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The purpose of the chapter is to study the possibility of applying modern intellectual methods and technologies of decision-making for managing complex poorly structured systems.

The methodology of the chapter includes fuzzy cognitive approach, analysis of causal connections, dynamic modeling with application of the impulse processes tools, sustainability analysis of the studied system, and scenarios analysis.

The authors offer fuzzy cognitive approach to modeling the risk management system of commercial Bank POS-loaning processes. The simulated system is represented as a fuzzy-oriented weighted multigraph with a pulse action transmitted through it. The modeling process is implemented in the form of successive execution of the following stages: determining the goal, formation of fuzzy cognitive map, dynamic modeling with application of impulse processes tools, and scenarios analysis of development situation and selection the best.

The developed model of management system is a basis for analyzing the tendencies of various situations development that appear during work of banks in the express loaning segment. It allows forecasting and modeling the strategies of behavior as a reaction to external influences and to determine trajectories of management that allow reducing the internal risks of commercial Bank POS-loaning processes. Fuzzy cognitive approach is an effective tool for decision support during risk management in activities of a commercial bank and could be used for modeling and analysis of functioning and other poorly structured socioeconomic systems.

The purpose of the chapter is to study possible approaches to determining the notion “business system” and to describe possible optimization models of decision-making in modern business systems from the position of these approaches.

The methodology of the research includes systemic analysis, discrete event approach in simulation modeling, modeling of complex hierarchical system on the basis of turning criteria into a generalized indicator with the help of functional Kolmogorov mean, and mathematical tools of the Theory of games.

The authors study possible variants of modeling of business systems from the position of various approaches: commercial, practice-oriented, and organizational. Within the commercial approach to defining the notion “business system,” the discrete event approach to simulation modeling on the basis of Markov chains was compiled. A model of starting a certain new commodity in sales was compiled for determining the long-term strategy in the market. Within the practice-oriented approach, evaluation of effectiveness of personal as a component of business system is modeled. Within the organizational approach, two competing companies are modeled on the basis of the positional game.

Finding the optimization model of decision-making in modern business systems is impossible without of the system approach – that is, without considering possible definitions of the term “business system” and compiling the corresponding models. Only the systemic approach will allow for objective and comprehensive modeling of behavior of business systems. The offered methodologies will allow modeling evaluation of the current state of business system, changes of the system in dynamics, and its relations with other business systems.

We replicate and extend the social history treatment of the Berg, Dickhaut, and McCabe (1995) investment game, to further document how the reporting of financial history influences how laboratory societies organize themselves over time. We replicate Berg et al. (1995) by conducting a No History and a Financial History session to determine whether a report summarizing the financial transactions of a previous experimental session will significantly reduce entropy in the amounts sent by Investors and returned by Stewards in the investment game, as Berg et al. (1995) found. We extend Berg et al. (1995) in two ways. First, we conduct a total of five sessions (one No History and four Financial History sessions). Second, we introduce Shannon’s (1948) measure of entropy from information theory to assess whether the introduction of financial transaction history reduces the amount of dispersion in the amounts invested and returned across generations of players. Results across sessions indicate that entropy declined in both the amounts sent by Investors and the percentage returned by Stewards, but these patterns are weaker and mixed compared to those in the Berg et al. (1995) study. Additional research is needed to test how initial conditions, path dependencies, actors’ strategic reasoning about others’ behavior, multiple sessions, and communication may mediate the impact of financial history. The study’s multiple successive Financial History sessions and entropy measure are new to the investment game literature.

The efficient distribution of bank notes is a first-order responsibility of central banks. The authors study the distribution patterns of bank notes with an administrative dataset from the Bank of Canada’s Currency Inventory Management Strategy. The single note inspection procedure generates a sample of 900 million bank notes in which the authors can trace the length of the stay of a bank note in the market. The authors define the duration of the bank note circulation cycle as beginning on the date the bank note is first shipped by the Bank of Canada to a financial institution and ending when it is returned to the Bank of Canada. In addition, the authors provide information regarding where the bank note is shipped and later received, as well as the physical fitness of the bank note upon return to the Bank of Canada’s distribution centers. K–prototype clustering classifies bank notes into types. A hazard model estimates the duration of bank note circulation cycles based on their clusters and characteristics. An adaptive elastic net provides an algorithm for dimension reduction. It is found that while the distribution of the duration is affected by fitness measures, their effects are negligible when compared with the influence exerted by the clusters related to bank note denominations.

The goal of this chapter is to analyse the decisions of the Croatian Competition Agency in the field of grocery retail mergers in the 2004–2009 period. In particular, various criteria used by the Competition Agency to evaluate grocery retail mergers are identified and discussed.

Using the comparative approach the author attempts to detect the relevant sources for certain solutions embraced by the Competition Agency by examining especially the relevant practice of the European Commission as well as relevant decisions adopted by some competition authorities in EU member states.

The grocery retail market in Croatia has seen a flurry of mergers since 2004 with the largest competitor spreading to various local markets. For the Croatian competition authority this merger wave has perhaps been the biggest challenge since its inception. In the face of growing market concentration, the authority saw fit to shift from initially providing green light to duly notified transactions to subsequently addressing serious competition concerns by ordering a number of remedies. The Croatian competition authority relied extensively on EU acquis when deciding on specific merger cases, especially as regards the relevant market definition.

The value of the chapter is reflected in the fact that this kind of comparative analysis of Croatian merger cases in the field of grocery retail mergers was not available before. It is especially in the light of the accession of Croatia to the EU, as foreseen on 1 July 2013, that this kind of study becomes useful both for domestic but also EU audience.

Resurgent interest in the life and work of the Italian Cambridge economist Piero Sraffa is leading to New Directions in Sraffa Scholarship. This chapter introduces readers to some of these developments. First and perhaps foremost is the fact that as of September 2016 Sraffa’s archival material has been uploaded onto the website of the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge University, as digital colour images; this chapter introduces readers to the history of these events. This history provides sharp relief on the extant debates over the role of the archival material in leading to the final publication of Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, and readers are provided a brief sketch of these matters. The varied nature of Sraffa scholarship is demonstrated by the different aspects of Sraffa’s intellectual legacy which are developed and discussed in the various entries of our Symposium. The conclusion is reached that we are on the cusp of an exciting phase change of tremendous potential in Sraffa scholarship.