Research background: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a fundamental role in countries’ economies. Currently, entrepreneurs are struggling not only with the uncertainty of the business environment, but also with high expectations for businesses to be run in a sustainable way. Therefore, the impact of corporate reputation and social media on sustainability is an area of interest for entrepreneurs. In this context, little research has been conducted on their perception of the linkage between these issues. Furthermore, there has been no direct explanation of the effects of SMEs’ reputation and social media usage on their sustainable development, especially in the V4 countries. Purpose of the article: This article defines, quantifies, and verifies the effects of corporate reputation and social media on sustainable development as perceived by SMEs’ owners and top managers in the V4 countries. Methods: Data were gathered in December 2022 and January 2023 using the computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) method. The survey was designed based on a literature review and experts’ opinions. Respondents (top managers of SMEs, n = 1090) were asked questions on their firms’ characteristics, reputation, social media usage and sustainable development. The linear regression modelling (LRM) was utilised to evaluate the hypothesis. Findings & value added: The study revealed a strong relationship between owners’ and top managers’ perceptions of the importance of both corporate reputation and sustainable development in SMEs. The belief that social media supports the growth of companies’ performance is related to the understanding of the concept of sustainable business development. Surprisingly, for the owners and top managers of SMEs in V4 countries, there was no relationship between the awareness of social media usage to share information with customers and partners and the understanding of sustainable business growth.

In the process of the electrification of the vehicle industry, an important issue is to adapt production to new technological solutions and to achieve a break-even point in the production costs of an electric vehicle in the short term compared to its traditional counterparts. By the end of 2020, 10 million electric cars were sold worldwide. In today’s globalized and crisis market realities, it is very difficult for state authorities to build a competitive advantage. Based on the concept of M.E. Porter, generating competitiveness does not take place at the macroeconomic, but at the mezzoeconomic level. The key purposes of this review paper are threefold: firstly, to identify the infrastructure for the production of electric cars (market size, resources) in some major Asian countries, including Indonesia; secondly, to identify the importance of FDI for Indonesia and the essence of their relations with China, and thirdly, to investigate whether Indonesia is able to build a competitive advantage in the form of a regional EV battery chain hub. The Indonesian government should ensure a more sizeable investment in lithium-ion battery production in order to complete a whole downstream supply chain, which includes the synthesis of the remaining high-quality battery materials.

The development of new technologies, expanding Internet access, and Web 2.0 helps companies better address and collaborate with a new type of consumers (prosumers). That is, they are able to harness new technological tools in order to involve consumers in the production process. The main purposes of the paper are threefold: firstly, to identify the prosumption activities of consumers of companies operating in international markets; secondly, to identify those new media tools which are the most commonly used in companies’ prosumer activities in the international marketplace; and thirdly, to investigate the dependence of new media tools usage for prosumption activities on geographical region. Data were gathered from a literature analysis and primary quantitative research (individual interviews) conducted in 205 production companies operating in Poland on B2C market and doing business internationally (e.g. Asia, Europe, North and South America, etc.). The main findings show the significance of companies’ websites and Facebook pages in prosumer activities, such as product personalisation and consumers’ advice about the ideas for changes. One interesting result of this study showed the significance of local media use by companies for prosumer activities. They can be implemented by producers operating and offering their products to consumers in different regions.

The paper concerns the importance of the trend of mass customization in building the competitive advantage of companies in the door joinery sector in Poland. Its purpose is an attempt at assessing the effects of mass customization carried out on a newly designed TechnoPORTA technological line for automated door production on the basis of an analysis of selected technical and economic indexes related to manufacturing costs. The basis for the calculation of these indexes was the value of material and labor costs and the projected production value in relation to eleven selected types of industrial doors. Based on the analysis of technical and economic indexes, it can be concluded that the introduction of the concept of mass customization will reduce gross costs of manufactured products which, with the assumed level of sales, will translate into annual profit. The results obtained allow for optimistic conclusions about the possibility of building the long-term competitive advantage of door manufacturers.

Material losses are caused by the machining process and the manufacturing process, as well as the use of excessive dimensional allowances applied to the machined materials. An adequate reduction of the planned machining allowances for wood-based panel components is possible when the machining line is properly designed and equipped with high-precision machines and devices. The aim of the study was to determine the size of material savings in relation to the most important construction materials when implementing an innovative technological line for processing industrial doors made of wood materials. The achieved savings improve the competitiveness of the door manufacturer on the market. In order to calculate the material savings obtained in the production of the most important models of door leaves that can be obtained in machining on the TechnoPORTA line, numerical data were compiled specifying the dimensions of semi-finished products, taking into account machining allowances applied before and after reduction. The implementation of the TechnoPORTA line makes it possible to reduce the negative impact on the environment by reducing the consumption of wood. It reduces the consumption of materials and the operating costs associated with the reduction of labor intensity, the load on machines and devices, and inventory levels.