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The purpose of this paper is to study winemaking efficiency with the help of international performance benchmarking and to finding ways for its improvement.

In this research, three models of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and other tools of international performance benchmarking are used to analyse the efficiency of wine companies. Return to scale (RTS) and scale efficiency, labour and capital productivity and some other indicators are examined. The research is based on a sample of 36 wine companies from 15 countries.

International benchmarking expands performance improvement for domestic companies. The most efficient wine companies are originated from Germany, USA and New Zeeland. Scale inefficiency and increasing RTS for most of the wine companies was identified. Only three wine companies have decreasing RTS (those from UK, Australia and France). To increase relative efficiency, these companies need to reduce the output and sales as their costs are growing faster than the revenues. A huge potential for cost reduction and efficiency growth within Ukrainian wine companies was revealed.

The research is limited to a single industry. This is explained by the requirement of technology (product, service) homogeneity while using DEA tools.

Study results include the data and recommendations to develop winemaking. These results can be used by wine companies’ management, present and potential investors and proprietors, regulative public authority, e.g. to improve efficiency in winemaking.

This is the first paper that adapts various DEA models to measure efficiency in the wine industry of Ukraine and the tools of international performance benchmarking for wine companies around the world.

In this work, we study the investment processes in the digital economy, which includes determining the specifics of foreign direct investments (FDIs) under the conditions of digital technologies' development and substantiating the key directions and tendencies of investing from the positions of strategies of business integration and digital technologies' development.

This research is based on the multidisciplinary approach, which covers strategic management, investing, the theory of digital economy etc. The chapter combines the theoretical developments of these disciplines and presents them in the context of substantiation of the processes of using foreign direct investments as the tools of the business integration strategy. The proposed methodology allows generalising the view of the studied processes from the position of the digital economy, determining its structure; describing the key directions of development and investing; establishing the specifics of the use of FDI by transnational corporations; substantiating important directions for further processes.

It is revealed that foreign direct investments are not only the important factors in economic systems' development but also the effective tools for the integration of international business through the common use of the potential of parent and subsidiary companies for the reduction of transaction costs, an increase of profit etc. It is substantiated that the character of direct investing in the digital economy is different from the similar processes in the industrial system due to the non-material character of assets and their connection to the Internet. Based on this, implementing the investment strategy in the digital economy, transnational corporations offer access to technologies, ensure technological modernisation and facilitate the achievement of other indirect effects, which are less aimed at the increase in material assets. These processes lead to a change in the balance of revenues compared to the cost of material assets that are invested in the receiving market or subsidiary company. The indicator of such a ratio is the indicator ‘FDI lightness’. A high value of this indicator is a sign of the large perspectives of a company in the sphere of international activities.

The specifics of FDI in the digital economy are determined, the key directions of such activities are described, and the peculiarities and differences of investing in the digital economy are shown.

The purpose of the research is to develop a universal mechanism of highly effective decision-making in modern business systems in any business environment.

The methods of logical analysis, modeling of managerial processes, and formalization are used.

A universal mechanism of highly effective decision-making in modern business systems is developed – it could be applied in any business environment and any business system. The mechanism is based on the interactive algorithm of decision-making in modern business systems that allows adapting the process of decision-making to the current situation in the business system and the business environment in view of the changing complexity of problems and criteria of optimality of managerial decisions. The tools of implementing the mechanism are outsource, mediation, and intellectual support for managerial decisions. These tools are used as an addition to traditional tools – organizational structure, organizational culture, and leadership. The result of implementing the developed mechanism is high probability of making of optimal managerial decisions and supporting sustainability and stability of the business system.

The developed mechanism of highly effective decision-making in modern business systems allows selecting the best model of decision-making depending on current needs and possibilities of the business system instead of following one selected model in all situations. That is, the key advantage of this mechanism is its interactive character, which ensures high flexibility of the process of making of managerial decisions together with sustainability of the business system.