Strategic planning in universities: a case of Ukraine

In this present age of globalization, the logistics and transportation industry has become an integral part of most businesses/firms as it is aimed at ensuring the effective movement of people, distribution of goods and services from one location to another on time. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the logistics and transportation sectors. The qualitative research approach was adopted using analysis and synthesis of scientific literature, data from news reports, organizational sites, and a case study of data contents. The paper presented the analysis of negative and positive effects of COVID-19 on the logistics and transportation industry. The study also discusses possible strategies and further steps for improvement of the logistics and transportation sector, including the automation and introduction of other technologies, a sustainable and flexible transportation system, cooperation of logistics and transportation business. Findings regarding the positive implications of COVID-19 show noticeable advancements in the logistics and transportation sector, such as the rise of e-commerce businesses with efficient delivery options, and the development of 3rd party logistics services as more companies outsource supply chain operations. The study revealed the importance of strategic planning with a joint effort from the research centers, public sector, private sector, and educational institutions as one of the proposed solutions for the logistics and transportation industry.

The article deals with eSports as a perspective kind of commercial activity. The research urgency is determined by the fact that, given the active increase of eSports market with growth rates of more than 30% per year, the types of commercial activities in this field and in scientific papers are not studied in an adequate degree.

The purpose of the article is to evaluate the commercial activity development in eSports and to determine the perspectives for its further growth in Ukraine. In order to determine the key types of commercial activity in eSports, the main sources of revenue in this area compared to sports were investigated, which showed a large unrealized potential for increasing revenues from the sale of tickets to competitions, the realization of broadcasting rights and merchandising. The study also showed that the largest number of income sources in eSports is at the stage of cyber-tournaments, which can be explained by a large consumer audience at this stage. However, unlike the esports world practice, computer game producers and well-known manufacturers of consumer goods in Ukraine do not finance domestic competitions, and, therefore, this stage of commercial activity remains at a low level. In modern conditions, among the types of eSports activities in Ukraine, only the computer games production and the cyber-racers game are properly developed.

According to authors, to improve the eSports development in Ukraine, creating the national system of regular eSports competitions is needed, which will form the basis for the development of most types of commercial activities that are part of the cyber-tournaments. To do this, one needs to create appropriate platforms, as well as improve communications with fans in social networks and at amateur competitions. All this will make eSports a highly profitable business in Ukraine.

The modern concept of open innovation highlights the role of technology transfer from universities to the business environment. An increase in technology transfer efficiency is one of the tasks assigned to Ukrainian universities by the state. The nature of technology transfers in the world and the role of universities in this process call for revising traditional approaches to its production in Ukraine. This stipulated the substantiation of theoretical and methodological principles of technology transfer from universities to the business environment, which should serve as a fundamental platform for further economic, technological and other actions in the innovation development of Ukraine. For this purpose, the modern theoretical and applied components of technology transfer from universities to the business environment are researched; the theoretical and methodological principles of technology transfer are determined and the conceptual approach to understanding technology transfer from universities to the business environment is proved. To achieve the tasks at hand, the background and trends in technology transfer from universities to the business environment have been researched; the role of universities in modern technology transfers is analyzed; the peculiarities and potential of the scientific area of Ukraine are considered; the influence of university technology transfer centers on the universities’ academic entrepreneurship has been studied; the nature of knowledge transformation during the technology transfer is substantiated; the influence of technology transfer on the university subsystems is considered; the effects of technology transfer are investigated; models of interaction in the system “University – Governmental Authority – Business” are studied; and modern approaches to the technology transfer from universities to the business environment are researched. Given the research conducted, theoretical and methodological principles for technology transfer were formed, which conceptualize the technology transfer from universities to the business environment.