The evaluation of a company's performance is an integral part of the management of every company, which allows determining the impact of business management decisions on the performance results, as well as the direction of the results and the decisions that need to be made to improve them. Traditionally, a company's performance is evaluated on the basis of an analysis of financial performance indicators, but it is noted that in today's dynamic business environment the timely control of the performance is crucial, thus, there is an increasing attention on non-financial performance indicators. The aim of the article is to investigate and compare the modern methods for company performance evaluation that are based on the analysis of financial and non-financial performance indicators. The research is carried out using systematic analysis of scientific literature, comparison, and aggregation methods. First of all, the article unfolds the essence of the concept of the company performance evaluation and highlights the differences between traditional and modern performance evaluation systems. Moreover, the advantages of non-financial performance indicators are compared with financial indicators. Furthermore, a classification scheme for performance evaluation methods is provided; by identifying their main advantages and disadvantages the most popular and widely used modern performance evaluation methods are overviewed: economic value added method, balanced scorecard, performance prism, performance pyramid, six-sigma model and multi-criteria company performance evaluation method. Finally, according to certain criteria, a comparative analysis of the latter methods is performed. The comparative analysis confirms that non-financial performance indicators complement financial indicators; therefore, in the process of a company's performance evaluation, modern performance evaluation methods, combining financial and non-financial performance indicators and allowing the performance to be evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively, should be used. However, there is no single method that would be appropriate for all companies, so further work can be targeted at establishing a multi-criteria performance evaluation method that would satisfy the needs of a particular business' activity and targets for evaluation.

This paper presents a framework that builds upon agent-based modelling for investigating the behaviour of consumers in the insurance industry. Consumers are modelled as agents and clustered in groups reflecting their income levels. Agents that model consumers are characterised by their socio-demographic features and interact with other insurance consumer-agents by means of local and global social networks. Furthermore, the environment in which they evolve models the impact of external factors such as mortality, disease and other accident rates as well as insurance culture. This makes that consumer-agents accumulate experience, improve their understanding and knowledge of financial products, and thus develop their perception of need for security and consider the usefulness of insurance services. In turn, the framework enables to model the construction of the customers’ insurance product purchase decision.p>

This paper deals with the examination of insurance consumer behaviour in Lithuania. The purpose of the work is to determine the factors that explain the insurance service purchase decision of the Lithuanian citizens. To this end, a structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaire-based survey is employed to collect data. A research model composed of two main stages (purchase inclination and decision) is proposed. Factor analysis and multiple regression analysis are used to determine how the factors are formed and what their relative weights are. Five factors are identified: the acceptability of insurance conditions (F1), insurance service provider's competence (F2), consumers' monetary attitude towards insurance (F3), the positivity of consumers' insurance experience (F4), and the possibility to reduce the amount of premiums payable for insurance (F5). Subsequently, path analysis is applied to further refine the research model by eliminating the less significant relationships between the variables (the relationships between F5 and inclination, between F3 and decision, and between F4 and decision were eliminated). The refined model provides the revised impact weights of the variables on the consumers' decision to purchase insurance services: Decision = 0,192 F1 + 0,379 F2 + 0,156 F5 + 0,222 Inclination + e2, where e2 represents the possible impact of other variables. The results show that in Lithuania, insurance consumption decision making is still mostly influenced by monetary considerations such as consumers' evaluation of an insurance service in monetary terms and the search for the possibility to reduce the amount of premiums payable for insurance. The results also indicate that the demographical and socioeconomical characteristics of the consumers influence their behaviour. Among the main findings here are the most distinctive ones: men base their insurance decisions mostly on the acceptability of insurance conditions, whereas women do on the insurance service providers' competence; when purchasing insurance services, mature adults only care about the possibility to reduce the amount of premiums payable for insurance, while the youth and young adults mostly rely on the insurance service provider's competence; generally, for the Lithuanians a monthly amount of 800 LTL per person is the income level which enables them not only to form the inclination to purchase insurance services, but also to decide to purchase them actually; the higher degree or education acquired by the individuals, the fewer factors impact their insurance purchase decision: masters and doctors of science evaluate only the insurance service provider's competence, while bachelors, besides the insurer's competence, are also concerned with insurance service conditions and all the monetary issues; Vilnius' citizens evaluate a rather wider range of factors as compared to the individuals living in other places; individuals who are either married or living in a couple are more than singles inclined to purchase insurance services if an opportunity to r...

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This paper deals with the examination of the rationale for insurance service purchase decision making with a focus on Lithuania and its possible implications for both Lithuania and other developing insurance markets. This work proposes a model that reflects the several stages of the insurance service purchase decision making process, including the time dimension. This model is constructed on the basis of three hypotheses; these hypotheses are tested based on data collected by means of an insurance expert survey. The results confirm the existence of two stages of insurance service purchase decision making, where one's intellect and income determine the inclination towards insurance and where the price and quality of an insurance service determine its purchase decision. The research reveals a relatively equivalent impact of both consumers' intellect and income on their inclination towards insurance in general; however, it strongly indicates the consumers' strong focus on the price of the service as opposed to its quality when deciding to purchase an insurance service. The research also discloses the higher complexity of the decision making process when purchasing life insurance services as compared to non-life insurance services.

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Risk management in translation service companies is an effective, integrative, proactive way to handle risk. Such companies must integrate defined long-term risk management into their strategies, decision-making, and daily processes; top-management must fully support the risk management system; risk factors, management benefits, and processes require articulation amongst employees; job roles, responsibilities, performance evaluation, and motivation systems must incorporate risk management practices. Risk management in project-based companies might also account for changing clients’ requirements, tight deadlines and budgets, different participants, and high IT use. However, this requires identifying the critical success factors. The research method builds upon the analysis and systemization of the scientific literature – from risk management, emphasizing the underlying strategic approach and effective management, to deriving the focal-points of effective risk management of translation projects. This work unifies the gathered knowledge and results in a conceptual model that integrates the specific assessment criteria for project risk management in translation companies – process definiteness and versatility, responsibility definiteness, top-management involvement, and risk management communication. The operationalisation of the model may lead to the companies’ critical success performance. To the best of our knowledge, this work is one of the first contributions addressing risk management assessment criteria in this industry.

In a contemporary organization, knowledge management is rarely assumed to be a supportive activity. Knowledge management processes are rather assessed as being inseparable from other main organizational processes. Considering the up-to-date research, there are no doubts about the benefits of knowledge management. However, because of its wide internal and external dissemination, it is challenging to identify and assess its value both in its entirety and in its value created by its individual processes. In the interdisciplinary context of literature analysis of information and communication and management research, in this article, the authors present the integrative evaluation model of the relationship between knowledge management processes and business processes. The model is characterised by its wide organizational applicability and allows measuring the value created by knowledge management processes in a real business environment. The model integrates the processes of product development, manufacturing and sales, including their constitutional dimensions, metrics and indexes, respectively. All this enables determining the impact of knowledge management processes on the main business processes and the resulting organizational added value.