Volumen 45 (2022): Edición 3 (October 2022)

The purpose of this article is to indicate, based on publications in the field of ‘dysfunctional customer behaviour’, the items most often cited and essential for the researchers who cite them, as well as to introduce the topics and their relationships that represent the conceptual space of ‘dysfunctional customer behaviour’. The indicated objective will be realised on the basis of selected bibliometric analyses. A set of 74 items resulting from searches in two databases-Web of Science and Scopus-were used for the analyses. Based on the created database of publications in the area of ‘dysfunctional customer behaviour’, three analyses were carried out: citations, co-citations and co-occurrence of words. The results of the bibliometric analyses made it possible to identify the group of most frequently cited publications, isolate those that are important to the citing researchers, and approximate the topics and their relationships that represent the conceptual space of ‘dysfunctional customer behaviour’.

Running is one of the most popular methods of spending time in active form in the world. The vast majority of managers who organise runs are former or actual runners. It is interesting to note that more men are leaders of teams which organise running events, while women as leaders are very rare. The main purpose of the research was to find the influence of sex of leader on the style of leadership, decision process and atmosphere in team. The author of this article conducted quality research using individual deep interview method. Data were collected from 23 individual deep interviews with managers of big running events organised in Poland, and 14 with the members of their teams. Currently, effective leaders should have competences different than what were prevalent 20–30 years ago. More important is, for example, emotional intelligence, empathy and interpersonal skills. Organisations operating in the amateur sport market have to build networking with many partners from the public and business sector, so leaders should concentrate on cooperating with stakeholders representing different expectations. Competences that women possess over men are required. Unlike other industries, in the running market there are very few women as leaders. Several reasons abound for this, some of which include economic and sociological grounds.

This paper attempts to present a method for determining the level of goal achievement corresponding to a marketing strategy formulated for a new product launched in a competitive market. The research method used in this paper is a literature review in the area of new product development (NPD) and marketing strategy. The obtained scientific results indicate the importance of measurement of the effects of a new product strategy and provide various new metrics in this field. In practice, the author proposes useful indicators to measure the effects of a new product strategy in competitive markets. Given the economic and marketing implications of the study, its originality concerns the results that provide the basis for the improvement of company’s efforts in effect measurement of a new product strategy and also marketing strategy in competitive markets. The present paper contains an overview of scientific works about new product competitiveness, and also proposes a modification of the method used to measure new product competitiveness on the marketplace. The research contribution to marketing sciences primarily includes the formulation of a set of real rates to measure success or fail rate of a new product strategy in a competitive market. The novelty of the research lies in the approach used to obtain quantitative parameters for evaluation of market competitiveness of a new product in various industries.

The concern for the condition of the natural environment requires taking a new approach towards consumption and meeting consumer needs (Bocking 2009). Despite many initiatives related to the paradigm of sustainable development and the concept of sustainable consumption, the situation is still far from a general departure from mass consumption and consumerism. The article aims to try to synthetically organise the views of other authors on the challenges of greening consumption, both for enterprises and consumers in the context of social responsibility. Competences play an important role in this process. The greening of consumption has not yet been widely propagated in societies, including also Polish society. One of the crucial elements of greening consumption is the purchase of ecological/organic food products. To learn about the behaviour of Poles towards the issue discussed in this article, the authors conducted a study on a representative sample of Poles (N = 1,000) during Nov. 15–27, 2021, using the Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) technique (which is an online surveying technique that fits into the quantitative methodology of market and opinion research) and online panels as part of the omnibus study. The survey shows that only 7.1% of the respondents have never purchased ecological/organic food products. Among buyers, 21.8% do it rarely/sporadically, 40.1% occasionally/sometimes, 20.2% often/try to choose ecological products when shopping and 10.8% do it very often or always. Among the respondents, 55.3% declared that ecological/organic products are expensive but still worth the price due to the health benefits they bring. Noticing the advantages of these products, 63.7% of respondents would like to buy more of them. In view of the results obtained, it can be said that it is necessary to disseminate the main greening consumption ideas that are apparent from this study, and this can be done through education, building consumer competences or visualising the effects of the continuation of current consumption habits. The problem of protecting the natural environment, discussed in numerous documents issued by governments and international organisations and in scientific publications, cannot remain unnoticed. Greening consumption is a challenge for companies whose production should be rational in using non-renewable natural resources, reducing or eliminating toxic waste, using recyclable packaging and introducing ‘clean production’ principles aimed at obtaining consumer products using more cost-effective and healthier methods. It is also a challenge for consumers, who should replace perishable goods with products with a longer life cycle, consume goods and services more sparingly and cease to accept planned obsolescence of products or unethical behaviour of enterprises towards their employees.

The study aimed to conclude on the up-to-date state of the organisational ecology theory concerning relations between organisational ageing and organisational ecology, enhanced by social and ecological systems and ecological management. The applied method included analytical and reflective concluding, based on the synthesis of findings from a critical literature review. It was concluded that: (i) organisational ageing generates some of the most important consequences in organisational ecology; however, there is still no consensus on what kind of consequences prevail; (ii) at population level, the adaptation of organisational structures occurs with the replacement of old organisations that fail to adapt by the new ones; (iii) under the prevalent backdrop of radical structural and strategic changes, individual organisations are subject to inertial forces and thus are confronted with limitations to their success; (iv) ageing has positive consequences for innovative activities of older companies; and (v) the higher the density and concentration of industry, the higher the rates of founding firms and the lower the rates of mortality.

The study aimed to analyse selected aspects of innovative activities of enterprises in Poland in 2016–2020. The article is based on literature studies, using a query of scientific publications and statistical analyses of data published by Statistics Poland and the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (PORP) for 2016–2020. Findings show that in 2016–2020 the number of innovative industrial and service enterprises that primarily implemented innovations in business processes was increasing. The innovations included, in particular, processes of manufacturing products in industrial enterprises, as well as external and internal communication in service enterprises. Although the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic did not affect the activities of the majority of surveyed companies significantly, the changes in the functioning of those impacted by COVID-19 caused a more frequent implementation of innovations in business processes than in the product processes. Innovative activities conducted in enterprises were financed mainly from own funds, including internal outlays for innovative activities of enterprises and funds obtained from government and local government institutions, most often used by the entrepreneurs to purchase fixed assets. The smallest share of outlays was allocated to the protection of intellectual property in enterprises, which is undoubtedly one of the most often underestimated areas determining effective protection of innovations in enterprises.