Analysis of Implementation of Integrated Information Systems in Croatian Wood Processing Industry

Abstract

It can be said that Integrated Information Systems (IIS) are a fundamental operating tool in modern business systems and form the basis of successful company management. The goal of our research was to determine the IT level of business operations in Croatian wood processing industry and to assess how significant it has been in enhancing its business performance. A survey method was used to collect data, which resulted in gathering predominantly small and medium-sized companies. Our results indicate an average use of IIS modalities among surveyed companies. Using cluster analysis, three types of companies were identified with respect to the degree of system implementation. Analysis of financial benefits of the IIS implementation did not find any statistically significant relationship. However, subjective impressions on non-financial indicators show that companies in all three clusters see the greatest benefit of IIS in the improved inventory efficiency and sales efficiency.

A comparative evaluation of operational efficiency of wood industry using data envelopment analysis and Malmquist productivity index

“…It can be concluded that the performance of the group is also greatly infl uenced by the average values of individual indicators for the last year (i.e., 2017). Similar results were obtained for the wood industry in Slovenia (Kropivšek and Grošelj, 2019). Interestingly, CRO-C16 achieved a very poor performance, and this may be a consequence of various factors, such as the lower degree of technological development and less use of innovative solutions that generate higher added value in production, as well as the long-term stability of domestic production in the supply of wood raw material from state forests in Croatia and the stability of wood assortments prices (MPS, 2017).…”

“…There are many different fi nancial indicators, which are classifi ed into different groups, taking into account the content of indicators (Delen et al, 2013;Gombola and Ketz, 1983; Pirc Barčić et al, 2015; Sayari and Simga-Mugan, 2017). Kropivšek and Grošelj (2019) divided fi nancial indicators into fi ve categories: (1) liquidity ratios (which provide information on a fi rm's ability to meet its shortterm obligations), (2) profi tability ratios (providing information on how well the company is managing its expenses), (3) activity ratios (with information on a fi rm's ability to manage its resources effi ciently), (4) leverage ratios (including information on the degree of a fi rm's fi xed fi nancing obligations and its ability to meet them), and (5) effi ciency ratios (indicating a fi rm's operating effi ciency and explaining its business results in relation to various investments that have been made in the business process). This classifi cation was also used within this research, where all 15 indicators from that study were analysed for further and detailed analysis (Table 3).…”

“…The wood industry, as a traditional sector, represents a very important part of the economy in terms of ensuring a sustainable development of society, enabling a circular economy and transition to a low-carbon society (Klarić et al, 2016;Perić et al, 2015;Perić et al, 2019;Šooš et al, 2017). The management of natural resources must be effective and sustainable, and on the other hand, it must provide growth and development for the economy, in order to make it even more successful.…”

“…However, knowing the fi scal position of a country is rather limited in terms of understanding the broader situation and trends, and it is also not enough to provide data and fi nancial analysis for just one sector (Kropivšek and Grošelj, 2019;Potkány and Giertl, 2014), as only a comparative analysis using data from companies in different sectors and different countries can provide comprehensive information. There is little information with regard to international comparative fi nancial analysis of the wood sector in the literature, and there is no such analysis for Slovenia and Croatia.…”

“…For example, Salehirad and Sowlati (2006) prepared a review of productivity and effi ciency assessments of the wood industry in Canada. An analysis of productive effi ciency has also been carried out for Spain's wood-based industry (Diaz-Balteiro et al, 2006), the Iranian wood panels industry (Hemmasi et al, 2011), Canadian wood-product manufacturing subsectors (Sowlati and Vahid, 2006) and Slovenian wood industry (Kropivšek and Grošelj, 2019). The MI has been used for evaluating the changes in productivity of manufacturing industries in Canada, with a focus on the wood manufacturing sector (Sowlati and Vahid, 2006) and on primary wood producers in British Columbia (Salehirad and Sowlati, 2007).…”