The paper presents the possibilities for applied use of coaching and mediation at the workplace as management tools. They can successfully complement the managers’ practice of working with people and teams as their personal professional skills or by attracting experts. Emphasis is placed on clarifying the nature of coaching and mediation, and their relationship with the social and emotional intelligence of employees at the workplace. On this basis, recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of management as a function of relationships between people and teams should be synthesized and systematized. In the course of the development, comparative, critical and problematic analysis of primary and secondary information sources was used. A field study was carried out. The limits of applicability of coaching and mediation in the context of social intelligence and their effectiveness for management in the organization are deduced. Based on the research, it has been found that the use of coaching and mediation at the workplace leads to an increase in the social and emotional intelligence of employees and to an improvement in the quality of management.

The adoption of digital technologies (ADT) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly attracts researchers’ attention for several reasons. While being significant contributors to national economies, SMEs lack important resources and thus lag in digitalisation. Stakeholders pressure SMEs to digitalise while government support is seen as important in leveraging digital uptake. Yet, the role of governments and stakeholders in SMEs’ digitalisation is under-researched. This study explores ADT and its relationship with environmental factors (customers, competitors, suppliers, government policies) and two control variables – firm size and firm age. Analyses of variance and regression analysis are applied to a sample of 471 manufacturing SMEs in Bulgaria. The results highlight the important role of government policies in manufacturing SMEs’ digitalisation. The hypothesised impact of market pressure was not confirmed. The firm size matters while the firm age does not have a statistically significant impact on ADT in this sample. This article discusses several theoretical and practical implications. The role of government policies for manufacturing SMEs is reinforced and suggests that these should be customised and used proactively to close the digital gap. Further research is needed to explore the mechanisms through which the microenvironment influences the digitalisation decisions of manufacturing SMEs.

According to marketing specialists, meeting consumer expectations requires much more activities than just offering a specific service that fulfills a specific purpose. Within the marketing literature, the axiom is derived that consumer expectation is part of the overall consumer experience and should be based on both the impression that consumers receive from the service provided and the expectations that have already been met. In the foundation of the issues presented in this way, it can be noted that the main goal of this paper is associated with conducting a theoretical study of the author’s views on consumer expectation and, on the basis thus built, to conduct an empirical analysis of consumer expectations of 1st year students, majoring in Marketing, at the University “Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov”, Burgas. To achieve the main goal set in this way, the following approaches should be applied: systemic and systemic-situational approach; inductive and deductive approach; transformation approach, internal and external analyses. The use of strategic methods, comparative methods, methods of analogy, including a combination between them, becomes significant. The marketing analysis conducted in the studied area leads us to the conclusion that in order to meet certain consumer expectations, much more is needed than offering services by the institution that fulfill a certain goal. Experts state that the most important element related to consumer expectations can be defined as the “usefulness” factor. By their very nature, consumer expectations require the study of the following elements: transparency and honesty, reviews, support and follow-up, which requires the formation of certain conclusions, summaries and conclusions, and this, in turn, causes the current research interest.

The slump in global economic activity since 2022 brings about serious contraction in the gross profit of logistic companies. Staying competitive proves crucial for the survival of many of them. Their performance is also crucial for the competitiveness of the supply chains they support. The challenge for the logistics companies to provide excelling services includes introduction of digital systems and sustainable practices. In order to answer the legal requirement for green practices and adopt information and automated technologies, logistics companies need to make additional investments which carries great financial pressure for them. Strategical decisions are required for these companies in order to secure their market positions and make the needed investments. The recent tendency for mergers and acquisitions in logistics sector is the strategy that many companies adopt in order to cope with the challenges they face. The experience of adopting this strategy for leading logistics companies will be analyzed on the basis of statistical data shared in official reports. Comparison, induction and deduction are the main methods applied in the work. The study proves that the strategy is a means to get access to more financial resources, specific now-how and developed distribution networks in specific markets. This leads to enriched and more thorough spectrum of services the companies can offer, carries potential for developing of key competencies, assures access to specific market niches which all contributes to becoming more competitive.

Some segments of the transport sector in Bulgaria are strongly dominated by state-owned enterprises (railway, maritime and inland waterway transport). This fact leads to distortions in the free competition conditions and then questions arise as to how justified the state intervention in these segments is. The publication studied the efficiency of the state-owned enterprises in the context of public priorities, which are pursued through these enterprises’ functioning. For the purposes of the present study, the institutional method is used, which is also combined with statistical analysis, focused on key indicators for efficiency measurement. As a result of the research, the level of enterprises’ innovation is evaluated, together with the level of efficient financial sources absorption by the National recovery and resilient plan, euro funds, operational programs and state budget transfers. The results of the research show that it is necessary to be rethought the concept for domination of the state-owned enterprises in the studied segments of the transport sector in Bulgaria. They must be open to competition, including foreign private companies. The innovation potential of these enterprises is low, which corresponds to the low financial sources’ absorption by the European funds as main beneficiaries of them.

This report presents the results of a study of the influence of attitudes towards dual education on the brand image of vocational high schools in Bulgaria. Vocational secondary education is among the priorities of the Ministry of Education and Science in Bulgaria and is gaining more and more popularity among schools in the country, however, its relationship to the brand image of educational institutions remains unexplored. The research in this paper covers the opinions of two target groups (students – educated by dual method and students – educated by traditional method) regarding the relationship between dual education and the brand image of schools. A survey was conducted using a sample of students in two vocational high schools in the Plovdiv region. The hypothesis of the research: “There is an association between the Brand Image of the vocational high school and the Attitudes toward dual VET.” was supported. Further surveys are needed among business representatives, parents of students, local authorities and the Ministry of Education and Science.

The topic of historical units of measurement, as well as geometric and proportional relationships in architecture, has not yet been systematically addressed in historiography or in cultural heritage restoration, neither in Slovakia nor in the wider European context. Although historical units and proportional principles played a fundamental role in architectural design, they are still not consistently integrated into the current methodology of research and restoration of historical buildings. This paper argues that deeper knowledge of these topics has the potential to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of authorial creative practices, architectural form and design principles of historical buildings. The paper presents a brief historical overview of historical units of length, their application in architecture and reflections on their use in architectural practice. This is complemented by an exploration of their current relevance for research in the field of architectural history and heritage conservation. Special attention is devoted to selected case studies from Slovakia – a territory shaped by European influences – illustrating the importance of historical principles of scale and proportion in architectural design. The first case study analyses a Neoclassicist manor house in Blatnica, in which proportional schemes based on classical principles were identified. The second case study focuses on selected works by Michal Milan Harminc (1869–1964), an exceptional architect from the Central European region, whose works oscillate between historicism, modernism and functionalism across the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and its successor states: Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine, and Slovakia. His relationship to historical architecture, its proportions and scale is evident in his designs and renovations of buildings of various typologies, including religious architecture and cultural buildings with national content. His knowledge of historical measurement systems is applied to the reconstruction of the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary in the village of Rabča in the Orava region. The functionalist reconstruction of the church from the 1930s was based on the original architecture of the Baroque church. It took place after the Metre Convention, which introduced the metre as the only official unit of measurement. Although Harminc no longer used historical units when designing the reconstruction, he incorporated the geometric and proportional principles of Baroque aesthetics into his design. The final case study analyses three of Harminc's buildings for the Slovak National Museum, which reflect classical design principles. These buildings exhibit an evolution – from the subsiding neoclassical language in Martin, through the distinctive formation of official monumentality in Bratislava, to the definitive adoption of rational functionalist forms once again in Martin. The paper underscores the need for further research into historical units and proportions as a prerequisite for the future development of more sophisticated methodological approaches in the study and restoration of historical buildings. It also highlights the importance of this knowledge for preserving architectural authenticity and deepening our understanding of its historical context in the regional setting. Finally, it offers new insights into the background of the work of architect and builder M. M. Harminc, an important personality for the wider European territory.

This paper investigates concrete as an active architectural matter, exploring its simultaneously technical, aesthetic and symbolic dimensions. It departs from the hypothesis that concrete, often seen as brutal, cold or austere, can be understood as “living matter” – mutable, expressive and imperfect. Rather than a neutral substance, concrete reveals itself through its texture, flaws and uncertainty, embodying time and process. The paper draws upon the theoretical contributions of Kenneth Frampton, Peter Zumthor, Juhani Pallasmaa and Tadao Ando, and engages critically with the Goetheanum by Rudolf Steiner as a paradigmatic case. It examines the dual nature of concrete — as structure and form, as support and surface — proposing that its plasticity and ambiguity allow it to function not only as a means of construction but also as a medium of poetic expression. By articulating technique and atmosphere, material and meaning, this reflection asserts that concrete plays a central role in the contemporary architectural imagination, positioned between rational precision and artistic freedom.

This study investigates the importance of rehabilitating school buildings as a sustainable solution to improve teaching conditions, align school infrastructures with contemporary pedagogical requirements, and preserve architectural heritage. The research addresses the challenges schools face, such as structural deterioration, lack of thermal comfort, low energy efficiency, and inadequacy of new educational demands, proposing interventions that integrate sustainability, technological innovation, and architectural flexibility. The methodology critically analyzes specialized literature focusing on sustainable rehabilitation practices and integrating modern technologies in school settings. We considered criteria such as energy efficiency, waste management, and incorporating pedagogical technologies. The priority was identifying solutions that minimize environmental impacts while maximizing interventions' social and economic benefits. The main results highlight that school rehabilitation can reduce operating costs, extend the useful life of buildings, and create more comfortable and inclusive environments for students and teachers. In addition, the use of modern and less polluting materials, associated with up-to-date construction techniques, favors adaptation to environmental standards and the requirements of the twenty-first century. However, challenges such as high upfront costs, technical limitations, and lack of professional training still restrict the implementation of these practices on a large scale. Rehabilitating school buildings is crucial for promoting quality education in sustainable and innovative environments. To overcome barriers and make practical projects feasible, investments in public policies, technical training, and developing specific methodologies tailored to the school context are essential. This rehabilitation process transforms schools into conducive learning spaces and catalysts for urban revitalization and social inclusion, contributing to a more sustainable and equitable future.

The Gedongsongo Temple Complex, situated amidst the slopes of Mount Ungaran in Central Java, Indonesia, stands as a significant testament to Hindu architectural heritage on the island of Java, dating back to the 8th and 9th centuries AD. This complex, renowned among historians and archaeologists, has long been a favored destination for tourists. In efforts to bolster its appeal to visitors, infrastructural enhancements have been introduced within the temple precincts. This research endeavors to examine the repercussions of such infrastructure development on surface runoff patterns within the Gedongsongo Temple Complex and the ensuing impact on various environmental parameters within the area under scrutiny. The study adopts a comprehensive approach, employing EPA SWMM software for modeling and analysis. The methodology encompasses six distinct phases. Initially, data collection and preparation are undertaken, followed by the configuration of the EPA SWMM model. Subsequently, simulations are conducted to replicate existing conditions, facilitating a thorough understanding of the prevailing runoff dynamics. The model is then adjusted to accommodate proposed infrastructural modifications, paving the way for simulations of prospective layout scenarios. Finally, the resultant data is subjected to meticulous analysis and interpretation. Modeling outcomes reveal a discernible surge in surface runoff rates attributable to deficiencies in the existing drainage infrastructure. Consequently, instances of inundation have been observed within the Gedongsongo Temple Complex. Mitigating such inundation risks necessitates strategic interventions, including constructing robust drainage networks and adopting Low Impact Development techniques. By incorporating these measures, the adverse effects of heightened runoff can be effectively managed, ensuring the sustainable preservation of the temple complex's historical and cultural significance amidst its burgeoning tourist appeal.