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The purpose of the study is to examine the research problem that represents an attempt to approximate the importance of quality costing in managing a modern enterprise using the selected enterprises from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Poland.

The primary goal of the research is a need to acquire knowledge about the use of quality cost accounts in enterprises operating in Poland. The research has been conducted in the SMEs of production and services. From October 2018 to December 2018, survey-based research was carried out in the selected SMEs of production and service in Poland. The targeted participants of the study are from the medium-sized enterprises, employing 50–250 people.

The pilot studies conducted in companies indicate that modern enterprises are focused on quality. Many enterprises declare to be continuously improving quality system and quality costing. However, generally, these are large companies that have implemented ISO standards, often part of international corporations. The survey result of the study shows that medium-sized enterprises still make little use of modern cost accounting variants. Based on the study, only 9.75% (39 enterprises) from a representative group of 400 companies from the sectors of manufacturing, services and production as well as service companies apply quality costing. Some of the other enterprises are only taking measures to implement quality cost accounting.

The research has been conducted in randomly selected SMEs in the form of a questionnaire interview. In order to further analyze the construction of quality cost management (QCM) systems and the use of information from QCM by enterprises, case study method should be used more widely.

The results of the study provide useful help for companies that are quality-oriented and want to implement quality costing. The survey has been conducted in 400 enterprises, and the survey results of considered SMEs reveal the most important aspects of the application of quality costing.

The questionnaire used, the answers provided and the resulting conclusions fill the identified research gap. In the author's opinion, findings of research are relevant and useful, not only for accounting practice but also for theory. They show that although TQM and quality costing have been very popular in the literature since the 1990s, the degree of application of quality costing in practice (except for large, often international companies) is too low. So, the suitability of QCM in managing a modern enterprise from the SMEs should be promoted.

This research analyzes the development of logistics outsourcing market in two countries, Estonia and Finland, with different paths as members of the single European market. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the two markets have become more similar or whether their logistics costs and logistics markets have developed differently over time.

The development of the logistics market is addressed through two survey-based variables. Logistics costs are used to measure the size of the logistics market, whereas logistics outsourcing is analyzed to measure the development phase as well as the market potential for logistics service provision.

Estonian logistics outsourcing market was found to be underdeveloped and small compared to the Finnish market. At the same time, the logistics costs of Finnish companies are high and rising, whereas the costs of Estonian firms are declining.

The results imply that the level of outsourcing might explain the visibility of logistics costs, which should be taken into account when making estimates on logistics costs both at the firm as well as on country level.

Logistics sector is an important source of national competitiveness and employment. This research identifies subareas for the two countries on how to develop competitiveness through the logistics market.

This research provides a unique method to estimate the size of logistics outsourcing market in these two countries. It also represents as one of the rare works to provide multiyear comparison between countries in logistics costs.

This paper aims to explore the international response to the discovery and development of gas fields in the East Mediterranean basin.

The study applies key concepts into a framework and explores the strategies used by nations for developing their influence in the region.

The key nation states (the USA and Russia) and the supranational EU are notable in their divergent approaches to obtaining access to and influence regarding the gas fields.

The development of the strategies used by the international rivals for access to the resources available from the offshore oil fields is set to be an area for further study.

This paper offers insight into a developing rivalry over energy security, which will a platform for further investigation throughout the exploitation of the “New Gulf” gas fields.

This study aims to examine whether insourcing of processes pays off and verifies key hypotheses regarding the financial ratios of organisations.

This paper randomly selects and then surveys 1996 organisations, of which 9.5% (190) stated that they used insourcing, 1.9% (37) made a decision to implement insourcing in the near future and 88.6% did not use insourcing. Then, for available firm data (100 insourcing firms and 100 firms without it), the financial statements of the surveyed companies were obtained to compare the most important financial ratios. The financial situation was compared at four-time points. The mean and median values of individual indicators were compared with the significance of relevant statistical tests.

A U-shaped curve of financial results in the time of enterprises that implemented insourcing and reverse U-shaped curve for enterprises that did not have insourcing are seen. Thus, the insourcing of processes pays off in the long run.

Limitations exist in the generalisation of the results obtained, due to the limited number of samples qualified for analyses (limited reliable financial data).

The research highlights the importance of effective insourcing projects in the long term.

This study is the first to quantify the financial performance of companies that have used insourcing in comparison with a reference group. This paper defines insourcing and contributes to the growing number of studies on insourcing by bringing attention to the financial outcomes in the long run.

Globalization and the importance of emerging markets have increased the pressure of high-cost manufacturing locations to sustain operations. However, there are still some countries in which manufacturing is prospering despite high costs (like Germany, Sweden and Switzerland). This study examines seven competitive priorities through 24 different capabilities, using a case survey of four manufacturing companies located in Sweden. This study aims to develop a contemporary understanding from vital priorities and capabilities.

A case survey was conducted in four different-sized manufacturing companies in Sweden during the autumn of 2018. In total, the survey attracted 89 responses. Respondents were mainly middle managers and other management team members.

In general, companies assess the importance of manufacturing capabilities higher than performance and improvement. The authors’ analysis shows that quality priority through product and process capabilities is ranked highest in terms of importance, performance and improvement. In addition, delivery capability shows a similarity with quality. At the other end, being lowest ranked are typically different flexibility and advertising capabilities. This study demonstrates with correlation analysis that most often capabilities have a positive correlation in terms of their importance, performance and improvement needs. Some capabilities show potential correlations across importance, performance and improvement.

This research is limited to one high-cost environment and to four companies within that environment. Further research should examine the impact of the pandemic era on manufacturing priorities and capabilities.

In general, case surveys have relatively rarely been used in management studies. This research offers an alternative and deeper perspective from high-cost country manufacturing, as the responses are from numerous persons in management positions.

Background: Rising food bank usage in the UK suggests a growing prevalence of food insecurity. However, a formalised, representative measure of food insecurity was not collected in the UK until 2019, over a decade after the initial proliferation of food bank demand. In the absence of a direct measure of food insecurity, this article identifies and summarises longitudinal proxy indicators of UK food insecurity to gain insight into the growth of insecure access to food in the 21st century.

Methods: A rapid evidence synthesis of academic and grey literature (2005–present) identified candidate proxy longitudinal markers of food insecurity. These were assessed to gain insight into the prevalence of, or conditions associated with, food insecurity.

Results: Food bank data clearly demonstrates increased food insecurity. However, this data reflects an unrepresentative, fractional proportion of the food insecure population without accounting for mild/moderate insecurity, or those in need not accessing provision. Economic indicators demonstrate that a period of poor overall UK growth since 2005 has disproportionately impacted the poorest households, likely increasing vulnerability and incidence of food insecurity. This vulnerability has been exacerbated by welfare reform for some households. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically intensified vulnerabilities and food insecurity. Diet-related health outcomes suggest a reduction in diet quantity/quality. The causes of diet-related disease are complex and diverse; however, evidence of socio-economic inequalities in their incidence suggests poverty, and by extension, food insecurity, as key determinants.

Conclusion: Proxy measures of food insecurity suggest a significant increase since 2005, particularly for severe food insecurity. Proxy measures are inadequate to robustly assess the prevalence of food insecurity in the UK. Failure to collect standardised, representative data at the point at which food bank usage increased significantly impairs attempts to determine the full prevalence of food insecurity, understand the causes, and identify those most at risk.

A boom in e-commerce in Korea has sparked off high daily-volume demand for small-sized home delivery services, which poses a great challenge to distribution networks, especially in urban areas where traffic congestion, accessibility, and pollution are serious problems. In addition, security issues for people who live in small townhouses and detached houses without security systems and guards have received increasing attention from the government and society. Thus, the introduction of a new alternative for home delivery services, unmanned parcel lockers, is urgent for residents living in these areas. This paper examines and compares potential socio-economic impacts in terms of costs and benefits when such lockers are installed at selected locations in residential areas. The results show that this policy is worthy of adoption, with several undeniable benefits to local communities. In addition, sensitivity analyses estimate the economic performance of this project at different social discount rates, and they check the sensitivity of economic performance based on variations in the variables. The value of travel time savings was identified as a critical and dominating factor directly affecting economic performance.

This study aims to provide evidence of how budget officers use non-financial and accrual-based cost information in the budgeting process and how the usage of this information is influenced by financial constraints.

A randomized survey-based field experiment investigating budget officers in 546 Japanese local governments (LGs) was conducted. This allowed us to identify the budget officers' decision-making in the public sector budgeting process by creating and analyzing primary data with regression models.

We found that budget officers suppress budget amounts based on non-financial information of good performances. Under fiscal constraints, officers further reduce budget amounts using information on high accrual-based costs and poor non-financial performance.

Our survey-based field experiment allowed us to obtain primary data from officers making budget decisions. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence that non-financial good and poor performance information and accrual-based cost information affect budget officers' decision-making under financial constrain.

The objective of this paper is to propose a methodology to estimate the benefits and costs of stakeholder engagement (SE). Indeed, in the transport sector, it is consolidated that a good decision-making process foresees the involvement of the main stakeholders, but what are the benefits and costs of the SE? How to quantify these impacts and explicitly take them into account in a cost-benefit analysis? In this paper, an attempt to answer these questions is provided.

In this paper, a methodology is proposed to estimate the benefits and costs of SE. Moreover, the proposed methodology is applied to a case study with an attempt to identify direct and indirect cost and benefit drivers within the context.

A range of examples of the monetary costs and benefits of SE is provided through the case study of the high-speed rail corridor connecting Bari and Naples in Italy.

Limits in quantifying all the aspects of engagement.

To be adopted by public administrations when deciding whether carrying out a project.

Social inclusion is a must in any decision-making process concerning big projects affecting the community.

The original value of this paper is to provide a contribution to the current literature on the quantitative representation of the impacts of SE. Indeed, a methodology to quantify and monetize the costs and benefits of SE is proposed.

This paper aims to focus on scrutinizing the economics of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Vietnam's rice production sector.

Using surveyed data from household rice producers, the smallest available production scale, the author delves into the economics of GHG emissions, constructs a data-driven bottom-up marginal abatement cost curve for Vietnam’s rice production, and evaluates the impacts of carbon pricing on production outputs and GHG emissions.

The author’s estimates reveal that the average profit earned per tonne of GHG emissions is $240/tCO2. Notably, the profit earning per tonne of GHG emissions varies substantially across producers, indicating significant opportunities for improvement among low-efficiency producers. The analysis suggests that a reasonable carbon price would yield a modest impact on the national rice output. The quantitative analysis also reaffirms that the primary driver of GHG emissions in Vietnam’s rice production stems from non-energy inputs and industrial processes rather than the utilisation of energy inputs, emphasizing the importance of improving cultivation techniques.

This research is original.