Vol.50, No 3 (2017)

Blaž Rodič

Faculty of information studies, Ljubljanska cesta 31A, Novo mesto, Slovenia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The aim of this paper is to present the influence of Industry 4.0 on the development of the new simulation modelling paradigm, embodied by the Digital Twin concept, and examine the adoption of the new paradigm via a multiple case study involving real-life R/D cases involving academia and industry. Design: We introduce the Industry 4.0 paradigm, presents its background, current state of development and its influence on the development of the simulation modelling paradigm. Further, we present the multiple case study methodology and examine several research and development projects involving automated industrial process modelling, presented in recent scientific publications and conclude with lessons learned. Results: We present the research problems and main results from five individual cases of adoption of the new simulation modelling paradigm. Main lesson learned is that while the new simulation modelling paradigm is being adopted by big companies and SMEs, there are significant differences depending on company size in problems that they face, and the methodologies and technologies they use to overcome the issues. Conclusion: While the examined cases indicate the acceptance of the new simulation modelling paradigm in the industrial and scientific communities, its adoption in academic environment requires close cooperation with industry partners and diversification of knowledge of researchers in order to build integrated, multi-level models of cyber-physical systems. As shown by the presented cases, lack of tools is not a problem, as the current generation of general purpose simulation modelling tools offers adequate integration options.

Tadeja Jere Jakulin

Faculty of Tourism Studies – TURISTICA, Obala 11, 6320 Portorož, Slovenia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The complexity of the tourism system, as well as modelling in a frame of system dynamics, will be discussed in this paper. The phaenomenon of tourism, which possesses the typical properties of global and local organisations, will be presented as an open complex system with all its elements, and an optimal methodology to explain the relations among them. The approach we want to present is due to its transparency an excellent tool for searching systems solutions and serves also as a strategic decision-making assessment. We will present systems complexity and develop three models of a complex tourism system: the first one will present tourism as an open complex system with its elements, which operate inside of a tourism market area. The elements of this system present subsystems, which relations and interdependencies will be explained with two models: causal-loop diagram and a simulation model in frame of systems dynamics. Design/methodology/approach: Systems methodology will be shown as the appropriate one, when we discuss complex systems challenges. For illustration, systems approach and systems methodology will be applied to tourism models. With building a qualitative causal-loop diagram we will describe the tourism system complexity in forms of system’s elements relations. Mutual influences among the elements will be presented with positive and negative loops, which forms circles of reinforcement and balance. This will help us to discuss the problem categorically. The final model will follow the causal-loop diagram. This will be a simulation model in a frame of system dynamics as an illustration of the discussed methodology. Results: The methodology offers the solution of effective and holistic promotion of complex tourism system transformation, which has the potential to go beyond the myth of sustainable tourism and create significant shifts in the approach and acting of the participants (elements of the system) involved. Systems approach brings to tourism and the society, in general, broader dimensions of thinking, the awareness interdependency, interconnectivity, and responsibility for the behaviour of a system, which can be observed by feedback loops. Conclusions: Findings about meaningfulness of systems thinking presented in the paper, are rarely presented to tourism society systemically and with the aim of designing sustainable complex tourism system. They show new approach, systems awareness and teaches thinking “out of the box”. Consequently, the sustainable behaviour is achieved: tourism supply and demand meet on responsible base and they connect to responsible stakeholders.

Marko Bohanec

Salvirt, Ltd, Dunajska 136, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Marko Robnik-Šikonja

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Večna pot 113, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Mirjana Kljajić Borštnar

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The process of business to business (B2B) sales forecasting is a complex decision-making process. There are many approaches to support this process, but mainly it is still based on the subjective judgment of a decision-maker. The problem of B2B sales forecasting can be modeled as a classification problem. However, top performing machine learning (ML) models are black boxes and do not support transparent reasoning. The purpose of this research is to develop an organizational model using ML model coupled with general explanation methods. The goal is to support the decision-maker in the process of B2B sales forecasting. Design/Methodology/Approach: Participatory approach of action design research was used to promote acceptance of the model among users. ML model was built following CRISP-DM methodology and utilizes R software environment. Results: ML model was developed in several design cycles involving users. It was evaluated in the company for several months. Results suggest that based on the explanations of the ML model predictions the users’ forecasts improved. Furthermore, when the users embrace the proposed ML model and its explanations, they change their initial beliefs, make more accurate B2B sales predictions and detect other features of the process, not included in the ML model. Conclusions: The proposed model promotes understanding, foster debate and validation of existing beliefs, and thus contributes to single and double-loop learning. Active participation of the users in the process of development, validation, and implementation has shown to be beneficial in creating trust and promotes acceptance in practice.

Črtomir Rozman

University of Maribor, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Pivola 11, 2311 Hoče, Slovenia

Andrej Škraba

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia

Karmen Pažek

University of Maribor, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Pivola 11, 2311 Hoče, Slovenia

Davorin Kofjač

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the principles of the development of parallel system-dynamics and agent-based models of organic farming for the case of Slovenia. The advantage of agent-based modeling is demonstrated by including geospatial information as an agent attribute. The models were compared by the validation, confirming the appropriate level of similarity. Design/Methodology/Approach: Both system-dynamics and agent-based modeling approaches were applied. Statistical methods were used in the validation. Results: The results of the validation confirm the appropriateness of the proposed agent-based model. Introducing additional attributes into the agent-based model provides an important advantage over the system-dynamics model, which serves as the paradigmatic example. Conclusion: A thorough validation and comparison of the results of the system-dynamics and agent-based models indicates the proper approach to combining the methodologies. This approach is promising, because it enables the modeling of the entire agricultural sector, taking each particular farm into account.

Olena Oliynyk-Dunn

National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Economic Faculty 11 Heroyiv Oborony Street, Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract

Background/Purpose: An effective financial system should increase the efficiency of economic activities. This study provides evidence regarding the importance of financial development for agricultural growth in Ukraine. Methodology: We used non-integrated and integral indicators, time series and regression analysis to investigate the link between the financial development and agricultural growth. Results: The results based on integral indicators shows that the financial development does not affect agricultural growth in Ukraine. The study based on non-integrated indicators, which characterizes various aspects of the financial system’s banking component and agricultural growth, provided a significant link between the financial system and agriculture growth. The regression models revealed if bank deposits to GDP (%) increases the value added per worker in agriculture increases exponentially. The results of the study indicate that, agriculture is more sensitive to lending changes than the vast majority of other sectors of the economy. The increasing lending of one UAH resulted in retail turnover growth of 1.62 UAH, while agricultural gross output, growth was UAH 5.06. Conclusion: Our results reveal a positive relationship between financial system’s banking component and agriculture growth in Ukraine. The results indicate the necessity for continued research into further developing universal methodological approaches of appraising the nexus of the financial system’s banking component on agriculture growth in general as well separate farm groups. The results of our study has important implications on policy making authorities efforts to stimulate agricultural growth by improving the efficiency of the financial system’s banking component.

Kristina Bogataj Habjan

SOLVERA LYNX nove tehnologije za energetiko d.d., Ljubljana, Slovenia

Andreja Pucihar

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kranj, Slovenia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Bringing several opportunities for more effective and efficient IT governance and service exploitation, cloud computing is expected to impact the European and global economies significantly. Market data show that despite many advantages and promised benefits the adoption of cloud computing is not as fast and widespread as foreseen. This situation shows the need for further exploration of the potentials of cloud computing and its implementation on the market. The purpose of this research was to identify individual business model factors with the highest impact on cloud computing adoption. In addition, the aim was to identify the differences in opinion regarding the importance of business model factors on cloud computing adoption according to companies’ previous experiences with cloud computing services. Methodology: Based on literature review, prior research results, and interviews with cloud computing providers and users, a research model was developed. Statistical analysis focused on identification of factors’ importance on cloud computing adoption and differences in opinions according to respondents’ previous experiences with cloud computing services. The study was done among 80 companies and five major cloud computing providers in Slovenia. Results: The research results reveal statistically significant differences in opinions on the importance of cloud computing business model factors according to respondents’ previous experiences with cloud computing services. The results can provide orientation for redesign or innovation of existing business models towards the creation of a customer-oriented business model for the more successful exploitation of cloud computing services and business opportunities. For potential users, the findings represent guidelines for the successful adoption of cloud computing services. Conclusions: In our research, the investigated business model factors could be classified into so-called “business model organizational factors”, as they primarily need to be considered by cloud service providers when defining or innovating their business models. For future research, the model should also include the impact of environmental factors, such as Competition, Business Partners, Legislation, Economic Situation, in order to investigate their impact on cloud adoption.

Polona Šprajc

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidriceva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia

Iztok Podbregar

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidriceva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia

Alenka Brezavšček

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidriceva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Different studies have highlighted health care allocation problems in Slovenia that indicate the increased need for homecare services for the elderly. It was also found that Slovenian municipalities differ dramatically in the availability of elder care services. A number of older people with diverse unmet needs for care remains. Therefore, the need for the establishment of an additional type of formal homecare services for the elderly exists. Design/Methodology/Approach: Although many positive effects of home elder care against institutional care are stressed in the literature, the results of many studies performed in recent years have indicated that accessibility of homecare for elderly in Slovenia remains scarce, and it is not equally accessible throughout the country. To mitigate this problem, a new organizational form called “elder homecare service provider” is indicated. The aim of the provider is to offer a variety of different services for the elderly (e.g. homemaking, social networking, transfer services, basic life needs, basic health services, etc.). The establishment of such an organization needs to be designed carefuly, while the unique characteristics and specific needs of the target population must be addressed to optimize desired outcomes. Results: The aim of the paper is to provide fundamental guidelines for the establishment of elder homecare service provider. All essential characteristics of such an organization are defined. To ensure an appropriate level of service quality, the primarly focus is oriented towards the planning of personnel team capacity. For this purpose, the service provider was described using the stochastic queueing model, which enables service capacity optimization considering different performance measures. The usefulness of the model was illustrated with a numerical example, which has shown that the results obtained provide valuable information for decision support. Conclusion: The establishment of a homecare service provider network would have many positive effects on society in general. The quality of the everyday life of the elderly is expected to be improved considerably, particularly in the rural areas where a lack of institutional care support is reported. Guidelines proposed in the paper together with the quantitave model for planning of its optimal capacity provide useful information, which are especially relevant in the preliminary phase of the establishment of service providers.

Khalid Aboura

University of Dammam, College of Business Administration, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Rami Al-Hmouz

King Abdulaziz University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: We explore the problem of License Plate Recognition (LPR) to highlight a number of algorithms that can be used in image analysis problems. In management support systems using image object recognition, the intelligence resides in the statistical algorithms that can be used in various LPR steps. We describe a number of solutions, from the initial thresholding step to localization and recognition of image elements. The objective of this paper is to present a number of probabilistic approaches in LPR steps, then combine these approaches together in one system. Most LPR approaches used deterministic models that are sensitive to many uncontrolled issues like illumination, distance of vehicles from camera, processing noise etc. The essence of our approaches resides in the statistical algorithms that can accurately localize and recognize license plate. Design/Methodology/Approach: We introduce simple and inexpensive methods to solve relatively important problems, using probabilistic approaches. In these approaches, we describe a number of statistical solutions, from the initial thresholding step to localization and recognition of image elements. In the localization step, we use frequency plate signals from the images which we analyze through the Discrete Fourier Transform. Also, a probabilistic model is adopted in the recognition of plate characters. Finally, we show how to combine results from bilingual license plates like Saudi Arabia plates. Results: The algorithms provide the effectiveness for an ever-prevalent form of vehicles, building and properties management. The result shows the advantage of using the probabilistic approached in all LPR steps. The averaged classification rates when using local dataset reached 79.13%. Conclusion: An improvement of recognition rate can be achieved when there are two source of information especially of license plates that have two independent texts.

Mirjana Kljajić Borštnar

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia

Davorin Kofjač

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia

Andrej Škraba

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia

Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber

Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Abstract

In December 2016, our esteemed colleague, dear friend, mentor and father, Professor Emeritus D.Sc. Miroljub Kljajić, suddenly passed away. This was shocking news for all who knew him as a man full of life, creativity, wisdom, humour, and kindness. Sometimes it felt he was greater than life itself.

Prof. Mirojub Kljajić was born on 4^th November, 1943 in a little village Vražogrnci in the south of Serbia, then Yugoslavia. His childhood was marked by extreme shortages in the post-war Yugoslavia. At the age of 15, dreaming of becoming a pilot and being an outstanding student, he enrolled in the military school, which was the only schooling his family could afford. His harsh childhood experiences marked him for life. He was hard-working, strict to himself and to his colleagues, and never gave up. His thirst for knowledge, especially for the natural and technical sciences, but also profound love for art, drove him to seek possibilities for further studying. After finishing military school, he got his first employment in the army. During that time, serving in different cities (Kraljevo, Belgrade, Split, and Pula), he finished classical gymnasium and enrolled as a part-time student at a remote unit of Visoka tehniška šola (Higher Technical School) of Maribor, in Pula. After graduation he enrolled as a full-time student at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana while still working at the military airport in Pula. In his final year of studies he was placed in Ljubljana, graduated and finally demobilized from the military. He started to work as a postgraduate researcher at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Section for automatics, bio-cybernetics and robotics. He finished his master’s studies under the supervision of Prof. Dr. France Bremšak. In 1973, he obtained his PhD in the field of bio-cybernetics from the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering under the supervision of academician Prof. Dr. Lojze Vodovnik.

In 1976, he started to work half-time at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences and half-time at the Jožef Stefan Institute. Since 2000 he was fully engaged with the Faculty. For many years, he was a chair of the Laboratory for Cybernetics and Decision Support Systems, transferring ideas from the field of automation, cybernetics and robotics to the world of organizational sciences. With his kindness and pedagogical instinct, he attracted and encouraged many excellent young researchers. Besides mentoring many undergraduate and graduate students, he also supervised ten PhD students. His laboratory was always full of vibrant discussions, ideas, and hard work, sometimes, if needed long into the night.

During his long and fruitful research years he published over 100 original scientific papers, 29 in esteemed journals with impact factors. According to the Web of Science his work was cited more than 500 times. Prof. Kljajić’s research interests were very wide and reflected his beliefs that topics are interconnected as in a complex system which he understood at a top level yet with full attention to the fine details.

Prof. Miroljub Kljajić was recognized in renowned international scientific circles and he thus held special symposiums at various international conferences. His most prominent symposium, Simulation Based Decision Support, was held in Baden-Baden, Germany, for many years at the InterSymp conference organized by The International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics. Lately he was a member of the editorial team of the journal Organizacija and a co-founder and editor of the International Journal of Information Technologies and Systems Approach. His meticulous research eye was a reason for being a prominent reviewer in renowned international scientific journals and conferences.

Having an outstanding scientific background and being a social persona with an exceptional ability to connect people with different backgrounds, he was a founder and for a longtime head of the research group “Decision Support Systems in Electronic Business” at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor. This research group offered supportive environment to an outstanding number of senior and junior researchers and PhD students from a wide area of system approach research, solving complex managerial decision problems in the environment of rapid technological developments and electronic interactions. The wide plethora of research streams brought together under one umbrella within this research group describes Miroljub Kljajić’s personality best.

His main research interest, Simulation Based Decision Support, refers to the research stream,originating from cybernetics where systems can be efficiently managed by information both feedback and feedforward. Therefore, organizational systems inherently being complex in their nature, comprising of people, processes and technology, are the focus of this thematic issue. Hence, it is not surprising that this area has attracted scholars from all over the globe and from various fields of research such as Mathematics, Organizational sciences, Computer Science, Information Systems, Operational Research, etc. Although the research topics presented in this issue are diverse, we believe that they are well-balanced and harmonized under a common denominator – the Systems Approach Methodology, which makes this issue innovative and unique.

Prof. Miroljub Kljajić has left behind a well-established flourishing research garden where his successors can further develop and build upon his noble ideas. We believe that this thematic issue of Organizacija issue is only the first step.