The paper presents the idea of a new method of sustainable enterprise capital management. The idea is based on a principle that states that the faster an enterprise achieves and maintains a balance between its capitals, the more effective the management is. The concept forms a part of the search for an alternative to net profit, which is a basic but outdated measure in modern times. After the introduction, the author outlines the basic principles and foundations of the new method. After introducing the principles and assumptions of the new idea, the author, in his paper, describes the studies that aimed at a practical checking of the possibilities of measuring the effectiveness of the company’s economic condition and the effects of management in accordance with the new principles. They were carried out in one of the food industry companies, whose shares are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Two new economic indicators were used in the study. The general conclusion of the study is as follows: new principles of sustainable capital management can be applied in practice to measure the effectiveness of the enterprise and the work of the management board, but there are still many conditions and problems listed in the paper that should be the subject of further work. The issue that still needs a lot of research within the whole idea is the problem of valuing the current and optimal level of corporate capital. The conclusions outline the strengths and weaknesses of the new method.

This paper attempts to develop the concept of sustainable management of enterprise capital presented, e.g., in Economies at the beginning of the year 2020. After an introduction and presentation of the theoretical grounds for the construction of the model, the authors attempt at describing its characteristics in a few points, determining the relationship between the objectives of an enterprise and the capitals that constitute the elements of that enterprise. The main assumption in the model is that the management of an enterprise is a constant process of striving to achieve a goal or goals, and balancing the level of the capitals within the enterprise. The point of balance between six capitals of an enterprise entails, at the same time, the maximum effectiveness of this enterprise. The more effective an enterprise, the quicker the managers will reach the point of balance between the capitals, and the longer the managers will maintain the values of the capitals near the balance point. As a measure of effectiveness, the authors propose a coefficient of a mean percentage-rated difference between the capitals, which reflects the mean non-adjustment of the capitals, and the weighed capital differences coefficient, which reflects the effectiveness of an enterprise as a whole. In the second part, the authors prove that, simultaneously, both management based on the presented model, which is based on the effectiveness of achieving objectives, as well as the effectiveness of the capitals of the enterprise, with the use of the new economic ratios as indicated, may be an alternative to globally prevalent revenue as an economic measurement.

This article presents the research results of authors on the structure and value of social capital in the company. The research shows that there is a link between a relatively new level of such capital obtained on the basis of questionnaires among company employees analysed and the low value of this capital in the socioeconomic approach. The authors also point out the possible ways of improving this level and increasing its financial value. The research was conducted in the first half of 2018, in Pamapol, a joint-stock company, which is one of the biggest companies from the branch of meat and food processing. In the research, the triangulation method of research methods was used, already known in research practice but in an innovative character, mainly referring to the measurement of capital value.

Social capital is currently perceived as one of the basic factors of economic development and economic success of enterprises. However, while there is already much research on social capital in enterprises, there has been little such research in the energy industry. The aim of the publication is to fill the gap in this regard. The basic question that the authors try to answer is whether there is a higher level of capital in energy companies compared to other industries, and if so, what the reasons are for this. Apart from answering this question, the authors present their own method of measuring the level of this capital. The first part of the article presents the results of a study on the level of social capital in Polish energy companies, whereas the second part compares the levels of social capital in energy companies and industrial companies in other sectors. According to the study, energy companies generally have higher levels of social capital than companies in other industries. It has been found, however, that individual forms of capital that comprise social capital differ. The most significant differences were observed in relational capital, followed by cognitive capital at a lower value and structural capital at the lowest. The survey also revealed that there is a difference in social capital levels among the researched professional groups: management, administration, and production.

In 2016, a law was introduced in Poland that required management bodies of energy companies owned by the state and a municipality to adopt management goals. The remuneration of the board members of these companies depended on the extent to which these goals were implemented. The challenge was that profit became an end in itself. The purpose of this article is to describe the process used to set up strategic goals on the basis of balancing capital within energy companies, which demonstrates a positive impact on the effectiveness of these companies. The solution proposed in this article is an alternative to using profit as the sole measure. The article consists of three parts. The first part is a review of the literature on management goals and how they relate to various economic measures—the main conclusions of this literature review were that, despite many attempts, we were not able to (1) clearly define the purpose of a company and (2) find an indisputable measure of the degree to which such goals were implemented in a firm that would be an alternative to using the outdated profit as a goal. The second part dealt with the results of a study on the formulation of management goals in 2017–2020, which was conducted on more than 150 energy companies. Based on this analysis, it was found that financial goals were gradually replaced by material (investment) goals, but this process was very slow. The final part of the article is our proposal for a new approach to formulating management goals in energy companies, linking them to tools that measure both the efficiency of capital deployment and the introduction of new rules for sustainable capital management in these companies.