Issue #2 (Volume 14 2018)

The paper deals with analysis of the preconditions of alternative energy market development in Ukraine. In this case study, the authors analyzed the EU experience. The results of analysis showed that the leader of the EU countries in renewable energy has already achieved the target (20%), which had been indicated. In addition, the findings showed that the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption has been increasing from year to year. The authors allocate that, according to the Ukrainian potential, biogas is the most perspective one among alternative resources. Moreover, results of analysis showed that Ukraine has the huge potential of agricultural sector. In this direction, the authors allocated the main types of the agricultural activities, which have the highest potential of biogas production: sugar factories, corn silage and poultry farms. The authors underlined that biogas spreading is restrained by the stereotypes that green investments are not attractive for investors. In order to analyze the economic efficiency of investments to the biogas installation, the authors calculated the profit from the biogas installation for poultry farm. The authors made two scenarios for calculation. The first – the whole volume of energy, which was generated from the biogas unit, will be sold with feed-in tariff. The second – the farm covers its own needs in electricity, the rest will be sold with feed-in tariff. The findings showed that the first scenario is more attractive. Moreover, the farm could receive higher profit if it installed the biogas in 2016, not in 2017. In addition, based on the EU experience and features of farm functioning, the authors approved that the biogas installation has not only the economic effect (profit and additional profit) for company, but also ecological and social effects for rural area, where this farm was located.

The development of the organic market in the world requires conducting a research on the problems that accompany this process. Such studies are becoming more popular and apply not only to organic products market at the global level, but also at the local level. In order to identify global problems, the state and trends of the organic products markets in the USA, Germany, France, Britain as the biggest national markets were analyzed on the basis of the data characterizing the state of organic products market in Ukraine and in the world, provided by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FIBL) and the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM). The research of the state and trends of the Ukrainian organic market and agricultural production development was conducted, and using the SWOT analysis methodology and the principles laid out in the PEST analysis, its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats were identified. Within each element, social, environmental, economic and financial constituents have been grouped, providing a possibility to understand which factor is determining in terms of sustainable development. It enabled to make a conclusion that the Ukrainian market remains small in size, entailing significant risks, first of all, for producers, as its further development requires a significant all-round support from the state both from the financial point of view and from the point of view of active promotion of sustainable development ideas and education of the population on the importance of consuming quality products, taking care about their health and, as a result, contributing to the improvement of the environment.

While implementing the radical transformations, such as the business processes reengineering in the work of industrial enterprises, there is a need to increase the personnel operating efficiency in the business processes redesign. The urgent increase of control by the top management of companies is demanded for observing the procedure and standards of business processes reengineering at the enterprises in order to increase its cost effectiveness. Therefore, the relevance of the scientific research subject is indisputable. The research works of academic economists concerning the features of staffing for the business processes reengineering of companies are analyzed. The ways to overcome the resistance to organizational changes of industrial enterprises by the staff are developed. The description of the effective members of the reengineering team in the work of the company has been improved by forming special features of each member of the reengineering team. The personal and professional competencies of the personnel are shaped and offered as the most effective ones for successful realization of marketing activity reengineering at the industrial enterprises. A questionnaire was developed as part of the analysis and selection of personnel during the marketing activities reengineering at the industrial enterprises. The resulting component of the questionnaire was developed for making managerial decision on personnel selection in reengineering teams.

Most academic studies in marketing have focused on advanced economies and fast-developing, large emerging markets (Sharma & Lascu, 2018). Until recently, only a few marketing studies have addressed subsistence markets; yet, there are over 4 billion bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) consumers living below less than 1.25 dollars a day in underserved areas worldwide (Kaplinsky, 2011; Sharma & Lascu, 2018). The present study attempts to bridge the gap in the literature by providing a comprehensive review of the theory and practice addressing the subject of marketing at the bottom of the pyramid, focusing on marketing approaches to BOP consumers that both efficiently sell products to this market and enrich their quality of life. The study suggests that selling products to the bottom of the pyramid may be profitable, but companies must be creative in their approach to formulating marketing strategies in order to engage BOP consumers and earn a profit. Marketers should also cater to BOP consumers’ needs in order to foster strong and enduring relationships.

The article analyzes innovation communications (InCo) as a factor for the innovation networks development. It is shown that the necessity to use InCo practice is due to the complexity of processes in high-tech sectors and the relevance of the development of appropriate organizational and economic tools for marketing relations. The main goals of the innovation networks development are determined. In the context of the study of factors for the innovation networks development, the role of relationship marketing, which involves the constructing long-term mutually beneficial relations with key partners of the economic entity, should be noted. It is determined that relationship marketing acts as a tool for practical implementation of the concept of joint creation of value in modern institutional forms of interaction in the innovation system (innovation networks, in particular virtual, international clusters, alliances, etc.). It was emphasized that in order to achieve the network aspect of innovation development of the economy, it is necessary to use models of open innovation, that is, combining efforts of economic entities in the scientific and technical field and exchange of operating results. The main communication problems, which cause the blocking of innovation development are determined. The analysis made it possible to distinguish between the groups of methods and mechanisms that are most often considered in the InCo practice. InCo practices are considered in terms of the possibility of organizing and self-regulating systems.