International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

Energy efficiency is an important part of the EU’s ambition to transition to a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. Greater energy efficiency will be needed in the future if the EU is to achieve this goal. All sectors of the economy have the potential to contribute to energy efficiency. Consistent energy management helps organisations realise untapped energy efficiency potential. In this way, they will benefit from cost savings and make a significant contribution to protecting the environment and climate by reducing harmful emissions and carbon footprints. This study aims to analyse the potential opportunities for businesses to realise savings, gain competitive advantages and achieve sustainable development and a positive image.

In today’s business environment, companies need to take responsibility for their actions and their impact on stakeholders. The company-society relationship must be reciprocal.In this report, we consider implementing innovations in SMEs doing business in Bulgaria, the performance of CSR in practice and whether there is an understanding of the relationship between them. The theory is illustrated by data from an empirical study of 300 companies by the report’s author.

Aviation integration is seen as a process of rapprochement and unification in the air transport industry. Conducting a study of the common aviation area of the European Union. Today there is a common transport policy in the EU. Its goal is to provide market conditions and a competitive basis for airlines. The analysis of competition in the market of air transportation of Ukraine is carried out. The main flights passing through Ukraine are singled out. The shortcomings of Ukrainian airlines in the international market have been identified. It is concluded that the air transport industry in Ukraine is still underdeveloped. Ukraine’s accession to the Free Sky of Europe has advantages. Strategic directions of development of the air transportation market of Ukraine are determined

With transition to the 21st century, there are radical changes that influence on every aspect of the business, including how goods and services are produced. With the launch of Internet and high-speed communication, the market has indeed become global and fragmented. Customers require smaller quantities and more personalized products. Traditional production, with its broad approach and static organizational style, can no longer compete in global markets. Customers are now looking for more flexibility, shorter delivery times and more diverse products and services. The flexibility of an enterprise makes it possible not only to adapt to the rapidly changing environment but also to the opportunities it provides. The flexible enterprise is able quickly to reorganize its people, management, technology, equipment and operational philosophy to produce products and services tailored to customer needs or new markets. Flexibility is a strategic solution for survival in today’s market conditions. Small and medium-sized enterprises are doomed to operate flexibly.

Social entrepreneurs cleverly combine business techniques and private sector approaches in order to develop solutions to social, cultural, or environmental problems, and do so in a variety of organizations. All European countries need to promote the entrepreneur spirit, to stabilize the institutional and cultural environment for innovations, and to increase the number of socially oriented small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This exploratory approach is focused on SMEs from wine industry, positioned in Plovdiv territorial unit, Bulgaria. It presents opportunities to enrich company’s innovation strategies with a view to increase the share of social enterprises and the motivation of employees and owners to implement “good practices” for social entrepreneurship. This study offers different perspectives for observing the phenomenon social entrepreneurship, opportunities for financing and National policies that are focused on their encouragement.

Innovation is a key component of the development of the economy, the competitiveness of national economies and the high quality of long-term performance. To acquire and maintain competitiveness is strongly dependent today on innovation. For many years innovation related studies concentrated on technological innovation. Although Schumpeter has defined innovation in a broader sence, including market and organizational innovations as well, studies mainly have left out of consideration the economic, managerial and social elements of innovation. During the last 15 to 20 years social innovation has emerged as a major area of studies in innovation. How do all the actors of the economy see it? How does one help each other? We seek answers to these questions in a research on innovation and social innovation in a wider area, from which the present study focuses on social attitudes in technical and social innovation.

The goal of the research is to evaluate the influence of country of origin effect on export of high-tech mechanical engineering products and competitiveness of the machine building enterprises abroad. The article deals with the foreign economic activity of JSC “PA “Ural Optical & Mechanical Plant” named after E.S. Yalamov” – large industrial enterprise of Sverdlovsk region in Russia. The authors use methods of case-study and economic analysis to determine the competitiveness of medical equipment abroad and dependence of export sales on the perception of country brand “made in Russia”. As a result the schemes of subcontracting and production under Private Label Manufacturer for the high-tech machinery with obligatory international certification are offered. These instruments can help to increase the export potential and competitiveness of the Russian machine-building enterprises under the conditions of new industrialization and globalization.

Changes, improvement, and finally the introduction of new solutions (innovations) in every area of the company’s activities, are an important part of its existence on the market. Among the characteristics of modern markets, those associated with dynamism are particularly important. Customers’ preferences and needs, the behavior of competitors are constantly changing. This happens in fact of geographically unrestricted access to products and their suppliers. This is accompanied by the possibility of access to key terms of operating efficiency, including innovation information management. They are (information) the cause of innovation, as well as one of the most important factors affecting the achievement of intended objective. This aim of this article is to analyze the possibilities and desirability of active management in conditions of globalization in terms of information, particularly in terms of efficient innovation management in a changing environment.

From the beginning of the 21st century the industrial activity and potential are key factors of urban development just like geographical location. The aim of this study is to analyse urban development strategies in the light of the fourth Industrial revolution. The first part presents the challenges the cities are facing, and the possible answers: introducing a concept to create Industry 4.0 "ready" urban environment and to build Smart Cities. In addition a theoretical framework of urban development strategies is also introduced. The second part is an analysis of the urban development strategies of two Hungarian automotive-industry cities Kecskemét and Győr based on the above mentioned criteria

The Hannover Fair of 2011 opened a new era in the German industry: this is when Industrie 4.0, was first published. The series of innovations and developments in information and communication technology, which in turn affects the economic players, thus influencing regional competitiveness. Industrie 4.0 is an imagined future, which in my opinion if a direct or indirect was will have a fundamental influence on smart cities and their environments and regions, given that their primary goal is improving the competitiveness of a country. In the thesis I will provide an overview of the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum and the Technisches Universität Wien’s criteria for smart towns. I will establish a statistical correlation between the towns and their countries listed in the two rankings. I will point out how dominant the innovations affecting competitiveness are in these countries and how these may facilitate the implementability of Industrie 4.0. Finally, using cluster analysis I will take a look at the factors that contribute to the cities relative competitiveness.