EMPLOYER BRANDING IN FORMATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL OF THE TOUR OPERATOR: THE CASE STUDY OF UKRAINE

356 ISSN 2306-4994 (print); ISSN 2310-8770 (online) UDC 629.126:338.48 Mykhailichenko H. Doctor of Economics, Professor, Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, Ukraine; e-mail: h.mykhailichenko@knteu.edu.ua; ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7066-6527 Kravtsov S. Ph. D. in Science of Public Administration, Associate Professor, Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, Ukraine; e-mail: s.kravtsov@knute.edu.ua; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2016-1974 Melnychenko S. Doctor of Economics, Professor, Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, Ukraine; e-mail: melnichenko@knteu.kiev.ua; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5162-6324 Vedmid N. Doctor of Economics, Professor, Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, Ukraine; e-mail: frh@knute.edu.ua; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5010-6394 Zabaldina Yu. Ph. D. in Economics, Associate Professor, Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, Ukraine; e-mail: y.zabaldina@knute.edu.ua; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2741-5604

Introduction. Features of the production process of tourist services and the process of customer service require using separate approaches to evaluate the level of development and leading properties of the management system of organization, which makes it possible to identify and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses, reserves of potential realization, competitive position in the market. Components of the tourism enterprise's potential complement each other and form an appropriate field for interconnected development as a whole. Intangible assets are the most difficult to predict components of the potential, the main one is the intellectual resource of the organization.
The main features of successful tour operator's activity are the formed intellectual potential, first of all, the staff of organization, which possesses value-oriented professional knowledge, ambition, creativity, and the efficiency of each employee's work is the main source of innovative changes of the enterprise. The accumulated knowledge and experience transform the staff into intellectual capital that is the resource of growth and development of the organization.
In the process of formation of intellectual capital, a special role is given to higher education institutions. Cooperation between employers and educational institutions that train professionals to work in the tourism sector, retrain and upgrade their skills is bilateral and mutually beneficial. Recruitment to the desirable positions by the specialty and obtained qualification is an important factor in assessing the quality of training of specialists in higher education institutions and one of the elements of cooperation with external stakeholders (enterprises). The quality of specialist training is determined by the level of employment of the university graduates, which is one of the criteria for accreditation of educational programs.
The absence of Ukrainian tourist operators in the rating of the leading employers testifies to the passive position of the management of the leading tourist operators in the process of finding and attracting tourism professionals to work in their companies. Ukrainian tourism companiesconsolidators of tourism prefer to «entice» the best specialists from other organizations, instead of carrying out independent search and providing an opportunity and creating conditions for professional growth within their own organization.
Research Objective. The purpose of this article is to identify effective tools for forming the intellectual capital of tour operators, key parameters that influence the choice of employer in tourism, as well as effective means of communication with potential employees in the example of Ukraine.
Literature Review. For the most part, with equal technological components, the success of an enterprise depends primarily on the intellectual and reputational capabilities of the management system, rather than on physical assets. In our opinion, attention should be paid to the intellectual component of the process of formation of enterprise potential. Due to the processes of intellectualization and informatisation, and also in the conditions of reducing the level of stocks of material and raw materials, intellectual capital is considered as one of the main factors of realization and provision of tourist services.
Many scientific researches are devoted to pressing issues of valuation of intangible assets in the efficiency of the enterprise: Bontis N. (2002) [1] in the studies of formation of intellectual capital determined that: «Human capital is dened as the knowledge, education and competencies of individuals in realizing national tasks and goals»; according to   [2]: the basis for the formation of the concept of competitive advantage is the knowledge of enterprises, new economic ideas, organizational ideas and intellectual capital.
Most of the authors agree that companies are increasingly paying their attention to intangible resources, thus equating intellectual capital to knowledge assets. That is corroborated by Fornell's research, which shows that more than 80% of companies' market value depends on intellectual capital. According to Marr and Shiuma (2012) [3], intellectual capital also serves as an important resource for the continuous improvement of a company.
According to studies by Suciu, Imbrisca, and Nagel-Piciorus (2012) [4], it is essential that intellectual capital is directly related to the management of the company, especially in terms of human resources. Human capital is formed in two ways: by creating it over time or by engaging it from the outside. By definition of Shiuma (2012) [3] intellectual capital is formed from five elements: human capital, structural capital, organizational capital, social capital and stakeholder capital.
We fully agree with the conclusions of the authors published in the article Doris Gomezelj Omerzel & Dora Smolčić Jurdana (2016) [5] offers a presentation of the research, which attempts to examine the correlations between individual intellectual capital and innovativeness as also the influence of innovativeness on the growth of a company. The authors proposed a classification and measurement method of intellectual capital, highlighting the following three components; human capital, organizational capital, and social capital. Their aim is to explain innovation performance and company growth by showing the importance of each intellectual capital dimension on a specific type of innovation (product, process, marketing, and organizational). The interest in this subject will continue to grow.
The importance of innovativeness for tourism business and tourism industry competitiveness has been recognized by both researchers and practitioners.
The tourism sector has specific characteristics, and the human factor is of great importance. For these reasons, tourism innovation is very dependent of intellectual capital of the firm. It explores the relationship between the three dimensions of intellectual capital (i.e., human capital, social capital and organizational capital), and innovativeness and the impact of innovativeness on company growth.
Recognizing that the modern economy is a knowledge-based and information-based economy convinces that it is the intellectual, reputational and informational resources that, as a result, bring in higher income, gradually becoming «background» resources, basic and most strategically important for the modern enterprises. However, it must be stated that these resource components, including reputation, which increasingly influence the increment in profitability and stability of the company, are undervalued in terms of economic science and practice.
Modern processes of development of the economic system of society have not only led to an increase in the role of employees of the organization in operational processes, but also determined its leading place in the production of added value and outside these processes, changing the system of values and human needs, translating them into the sphere of intangible ones, encouraging to their own realization -intellectual or moral. The growing role of the intellectual capital of an enterprise, which allows to create insignificant value, is evidenced by the fact that the market value of a modern enterprise can be ten or hundreds times greater than the value of its balance sheet assets (2001).
The topic of research, human capital, emerges as perhaps the most valuable treasures of new organizations. In the research Hakan Koça (2017) [6], sectoral differentiation of the 15 competencies which constitute the human capital has been tried to be revealed. In the survey, it was examined what level of sectoral differentiation is in the scope of the 15 competence criteria that make up the human capital, which is a subcomponent of the intellectual capital, and in which sector these competences are more concentrated. It is seen that 7 competence criteria (work oriented features, competition and conflict, creative thinking, conceptual thinking, team work, selfconfidence) are higher in the tourism sector and 5 competence criteria (know-how, Job evaluation, changeability, analytical thinking) are at a higher level in the automotive sector and there is no differentiation in the 3 competence criteria (entrepreneurship, problem solving, use of initiative).
In the article of Elena A. Dzhandzhugazova, Ekaterina A. Blinova та інших (2017) [8] use of intellectual resources at the macroeconomic level demonstrates to what extent countries and regions are prepared to switch to a knowledge-based development model; the business processes based on the use of intellectual resources in the aggregate and their individual structural elements are assessed at company level; the objects of intellectual property or human competence are individually assessed at the level of intellectual potential holder or knowledge holder. Use of intellectual resources in the tourism and hospitality industry is an important development path for this segment, especially within the framework of the development of a tertiary economy sector, the switch from material production to services, and the implementation of a modern knowledge economy paradigm.  To the ques reputation ent and resp ace -«hig n the fourth 5.4%). In t in the ratin Fig. 4).   -tour operators are announcing vacancies in a rather vague and unspecified manner in reporting job requirements for applicants that are searching for certain positions, which makes it impossible to formulate the competencies a job seeker should possess. Hence, most potential employees are unable to identify their capabilities and wishes with the employers' requirements; -the management of tour operators does not pay attention to the formation of the HRbrand, preferring to the formation of the overall image and reputation of the tourist company. As a result, there is a significant staff turnover in companies that are in the top 10 leading employers in the tourism sector; not formed intellectual capital of organizations, that affects the performance.
Well-Formed Intellectual Capital And Reputation Capital. Professional competence of the staff of tourism enterprises consists of the primary competence of basic education of employees plus practical experience and actualization of knowledge taking into account the level of new knowledge and skills acquired. The importance of forming HR brand enhances the company's reputation as a reliable partner. High dependence on the actions of partners, honesty in the execution of obligations, together with difficult-to-predict market conditions lead to financial losses, which affect the image of the company. This again confirms the relevance of our research and the identification of interdependent factors influencing the formation of intellectual capital of tourism enterprises.
In a market situation, the company's reputation is not only the recognition of the best enterprises on a professional basis, but also the mechanism of partnership stability and business strategy of the company, proven by many sources. Finally, considering the multiplicity of criteria in the ratings, its results will allow its participants to evaluate their work indirectly, adjusting further strategic perspectives. A positive reputation, becoming a reputation capital, increases the competitiveness of a commercial organization in the market, attracts consumers and partners, increases sales and the number of customers loyal to the product and company.
The value of image and business reputation can transform reputation potential into a resource, and from there into capital, which transforms consumer confidence in a product and a company, as well as trust in partnerships into a financial resource. Business image, reputation, trademark, branding concept belong to the priority marketing innovations of enterprises. Ukrainian tour operators have started to have public relation departments within the marketing departments, whose main task is to create a favorable image of the organization based on high business reputation.
Consideration of reputation capital as a multiplier of steady growth of work productivity of tourist company causes necessity of formation of socio-economic and organizational conditions system of intellectual capital development, which requires development of company's reputation within the overall corporate strategy and creation of mechanisms for realization of this strategy. Extension of organization's reputation implies purposeful organizational work of the whole collective of the enterprise that derives from its functional role in the market economystrengthening of competitive positions in the market due to HR-branding, attracting the best of the best specialists and high competence of the personnel, which allows the enterprise to organize socially responsible business trusted in the environments both internal and external. It facilitates the organization's access to all other types of resources and affects the ease of doing business. In the face of monopolistic competition, reputation capital in general can be the only possible factor of the survival and development of a company through the confidence of consumers and partners not even to the manufactured product, but to the company itself (its social activities -consumers; personally to its leadership -government and partners).
Conclusions. The process of capitalization of intangible assets is much more efficient, which determines the expediency of shifting the emphasis in the accumulation of capital towards its intangible part. Intellectual capital functions not only within the production of value added, but also beyond, changing the system of values and human needs, bringing them into the intangible sphere, prompting their own realization -intellectual or moral.
The use of innovative technologies formation of intellectual capital contributes to the emergence of creative thinking, that is, the ability not only to think creatively, but to produce innovative ideas independently; creates / strengthens the corporate spirit of the company; helps to develop a positive internal reputation (by employees), which positively influences the formation of the external reputation of the organization.
The right policy for the formation of human resources forms a particular professional intellect, and the using of it in terms of entrepreneurial activity transforms it into intellectual capital for the firm and into intellectual property for the employee. The successful implementation of cobranding (a joint brand «employee company») enhances the image and reputation components that are intended to ensure financial results, and their presence at the proper level is the most important condition for strategic development of the company in the long term, even in the conditions of fierce competitive struggle.
From a practical component in assessing the intellectual potential of tourism businesses, the latter would be appropriate to suggest: -in order to attract intellectual resources, companies should start work on forming the employer brand of HR-branding through: participation in the formation of tourism policy, leadership in professional forums and ratings; communicate with potential employees and students, through lectures from leading tourism professionals for the student audience; -to provide opportunities for the professional growth of its employees, also through internships in other offices of the corporation abroad to study the cross-cultural characteristics of the tourism business more closely; -to disseminate the practice of cooperation with universities on formation of the future candidates pool, provision of dual education; organization/sponsorship of professional competitions (such as the Student Science Contest «Future of the Tourism Industry» conducted by the national tour operator «TPG» or start-up competitions held by KNUTE with an invitation to evaluate the quality of work and innovative ideas of start-up investors and interested companies in developing their potential; -to complement the tour operator's brand with the НR brand strategy with hightech innovative operations cycles that may be or already is an industry leader and thus enhance the prestige of working in these organizations.