Gottwald D, Zákorová E, Švadlenka L, Pavlisová H. Approach to Human Capital in National Postal Providers: A Cross-country Analysis... DALIBOR GOTTWALD, Ph.D.1 Transport Management (Corresponding author) Review E-mail: [email protected] Submitted: 18 Sep. 2017 EVA ZÁKOROVÁ, Ph.D.1 Accepted: 10 July 2018 E-mail: [email protected] LIBOR ŠVADLENKA, Ph.D.1 E-mail: [email protected] HANA PAVLISOVÁ2 E-mail: [email protected] 1 University of Pardubice Faculty of Transport Engineering Studentská 95, 532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic 2 Palacký University Olomouc, Faculty of Arts Křížkovského 10, 772 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic APPROACH TO HUMAN CAPITAL IN NATIONAL POSTAL PROVIDERS: A CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS IN EUROPE ABSTRACT Results of scientific studies dealing with human capital provide company managements with vital in- The article investigates human capital in national postal providers (NPPs), which is an area that has yet to be under- formation on the interrelations of various social con- pinned by research. There is a number of works dealing with structs. Social construct is defined as an area which human capital, but only few address human capital in the is constructed into a process of social interaction and postal service sector. The main aim of the article is to de- communication among individuals or groups of indi- fine differences in approach to human capital management viduals. Social interaction is defined as a process in in selected NPPs. Differences are expressed via the overall which an individual (or a group of individuals) exerts Human Capital Index (HCI). Due to the fact that so far there influence upon another individual (or a group of in- has been no complex research analyzing activities related to dividuals) in a system [1], whose interaction encour- human capital in NPPs, it was necessary to carry out a con- ages the formation of human capital. Because of the tent analysis of annual reports of selected NPPs. Results of number of works dealing with this topic, definitions of the analysis served as a basis for expression of overall HCI. human capital slightly vary from author to author. It is This study brings new insights into the topic and contributes thus necessary to understand human capital from a to the sustainable development of the field. particular author’s point of view. The works on human capital can be divided into two large groups, focusing KEY WORDS either on the micro-economic or the macro-econom- human capital; national postal providers; postal service; ic level. The former investigate interactions of social constructs that form human capital within a company, while the latter look into interactions that form human 1. INTRODUCTION capital outside of a company on the societal level. Human capital is currently a much debated topic. Transport and telecommunications is one of the It is closely related to a change in the philosophy of basic sectors of national economy in all countries. This sector also includes postal service, which is regulat- company management. Human capital as a part of in- ed by laws of each country. Among other postal ser- tellectual capital has gradually established itself as an vice providers, national postal providers (NPPs) play area whose effective management is essential for in- an important role. These entities must by virtue of creasing a company’s value. At the moment, there are their function guarantee provision of universal postal virtually no areas of company activity that are not af- service in the general/public interest. This universal fected by the human factor. For this reason there has postal service is practically exclusively provided by been an elevated interest in human capital both on the NPPs. Universal postal service represents a minimal part of managements of companies and the scientific set of services that must be provided continually na- community. This interest has been driven by efforts to tionwide under the same conditions for all users, for identify, analyze and effectively manage all processes an affordable price and to a specified quality [2]. The that directly affect individuals (employees) or groups Universal Postal Union (UPU) is the supreme postal au- of individuals (groups of employees). thority with 192 members. The UPU coordinates the Promet – Traffic & Transportation, Vol. 30, 2018, No. 5, 623-633 623 Gottwald D, Zákorová E, Švadlenka L, Pavlisová H. Approach to Human Capital in National Postal Providers: A Cross-country Analysis... operation of the postal market and discusses current flexibility, the ability to work in a team, work moti- trends related to its development. Human capital is vation and satisfaction, the ability to learn, loyalty, one of the areas which are currently being discussed education. in relation to development of postal market. – Structural capital – consists of organizational cap- This article sets out to show the differences in ap- ital and customer capital. It is closely related to in- proach to human capital management in selected Eu- ternal processes, knowledge, and abilities. ropean NPPs. – Customer capital – covers long-term relationships In order to do that, it was necessary to: of a company with its most prominent customers, – Define main areas of approach to human capital including information about those customers and in selected NPPs, i.e., identify concrete activities their specific needs. which are organized in relation to human capital. – Organizational capital – comprises traditional intel- – Categorize the identified activities into components lectual assets (such as patents), databases, and according to areas they focus on. IT. Generally, even various cultural aspects can – Express the overall Human Capital Index (HCI). be included in this category, such as the culture – Discuss any discovered links and relations that are of knowledge sharing and collaboration. Organiza- relevant for the used methodology and consider tional capital is made up of innovation capital and various perspectives that must be present in the process capital. research of human capital. – Process capital – expresses a company’s ability to The article deals with a topical issue in a complete- improve and document internal processes. ly new context, in which human capital has not been – Innovation capital – expresses a company’s ability to react to the future market developments. It is researched so far. The results of the article provide a comprised of intellectual property and intangible solid ground for further research. assets. Section 2 of the paper deals with the background – Intangible assets – all assets of intangible nature. and literature related to this topic. Section 3 defines For each company, the most valuable assets are the methodology used for the calculation of the overall those that are original and difficult to imitate. HCI, while the fourth section presents the results of – Intellectual property – proprietary rights of compa- its application to a sample of NPPs. In Section 5 we nies, related to intangible assets. discuss the results and broader context to which the Donate et al., Marzo and Scarpina, Rossi et al., and results are applicable. The last section sums up the Yaseen et al. [5-8] examine the impact components of conclusions. intangible assets have on the increase of a company’s value. Human capital is currently viewed as a tool that 2. BACKGROUND AND RELATED can significantly increase the value of a company. For LITERATURE this reason, its further investigation is highly relevant [9-11]. Human capital is an area of economic sciences As mentioned above, studies dealing with this top- and forms a part of a relatively new economic sub-dis- ic can be divided into two large groups according to cipline called intellectual capital. Intellectual capital author’s definition of human capital. The first group came into the forefront of interest after the endoge- investigates human capital from the micro-economic nous growth theory was proposed in the 1980s. It perspective. These works usually bring analyses of holds that intellectual capital is an endogenous factor, selected activities related to employee development meaning that it does not occur randomly, but has to be in a particular company – an employee is seen as a produced with the use of resources. The importance basic entity which determines the value of human cap- of human capital in ensuring sustainable growth is ital. In addition, they analyze the causal relationships mentioned by Coleman [3], who claims that, in order among indicators of employee satisfaction levels and to ensure sustainable growth, it is necessary to re- other internal performance-related indicators [12-15]. spect newly established social constructs, which are The second group examines human capital from the essential in the process of establishing trust and loy- macro-economic perspective. These authors usually alty among members of a particular group. Intellectual understand human capital as an area whose effec- capital is viewed as an area whose formation is affect- tive management leads to increase in economic per- ed by many social constructs. Edvinsson and Malone formance and overall economic stability of a country [4] examined the intangible components which influ- [16-18]. ence the value of a company and classified intellectual The macro-economic perspective also deals with capital as follows: the individual. As Kirdina [19] notes, the discussion – Human capital – comprises people’s knowledge, about macro and microeconomic approaches to the skills, experience, and abilities, such as the ability to role of an individual has been one of the main top- innovate, creativity, know-how, previous experience, ics in sociology in the last few years. In his view, an 624 Promet – Traffic & Transportation, Vol. 30, 2018, No. 5, 623-633 Gottwald D, Zákorová E, Švadlenka L, Pavlisová H. Approach to Human Capital in National Postal Providers: A Cross-country Analysis... individual is influenced by their surrounding environ- differently [23-26]. It must be stressed that currently ment, which is reflected in the way they execute work there are no scientific studies dedicated to approach tasks.