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Objectives The aim of the article is to present the results of research on the place and role of management goals used since 2016 in the management processes of municipal companies in Poland. The authors devoted significant attention to economic and social goals, in particular to the analysis of the importance of these goals in companies. Material and methods The basic research method was the analysis of documents - the content of resolutions of entities authorized to exercise shareholding rights. In total, the content of resolutions adopted each year in 124 companies in 2017-2023 was examined. Results The results indicate the dominance of economic goals and the decreasing share of social goals among management goals. Conclusions The conclusions are not positive, considering that these companies operate in the public utility sector. The reasons for this phenomenon are partly due to the unfortunate provisions of the act and long-standing habits; in fact, they are more complex and multi-faceted. What is particularly disturbing is that profit, previously used mainly as an economic measure, has become, in the light of legal regulations and economic practice, the purpose of business, which may translate directly into the prices of municipal companies' services for residents and local entrepreneurs. In turn, the decreasing share of social goals may include, among others: reduce employee involvement and their efficient and effective cooperation based on trust.

• Identifying a common best practice frontier most similar to management goals. • The possible additional benefits generated from the global reallocation. • The stepwise reallocation paths for DMUs with limited reallocation potentials. • The case study based on 18 ports in Korea. Common benchmarking can identify a common best practice frontier as the benchmark to assess and improve the performance of Decision-Making Units (DMUs) experiencing similar circumstances. At present, further exploration in common benchmarking is still needed. For instance, the similarity between management goals and targets belonging to a common best practice frontier. To fill this gap, we propose the following innovative work: (1) A novel Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model is proposed to identify a common best practice frontier on which targets closest to management goals can be found for all DMUs experiencing similar circumstances. These targets need to be achieved through a global reallocation of inputs/outputs among DMUs; (2) Considering the targets closest to management goals are too ambitious for some DMUs, an iterative algorithm is given based on another new DEA model for providing the stepwise reallocation paths. The stepwise reallocation paths can distribute the total reallocation efforts into several intermediate steps; (3) The effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm is illustrated by applying them to a case of 18 ports in Korea. For this purpose, we use the input–output data set of these ports in 2010 and assume actual management goals for every port. The results of the case show some conclusions. First, the target of each port located on the common best practice facet is closest to its management goal. Second, global redistribution can make all ports obtain the best input–output levels. Third, ports with limited reallocation potential can monotonically and gradually achieve their distant targets through our stepwise schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation of biodiversity from the genetic to the community levels is fundamental for the continual provision of ecosystem services (ES), the benefits that ecosystems provide to people. Genetic and genomic diversity enhance the resilience of populations and communities that underpin the provision of ecosystem functions and services. We show that genomics applications are mostly limited to flagship species and that their benefits for biodiversity conservation and ES management are underachieved. We propose a framework on how genomics applications can guide management for biodiversity conservation and sustainable ES to bridge this genomics-ES management 'application gap'. We review how genomic knowledge in single species (relatedness, potentially adaptive variants) or in interacting species (host-microorganism coevolution, hybridization) can guide effective management actions. These include population supplementation, assisted migration or hybridization to promote climate-adapted variants or adaptive potential, control of invasives, delimitation of conservation or management areas, provenancing strategies for restoration, managing microbial function and solving conservation and ES trade-offs. Genomics-informed management actions for improved conservation and ES outcomes are supported through synergies between scientists and ES managers at local, regional and international levels, through the development of standardized genomic workflows, training to ES managers and incorporation of local information. Such actions facilitate the implementation of biodiversity conservation and ES policies such as the UN 2030 sustainable development goals and the EU Biodiversity strategy for 2030, and support the inclusion of ambitious biodiversity conservation goals in the development of new policies such as the CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework or conservation policies on hybrids. • Genomic knowledge can benefit biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) management. • Genomics benefits are underachieved: there is an application gap in ES management. • We propose a framework for genomics-informed biodiversity and ES management actions. • Actions tackle conservation, adaptation, productivity, invasives, restoration. • Policy developments and scientists-managers synergies are needed to bridge the gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]