreb ob upoštevanju želje po čim manjših zalogah, je možno le z zagotavljanjem učinkovitejših informacijskih sistemov, z optimalnimi človeškimi viri in optimalnimi resursi (Interno gradivo podjetja Krka, d.d.). Novi informacijski sistem APO omogoča integrirano planiranje celotne oskrbovalne verige, spremljanje tržišča in napovedovanje povpraševanja, sočasno planiranje vseh virov, ki optimira plan preko več različnih scenarijev, fino terminiranje ter ustrezno obveščanje ob neskladjih. Izredno pomembne so tudi informacije, ki morajo biti pravočasne in prave (Kopina, A., 2008). Potrebujemo dobre informacije o planu proizvodnega programa, potrebah, stanju zalog in politiki naročanja. Rezultat planiranja je v 90 % odvisen od točnosti navedenih podatkov, ker sistem dosledno upošteva podatke v sistemu. Ocenjujemo, da bodo glavni učinki v podjetju z uporabo novega informacijskega sistema predvsem hitrejše odzivanje na potrebe trga glede spremembe napovedi prodaje (zamrznjeno obdobje iz 80 dni skrajšano), ki hkrati ne pomeni povečanja stroškov, zmanjšanje stroškov zaradi zmanjšanja zalog, kar potrjuje tudi AbC analiza, ter optimalnejša izraba virov in sredstev (Kopina, 2008). V raziskavi je temeljito analizirano stanje pred uvedbo projekta, upoštevani in navedeni so načini in metode za izvedbo projekta. Jasno so prikazani zastavljeni cilji, ki jih želi podjetje doseči z uvedbo novega informacijskega sistema. Transparentnost poslovanja prinaša strateškemu in taktičnemu managementu lažje in učinkovitejše sprejemanje odločitev, saj bodo le-te zasnovane na točnih, natančnih in preglednih podatkih. S tem pa se bo povečala tudi dodana vrednost v danih in novih cenovnih okvirih pa tudi tržna vrednost podjetja samega. Literatura in viri Balič, J. & Čuš, F. (2007). Intelligent modelling in manufacturing. J. Achiev. Mater. Manuf. Eng., 24(1): 340-348. Čižman, A. (2002). Logistični management v organizaciji, Moderna organizacija, Kranj, pp. 38-40. Čuš, F. (2004). Zapiski predavanj Upravljanje s tehnologijami in inovacijami, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za organizacijske vede. Čuš, F., Milfelner, M. & Župerl, U. (2004). Prestrukturiranje v smeri višjih tehnoloških stopenj z optimiranjem procesov obdelave. V: Proceedings of the 23rd International Scientific Conference on Organizational Science Development, Slovenia, Portorož, March, 24th-26th 2004. Management, knowledge and EU. Kranj: Moderna organizacija, pp. 10-16. Kopina, A. (2008). Planiranje in optimizacija proizvodnje v Krki, d. d., Novo mesto z novim informacijskim sistemom, magistrsko delo, Fakulteta za organizacijske vede, Univerza v Mariboru. Pučko, D. (2006). Planiranje in kontrola, Univerza v Ljubljani, Ekonomska fakulteta, Ljubljana, 2006, Interno gradivo podjetja Krka, d.d. Kratice in akronimi APO: Advanced Planning and Optimisation APS: Advanced Planning and Scheduling DM: Demand management DP: Demand Planning DRP: Distribution Resource Planning ERP: Enterprise resource planning MBR: Master Batch Record MRP I: Material Requirements Planning MRP II: Manufacturing Resource Planning PAS - PLAN: Prozessautomatisierungssystem-PLAN PP/DS: Production Planning / Detailed Scheduling PP: Prodajna pisarna SCM: Supply Chain Management Alenka Kopina je zaposlena v Krki, tovarni zdravil, d.d., Novo mesto na delovnem mestu nosilka področja planiranja v Logističnem centru, njeno ožje področje dela je planiranje in optimizacija proizvodnje za določene proizvodne obrate v Krki. Svoj podiplomski magistrski študij je končala na Fakulteti za organizacijske vede, Univerze v Mariboru z magistrsko nalogo: Planiranje in optimizacija proizvodnje v Krki, d. d., Novo mesto z novim informacijskim sistemom. Aktivno sodeluje pri implementaciji projekta prenove. Franci Čuš je redni profesor za področje proizvodnih tehnologij na Fakulteti za strojništvo Univerze v Mariboru. Je nosilec predmetov na dodiplomskem in podiplomskem študiju na FS in FOV. Področje raziskovalnega dela je optimiranje proizvodnih procesov, ima 85 izvirnih znanstvenih člankov, je mentor magistrantom in doktorantom, je nosilec raziskovalnih projektov, udeležuje se mednarodnih konferenc gostujoči profesor na TU Wien in je član več uredniških odborov revij. Je predstojnik Katedre in inštituta za proizvodne sisteme na Fakulteti za strojništvo. A 202 Organizacija, letnik 42 Beremo za vas številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 Beremo za vas Synthesized Organization Björn Paape, Drago Vuk Peter Lang, Frankfurt 2009 Internationaler Velag der Wissenschaften Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien ISBN 978-3-631-59215-1, 368 strani Pred kratkim je založba Peter Lang v Frankfurtu ob Maini izdala bogato knjigo v obliki zbornika strokovnih in znanstvenih referatov z naslovom Synthesized Organization (Združena organizacija). Knjigo sta uredila Drago Vuk iz Univerze v Mariboru, Fakultete za organizacijske vede Kranj in priznani strokovnjak Bjorn Paape. V knjigi, ki ima 368 strani, imamo na voljo podrobnega proučevanja uglednih avtorjev, ki se ukvarjajo z organiziranostjo organizacije. Med njimi so zlasti pomembni Antun Vila, Drago Vuk, Jože Jesenko, Janez Mayer, Tomaž Kern, Robert Leskovar in številni drugi. Glede na dejstvo, da iz dneva v dan posvečamo veliko pozornost okolju, je v knjigi zajeta študija uporabe razgradljivih odpadkov kot primarni vir za generiranje oz. proizvajanje termalne in električne energije. Vse bolj se srečujemo s problematiko uporabe pitne vode, kar predstavlja specifični ekološki dejavnik. Tudi informacijska tehnologija igra v vsakdanjem delu, razvoju in poslovanju pomembno vlogo. Vse to pa je več ali manj povezano z motivacijo in stimulacijo projektnega dela. Glede na omenjeno problematiko je potrebno sprotno, srednjeročno in dolgoročno planiranje virov in oblikovanje potrebnih specifikacij. Pri tem je izrednega pomena merjenje ekonomske učinkovitosti proizvodnega procesa z uporabo stohastičnih metod, o čemer sta strokovno obdelali zanimiv prispevek Alenka Brezavšček in Alenka Hudo-klin. Večkrat se nam postavlja vprašanje kako aplicirati modelne referenčne organizacije v realnem svetu, kar v določenem smislu spada v aplikacijo informacijskega managementa, o čemer sta poročala Petr Doucek in Ota Novotny. Bogastvo omenjene knjige se odraža tudi s prikazom poslovnih procesov in kompetenčnih profilov zaposlenih, kar so prikazali avtorji FOV Kranj. O nezanesljivih dobaviteljih in njihovem vplivu na optimizacijo procesa pa sta celovito predstavila problematiko Davorin Kofjač in Miroljub Kljajic. Nekateri avtorji so se dotaknili dokumentacijskega managementa v zdravstvu. Posebej velja poudariti proizvodne procese, onesnaževanje okolja in vplive tople grede, kar so obdelali Marjan Senegačnik, Drago Vuk in Dušan Mežnar. Mateja Podlogar pa je na izviren način prikazala planiranje virov sistemov in e-prodajo v luči novega znanja za pridobivanje podatkov v prodajnem procesu. Posebej moramo omeniti Vesno Novak z obravnavo vključevanja strategije človeških virov v poslovno strategijo. V zaključnem delu knjige imamo na voljo lepo prikazano učenje za vizualno prodajo, podjetništvo in regionalni ekonomski razvoj. Na praktičen in razumljiv način pa sta se Marko Fer-jan in Eva Jereb dotaknila problematike tujih delavcev v Sloveniji. Zaključno misel v knjigi so podali trije avtorji za navedbo rasti »SMEs'« in učinkovitosti z vidika evropskega elektronskega trga kot novi poslovni model. Ta monografija prinaša izbrane strokovne in znanstvene prispevke uglednih avtorjev s področja organiziranosti organizacije. V svojih prispevkih postavljajo v središče organizacijo in njeno kompleksnost aktivnosti v luči racionalnega iskanja sodobnih rešitev. Omenjeno delo bo koristen pripomoček ne samo za študente dodiplom-skega in podiplomskega študija, temveč tudi za podjetnike, managerje, obrtnike in druge, ki se želijo poglobiti v reševanje problematike »sintetizirane« organizacije. Knjigo je ocenil Gabrijel Devetak A 203 Organizacija, Volume 42 Abstracts Number 4, July-August 2009 Milan Pagon, Uroš Bizjak Information-Communication Technology (ICT) in our Lives: the Interplay of ICT and Romantic Relationships Relationships among different aspects of romantic relationship quality, the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT), characteristics of a relationship, demographics, and personality were examined on a sample of 407 students in the Republic of Slovenia. The findings suggest that the most important factor in determining the quality of a romantic relationship is companionship (joint activities of a romantic couple). Romantic couples who generally spent more time in joint activities also spent more time using ICT in maintaining their romantic relationship. The usage of ICT in a romantic relationship itself does not influence the quality of that relationship. The general usage of ICT, however, deteriorates the quality of the romantic relationship. Once we take into account the impact of companionship, personality variables do not provide any unique contributions to romantic relationship quality. Keywords: Information-communication technology, romantic relationships, interpersonal relationships, personality Miroljub Kljajič The Relevance of Systems Methodologies in the Development of Organizational Systems The relationship between systems development and systems methodologies is discussed in this paper. As the measure of system development on the macro level, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is assumed to be the consequence of systems Research and Development (R&D), which is estimated indirectly by the number of published articles in the last 40 years. It was supposed that profit and governmental organizations are systems comprised of Production, Management and Information Systems (IS), and that their quality performance is related with its income generation, which in the future would impact the overall GDP of a country. Under such view, we also assume that such organizational processes are qualitatively improved by the application of knowledge generated by research publications, and in this study, we research for the specific case of the Systems Approach (SA), Systems Engineering (SE), Operational Research (OR), Information Systems Development (ISD) and Simulation, as the research topics for coping with organizational improvement. We looked for the articles containing the afore-mentioned variables as topic keywords, which indicate sufficient correlations with GDP and carrying information on sustainable development. We found a positive trend in the evolution of research methodologies, such as SE, ISD and OR, towards a Systems Approach and Simulation as a holistic methodology. As a result, we have proved the dynamic hypothesis of a high correlation between GDP of Top 10 + Slovenia and R&D expressed by the above-mentioned variables. Keywords: Systems methodologies, simulation, information systems, management, R&D Marko Jakšič, Borut Rusjan Heuristic Approach to Inventory Control with Advance Capacity Information There is a growing trend of information sharing within modern supply chains. This trend is mainly stimulated by recent developments in information technology and the increasing awareness that accurate and timely information helps firms cope with volatile and uncertain business conditions. We model a periodic-review, single-item, capacitated stochastic inventory system, where a supply chain member has the ability to obtain advance capacity information ('ACI') about future supply capacity availability. ACI is used to reduce the uncertainty of future supply and thus enables the decision-maker to make better ordering decisions. We develop an easily applicable heuristic based on insights gained from an analysis of the optimal policy. In a numerical study we quantify the benefits of ACI and compare the performance of the proposed heuristic with the optimal performance. We illustrate the conditions in which the procedure is working well and comment on its practical applicability. Keywords: Operational Research, Inventory, Stochastic Models, Advance Capacity Information, Heuristic Dušan Gošnik, Matej Hohnjec Selection Criteria for Six Sigma Projects in Slovenian Manufacturing Companies Researches reveal that successful six sigma implementation is related to proper six sigma project prioritisation and selection. This research is limited to the selection of six sigma projects in some manufacturing companies in Slovenia. The purpose of this study is to identify what criteria are considered for prioritisation and selection of six sigma projects and how six sigma projects are selected. A research sample is limited by the number of companies which have been implemented six sigma so far. The results indicate that Slovenian manufacturing organisations tend to select six sigma projects based on criteria such as customer satisfaction, connection with a business strategy financial benefits, and growth of the organisation. Several tools and techniques such as quality cost analysis, brainstorm-ing and interviews are used to identify and prioritise projects. Identification of the most commonly used criteria to select six sigma projects can help practitioners to select projects based on multiple criteria by using tools and techniques identified in this study. This topic has not been applied in the field of Slovenian manufacturing companies and thus it presents the first study in this field in Slovenia. Keywords: Six sigma, Project management, Project Selection, Management, Manufacturing companies, Preliminary study, Slovenia Etelka Korpič-Horvat, Bojan Tičar, Rado Bohinc The Salary System in the Private Sector in the Republic Slovenia In the article the authors discuss the salary system in the private sector in the Republic of Slovenia. They present relevant A 204 Organizacija, Volume 42 Abstracts Number 4, July-August 2009 legislation dealing with remuneration, in particular the Employment Relations Act, which regulates individual employment relations and in a separate chapter regulates remuneration. Remuneration includes a salary and other additional payments. The authors treat all the components of a salary, i.e. the basic salary, extra payments, the part of the salary based on job performance, and the payment for positive business performance. Other additional payments are payments in kind or in money, in securities, or profit-related pay, i.e. the participation of employees in profit sharing. The authors also treat other income of employees laid down in the Employment Relations Act and collective agreements as well as the reimbursement of expenses related to work. The authors also focus on the obligatory content of an employment contract with reference to remuneration. Finally, they address open issues regarding types of other additional payments and possible solutions for determining individual remuneration instruments in collective agreements and in employment contracts. Key words: salary system, remuneration, salary, components of a salary, other additional payments Miran Šik Developement of IT Infrastructure Investment Model with System Dynamics Methods This research paper presents a development of decision support model for investments in IT infrastructure. Using the system dynamics methods the research was made on causal relationship of investments in IT infrastructure and profit. The proposed model represents influences of investments in IT infrastructure on profit through increased strategic flexibility of the company. The presented simulations of the model use different values of external variables and different functional relationships between variables. The present research paper also shows a lack of knowledge in relationships between system variables, which can be overcome with further research, thus improving the quality of the presented model. Key words: system dynamics, modeling, decision support, investments in IT infrastructure Maja Konečnik Ruzzier Internal Perspective on Developing the Brand I Feel Slovenia: Creating its Identity with Experts' Opinion The paper analyses the internal perspective on developing a new brand for Slovenia, I feel Slovenia. The results of creating the identity of Slovenia from the viewpoint of 30 Slovenian experts are presented. Their opinions were collected as the first step of the whole process in building an identity of Slovenia, conducted in year 2007. We invited experts to express their opinion through Delphi method, which was repeated in two iterations. Results of both iterations are presented in the paper. Experts' opinion from key area presented initial, but extremely important basis in developing identity elements of Slovenian brand. According to their opinion the key idea of brand identity should be related to Slovenian nature, which should be reasonable incorporated also in other brand identity elements. Key words: brand, country, Slovenia, identity, Delphi method, I feel Slovenia Alenka Kopina, Franci Čuš Planning and Optimization of Production in Krka, d.d., Novo mesto with Information System APO (Advanced Planning and Optimisation) As the scope of logistics operations in the company increases from day to day it is necessary to provide quality and reliable IT support to operational work. Selection, implementation and the usage of the support tools is one of the critical tasks. The main tpoic of the article is upgrading the ERP system SAP R3 with the new system of advanced planning and optimization (Advanced Planning and Optimization - APO). In the company Krka, d.d. the business information system SAP R3 is used for to support most processes. For the management and control of production, the system Werum PAS-X is used. In the Supply Chain the APO, which is an upgrade of SAP R3 and is also a leading system for planning in the company has been implemented. All the three systems which are also integrated with each other constitute the basis of a new modern, efficient and transparent Supply Chain system. Key words: logistics, supply chain, planning and optimization of production, information system APO (Advanced Planning and Optimization), stock optimization A205 Organizacija, letnik 42 Donatorji številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 Donatorji izgradnje stavbe UM Fakultete za organizacijske vede ADRIA AIRWAYS - Slovenski letalski prevoznik d.d. Kuzmičeva 7, 1000 LJUBLJANA ARBORETUM Volčji potok 3, 1235 RADOMLJE ALPETOUR REMONT d.d. Ljubljanska 22, 4000 KRANJ ATOTECH - Kemična tovarna Podnart d.d. Podnart 24, 4244 PODNART AVTOTEHNA d.d. Slovenska cesta 54, 1000 LJUBLJANA BIGRAD Kolodvorska 37d, 2310 SLOVENSKA BISTRICA BRDO - PROTOKOLARNI SERVIS Predoslje 39, 4000 KRANJ DEDALUS d.o.o. Dunajska 156, 1000 LJUBLJANA DELO - Časopisno in založniško podjetje d.d. Dunajska 5, 1509 LJUBLJANA DOMEL d.d. - Elektromotorji in gospodinjski aparati Otoki 21, 4228 ŽELEZNIKI DOMPLAN d.d. Bleiweisova cesta 14, 4000 KRANJ ELEKTRO GORENJSKA Javno podjetje za distribucijo električne energije, d.d. Bleiweisova cesta 6, 4000 KRANJ ELEKTROTEHNIŠKO PODJETJE d.d. Ulica Mirka Vadnova 11, 4000 KRANJ EL - VER, Elektroinstalacije Zvonko Verlič s.p. Streliška 150, 2000 MARIBOR ETIKETA Tiskarna d.d. Industrijska ulica 6, 4226 ŽIRI EXOTERM Kemična tovarna, d.d. Struževo 66, 4000 KRANJ FOTO TIVOLI d.o.o. Cankarjeva 7, 1000 LJUBLJANA GORENJSKA BANKA d.d. Bleiweisova 1, 4000 KRANJ GORENJSKA PREDILNICA d.d. Kidričeva cesta 75, 4220 ŠKOFJA LOKA GORENJSKI TISK d.d. Ul. Mirka Vadnova 6, 4000 KRANJ GRADBINEC GIP d.o.o. Nazorjeva 1, 4000 Kranj GRATEX d.o.o. Spodnja Rečica 81, 3270 LAŠKO HIT d.d. Nova Gorica - Hoteli igralnica turizem Delpinova 7a, 5000 NOVA GORICA HTG - Hoteli Turizem Gostinstvo d.d. Partizanska cesta 1, 6210 SEŽANA IBM Slovenija d.o.o. Trg Republike 3, 1000 LJUBLJANA IBI Kranj - Proizvodnja žakarskih tkanin d.d. Jelenčeva ulica 1, 4000 KRANJ ISA Anton Mernik s.p. - Izvajanje sanacij v gradbeništvu Kolodvorska ulica 35c, 2310 SLOVENSKA BISTRICA ISKRAEMECO, d.d. Savska Loka 4, 4000 KRANJ ISKRA - Iskra avtoelektrika d.d. Polje 15, 5290 ŠEMPETER PRI GORICI ISKRA - Industrija sestavnih delov d.d. Savska loka 4, 4000 KRANJ ISKRA INSTRUMENTI d.d. Otoče 5a, 4244 PODNART ISKRATEL - Telekomunikacijski sistemi d.o.o., Kranj Ljubljanska cesta 24/a, 4000 KRANJ ISKRA TRANSMISSION d.d. Stegne 11, 1000 LJUBLJANA Izredni študenti FOV JELOVICA d.d. Kidričeva 58, 4220 ŠKOFJA LOKA JEROVŠEK COMPUTERS, d.o.o. Breznikova 17, 1230 DOMŽALE KOGRAD GRADNJE d.o.o. Preradovičeva ul. 20, 2000 MARIBOR KOMUNALNO POD JETJE GORNJA RADGONA p.o. Trate 7, 9250 GORNJA RADGONA KOPIRNICA DEU s.p. Kidričeva 55a, 4000 KRANJ KOVINAR d.o.o. Vitanje Kovaška cesta 12, 3205 VELENJE KRKA, d.d., Novo mesto Šmarješka cesta 6, 8501 NOVO MESTO KRKA ZDRAVILIŠČA - Zdraviliške, turistične in gostinske storitve d.o.o. Germova ulica 4, 8501 NOVO MESTO LESNA Lesnoindustrijsko podjetje d.d. Pod gradom 2, 2380 SLOVENJ GRADEC A 206 Organizacija, letnik 42 Donatorji številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 LETNIK SAUBERMACHER d.o.o. Sp. Porčič 49, 2230 LENART V SLOVENSKIH GORICAH LINIJA - Rajko Flerin, s.p., Slikopleskar in črkoslikar Britof 284, 4000 KRANJ LJUBLJANSKE MLEKARNE d.d. Tolstojeva 63, 1000 LJUBLJANA LUKA KOPER d.d. Vojkovo nabrežje 38, 6000 KOPER MAGNETOMEDICINA d.o.o. Tržaška cesta 468, 1351 BREZOVICA PRI LJUBLJANI MARMOR HOTAVLJE d.d. Hotavlje 40, 4224 GORENJA VAS MAT d. o. o. Orlova 12 a, 1000 LJUBLJANA MEHANIZMI - Iskra Mehanizmi d.d. Lipnica Lipnica 8, 4245 KROPA MERCATOR - TRGOAVTO d.d. - Trgovina, servis Pristaniška 43/a, 6000 KOPER MERCATOR - PC GRADIŠČE d.d. Golijev trg 11, 8210 TREBNJE MERCATOR-OPTIMA - Inženiring d.o.o. Breg 14, 1000 LJUBLJANA MERKUR - Trgovina in storitve d.d. KRANJ Koroška cesta 1, 4000 KRANJ MESNA INDUSTRIJA PRIMORSKE d.d. Panovška 1, 5000 NOVA GORICA MICROSOFT d.o.o. Šmartinska cesta 140, 1000 LJUBLJANA MOBITEL d.d. Vilharjeva 23, 1537 LJUBLJANA OBČINA RADOVLJICA Gorenjska cesta 19, 4240 RADOVLJICA Opravljanje del z gradbeno mehanizacijo MARJAN RAZPOTNIK s.p. Krače 8, 1411 IZLAKE OPTIMA - Podjetje za inženiring in trgovino d.o.o. Ulica 15. maja 21, 6000 KOPER PALOMA SLADKOGORSKA - Tovarna papirja d.d. Sladki vrh 1, 2214 SLADKI VRH PIVOVARNA UNION d.d. Pivovarniška ulica 2, 1001 LJUBLJANA POSLOVNI SISTEM MERCATOR d.d. Dunajska cesta 107, 1000 LJUBLJANA POSLOVNI SISTEM - ŽITO LJUBLJANA d.d. Šmartinska cesta 154, 1000 LJUBLJANA POSLOVNO PRIREDITVENI CENTER -GORENJSKI SEJEM Kranj d.d. Stara cesta 25, 4000 KRANJ POŠTA SLOVENIJE d.o.o. Slomškov trg 10, 2000 MARIBOR PRIMORJE d.d. Vipavska cesta 3, 5270 AJDOVŠČINA REGIONALNI CENTER ZA RAZVOJ d.o.o. Cesta zmage 35, 1410 ZAGORJE OB SAVI SATURNUS - AVTOOPREMA d.d. Letališka c. 17, 1001 LJUBLJANA SAVA - Gumarska in kemična industrija d.d. Škofjeloška 6, 4502 KRANJ SIEMENS d.o.o. Dunajska cesta 22, 1000 LJUBLJANA SLOBODNIK JOŽE Generalni častni konzul RS v Kanadi SLOVENIJALES PRODAJNI CENTRI Dunajska cesta 22, 1000 LJUBLJANA SLOVENSKE ŽELEZNICE d.d. Kolodvorska ulica 11, 1000 LJUBLJANA SVEA LESNA INDUSTRIJA d.d. Cesta 20. julij 23, 1410 ZAGORJE OB SAVI SUROVINA d.d. MARIBOR Pobreška cesta 20, 2000 MARIBOR TELEKOM SLOVENIJE d.d. Cigaletova 15, 1000 LJUBLJANA TERME MARIBOR Zdravstvo, turizem, rekreacija d.d. Ul. heroja Šlandra 10, 2000 MARIBOR TERMO d.d. - Industrija termičnih izolacij Trata 32, 4220 ŠKOFJA LOKA TERMOELEKTRARNA TOPLARNA Ljubljana d.o.o. Toplarniška 19, 1000 LJUBLJANA TOVARNA KLOBUKOV ŠEŠIR d.d. Kidričeva 57, 4220 ŠKOFJA LOKA TRIMO Inženiring in proizvodnja montažnih objektov d.d. Prijateljeva 12, 8210 TREBNJE UNITAS - Tovarna armatur d.d. Celovška cesta 224, 1107 LJUBLJANA USTANOVA SLOVENSKA ZNANSTVENA FUNDACIJA Štefanova 15, 1000 LJUBLJANA ZAVAROVALNICA TRIGLAV, d.d. Miklošičeva cesta 19, 1000 LJUBLJANA ZVEZA RAČUNOVODIJ, FINANČNIKOV IN REVIZORJEV SLOVENIJE Dunajska cesta 106, 1000 LJUBLJANA ŽIVILA KRANJ - Trgovina in gostinstvo d.d. Cesta na Okroglo 3, 4202 NAKLO ŽITO GORENJKA d.d. Rožna dolina 8, 4248 LESCE A 207 Organizacija, letnik 42 številka 4, julij-avgust 2009 r \ \ \ International Conference Announcement FOV University of Maribor Faculty of Organizational Sciences à Faculty of Organizational Sciences of the University of Maribor, Slovenia organizes the 29th International Conference on the development of organizational sciences. The working title of the conference is "People and Organization". The conference will be held from 24th to 26th March 2010 in Portorož, Slovenia. Main conference topics are: Organization Information System Business Process Management Project Management Education Management Marketing Management Quality Management Finance Management Logistics Management Human Resource Management Economy Management Ecology Management Management and Planning Tourism Management Management in Banking Insurance Management Healthcare Manegement Public Sector Management Further details regarding the conference can be found at the organization's official website: www.fov.uni-mb.si/conference. University of Maribor Faculty of Organizational Sciences Center for Education and Consulting Kidričeva cesta 55a, SI-4000 Kranj, Slovenia E-mail: cis@fov.uni-mb.si Phone: +386 4 2374 345 UNIVÉ[i&W ÍASfilBCTiU - FAKULÎÉtA lA ORGANIZACIJSKE VEDÉ TQM UMI ;;frJ ODLIČNOST - I_I bJ □ I- I □ ra I_ I 6 (T 7YY ORODJA Janez Maroît Boštjan Gomišček Management kakovosti EAU.«» M«4*r«* ar(t&tuc4¿i A 208