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The aim of this study is to use material flow cost accounting (MFCA) to assess the level at which cleaner production (CP) can improve both environmental and economic performance of an organization. Higher energy and raw material prices are causing CP to grow in relevance and importance. The amount of waste to landfill is increasing steadily. Most companies are using inefficient processes and technologies that are obsolete resulting in higher production costs, which, in turn, affect their profitability and competitiveness. This study was a case study based on a paper manufacturing company using an exploratory qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The MFCA approach was used to assess the efficiency of the steam production process using coal-fired boilers. The results indicated that the process was inefficient resulting in significant negative environmental and economic impact. Environmental costs were hugely underestimated by management, as non-product output costs were not included as part of environmental costs calculated by company. Benefits and barriers to CP was also brought to the forefront at the conclusion of this research.

Background: Scientific research publishing carries significant role in the development of the society. Apart from the dissemination of knowledge, there are also motives for publication of scientific research results at the level of individual researchers. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to propose simple, yet highly applicable advice when pursuing the publication of a paper in a scientific journal providing a closer look to economics, business and management journals that focus on Eastern European countries. Methods/Approach: The 4 Cs model of scientific writing and publication is presented, based on four questions: (1) How to pick a topic relevant for publication?; (2) How to select a journal for possible publication?; (3) How to structure the paper in accordance with the IMRAD format?, and (4) How to efficiently write the paper? Results: Step-by-step application of the 4C’s model is presented in the paper with an outlook to economics, business and management journals that focus on Eastern European countries. Conclusions: Publication in a scientific journal is an important venue for scientific researchers. In preparing the presentation of the scientific research results for the publication, number of issues relating content, style, composition and presentation should be taken into account.

The examination of decision-making styles (DMS) is crucial for understanding how individuals approach choices and form preferences. Two influential frameworks in the DMS discourse, proposed by Scott & Bruce, and Rowe, provide insightful lenses for correlating dominant styles with an array of personal characteristics. This comprehensive study delves into questionnaire results obtained in 2020 and 2022, employing methodologies aligned with Scott & Bruce, and Rowe. The survey targeted cohorts of business and military students, capturing nuanced aspects of decision-making. Introducing innovative concepts, namely submissive DMS and intensity of influence, expanded the analytical framework and facilitated a deeper understanding of decision-making dynamics. The analysis revealed substantial variations in decision-making styles within student populations, elucidating correlations with distinct personal characteristics. The incorporation of the intensity of dominance concept allowed for nuanced interpretations, particularly during the challenging COVID-19 period and the subsequent return to normalcy. The integration of proposed concepts represents a significant enrichment for future research in the field of DMS. This study underscores the critical role of evolving methodologies in elucidating the intricacies of decision-making processes. The ongoing refinement of these methodologies promises a more nuanced understanding of how individuals navigate complex decision-making scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of the paper is to describe and interpret the steps and activities that led to the development and implementation of a community-based participatory research program that involved an university, local businesses and community organizations, local autorithies and an external funder. Specifically, the paper addresses the following two questions: first, how was this program designed and implemented, and second, what lessons can be learned from this experience that might be extended to the field of community-based research generally? The instrumental case study methodology was applied and the CBPR Program considered is UniverCity Romania.

The tourism country’s competitiveness is important especially when countries strive for bigger market shares as European countries are. The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on tourism and the entire tourism industry must be rethinking and reshaping given some opportunities and challenges to the entrepreneurs, local communities, local administrations, governments of competitiveness destinations. In this paper we measured if the Google and Apple mobility indices cand predict (or not) the movement of TTCI during pandemic compared with pre-pandemic TTCI ranks by using grey system theory and statistical methods. The aim of the paper is to validate the Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) as identifier of the good predictor (statistically significant for p-value< 0.05) for European tourism competitiveness (measured by TTCI) in particular conditions, especially before and during COVID-19 pandemic time by take into consideration the Google Mobility and Apple Mobility data and their relationship with overnight stays for 11 European countries. To validate the GRA as method for good and accurate predictor for tourism competitiveness for TTCI 2021 (during COVID-19 pandemic time) a GLM – General Linear Model ANOVA with interaction effects and Tukey HSD Post Hoc Multiple Comparisons was applied. Our results validated the powerful of GRA for tourism competitiveness, statistically significant according to GLM with interaction effects, and emphasis (especially for entrepreneurs) that the overnight stays will give the right rank on top of tourism competitiveness, prior to other ITC support as Google and Apple Mobility indices proved by reflection of overnights on TTCI 2021 – during pandemic.

This paper aims to examine the changes in global value chains (GVCs) in the years 2020–2022 (times of the COVID-19 pandemic) compared to 2019 (last year before the pandemic). GVCs are illustrated by diagrams based on the statistics on international trade measured by value-added exports and imports. In this paper, the final demand approach is applied to measure international trade by value-added exports and imports and they were computed based on inter-country input-output tables delivered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The catchphrase “Made in the World” makes an impression, but in reality, value chains are rarely global. They are rather regional with three centers. “Factory Europe”, “Factory Asia”, and “Factory America” can easily be identified in the years 2019–2022 as there were three large regional supply hubs in GVCs: Germany, China, and the United States. When the years 2020–2022 were compared to 2019, “Factory Asia” with center in China elevated their position in GVCs at the expense of “Factory Europe” with center in Germany and “Factory America with center in the USA.”

Data and debates about the role of women in the digital world are gaining increasing importance in the study of gender and the digital economy. This paper explores the complex relationship of the role of women in the digital economy over the last two decades. The analysis used a review of the literature of scientific works and documents of official international institutions. All available sources indicate progress in recent years, but challenges remain. Several samples were created, and quantitative analysis assessed trends over time. The general conclusions suggest that the role of women in the digital economy is increasingly pronounced and significant. The results of the study confirm global expectations that promote the role of women in the digital economy (glass ceilings), where women work in key positions (women on boards) and participate in decision-making (glass cliffs). The regression econometric model shows that the role of women in the digital economy is increasingly important to recognize women who use Internet networks to a greater extent (business, social), those with above basic overall digital skills, as well as ICT experts. The paper ends with a list of potential recommendations for the modern framework of the digital economy.

The purpose of the current paper is to study how customer loyalty varies in time according to customer segments and external factors. In the first part of the paper, the authors have reviewed in a funnel-like manner the relevant literature, starting with relationship marketing and customer relationship management theories, and ending with customer loyalty. To achieve the paper’s research purpose, buying behavior data (recency of last transaction, buying frequency and monetary value spent) from a company’s internal information system was analyzed for 2019 and 2020, respectively. RFM model was applied on the 2019 data and resulted in three segments: heavy, medium, and low users - segments which varied in their loyalty for the year 2020. Based on the obtained findings, the authors concluded that the more intense a customer’s buying behavior is, the higher their probability is of being loyal in the future. A second conclusion assumes that customers characterized by intense buying behavior are less vulnerable to external threats, the Covid-19 pandemic in our case.

The foreign reserves sufficiency is important to maintain macroeconomic stability. The main objective of this paper is to model the behaviour of the central bank in accumulating the foreign reserves in the case of Indonesia. Unlike the previous empirical studies, this paper disaggregates the components of foreign reserves into foreign currency, securities, gold, and special drawing rights. This paper relies on the Almost Ideal Demand System combined with the Error Correction Model. The estimation result for monthly data over the period 2010(1)-2020(12) reveals that the own-price coefficients are negative and statistically significant which is consistent with the standard theory of demand. While the foreign currency-securities pairwise is substitutive, the foreign currency-gold and the foreign currency-special drawing rights pairwise are complementary or even independent. However, the wealth effect is inelastic except for securities reserves. These results imply that the central bank of Indonesia can re-balance its reserves. The securities holding which have the highest proportion of foreign reserve scan be switched to foreign currency, gold, and/or special drawing rights. The rebalancing measures would remain having an optimal level of foreign reserves holding in terms of its opportunity cost. Therefore, the monetary authority can conduct a further macroeconomic stabilisation without substantially losing the returns.

This paper investigates the dynamics of market synchronicity and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in Africa. It seeks to determine whether or not IFRS is an augmentor or inhibitor of market synchronicity in Africa. This study is not only a foundational study that unfolds the dynamics of market synchronicity and IFRS adoption in Africa but also extends the scope of synchronicity from firm-level assessment to country-level market synchronicity. It is one of the few studies which have shifted the literature on synchronicity from one largely limited to firm-level synchronicity to country-level synchronicity through analyses of cross-border market synchronisation. It employs Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) and Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) to investigate the market synchronicity-IFRS nexus. The study uses monthly data from March 2005 to November 2021 in five African markets: Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa generating 1005 observations in an 18-year data span. The paper reveals a significant negative consequence of IFRS on market synchronicity. Thus, IFRS exhibits an inhibition role in market synchronicity (reduces synchronicity) and improves price informativeness. A decreasing pattern was also observed immediately after IFRS was adopted by the stock markets and persisted for about five years. It implies that the price informativeness of stock markets through IFRS makes them good candidates for intra-Africa portfolio diversification due to reduced investors’ risk exposure to market synchronicity.

The Greek economic crisis produced severe economic and social outcomes. A massive rescue package was conditional on implementing a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies agreed upon between the Greek government and the EU, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. The extremely austere fiscal consolidation and the structural reforms accompanying the Greek Economic Adjustment Programmes reduced the country’s GDP. Implementing the austerity policies on the Greek National Health System, which was already facing structural problems, reduced the quality and availability of public health care services. This paper investigates the impact of the GDP change on public healthcare expenditures (HCE) from 2000 to 2018. The empirical analysis reveals a statistically significant positive correlation between the GDP per capita and public healthcare expenditure (HCE) from 2000 to 2014 while the effect of GDP on HCE after the 2015 remains unchanged. This paper contributes to the field’s literature since it determines the impact of GDP on public HCE, specifically matched with empirical results to derive conclusive answers.

This paper is devoted to the cognitive biases of decoy pricing, which has become the subject of interest of retail companies in recent years. The paper analyses the principles of the decoy effect with regard to consumer behaviour in the Czech Republic (which represents customers of the Eastern Europe). The analytical part of the paper focuses on examination of often irrational consumer decision-making process, with respect to age, gender, product group, and other factors. A combination of questionnaire survey (N=200) and interviews (N=32) was used. The results indicate a significant influence of the generation the consumer belongs to, further differences in decision-making according to gender, as well as differences in effects in various product categories. The findings may be utilised by companies considering the use of decoy pricing strategies in the Czech market.

Artificial intelligence (AI) sparked the attention of both researchers and the business community worldwide and has become a buzzword. Similarly, (business) sustainability emerged as a prominent and pivotal concept. Given the rapid evolution of the technological advancement in AI and its potential impact(s), this paper aims to identify the ways in which AI crosses paths with business sustainability, to provide an overview of the topic and to uncover research trends using a bibliometric approach. In order to reach the research goal of the paper, we investigated the academic literature published and indexed in Scopus database using computer assisted quantitative techniques on bibliometric data and with the help of VOSviewer we visually emphasized the interconnections between fields and results. Ultimately, the present paper intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the symbiotic relationship between AI and business sustainability, by providing insights that are purposed to enhance the academic discourse in a rapidly evolving domain.

Studies in Business and Economics (SBE) is an open access journal owned by Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania). The paper’s objective is to present a palette of quantitative data regarding the performance of the journal between 2017 and 2022. The paper contains a comprehensive bibliometric study of the journal and an authorship pattern analysis. The sample contains 328 articles indexed in Web of Science (WoS) database. Results shows a significant growth in the number of citations of the SBE journal starting with WoS/Scopus indexation. The leading contributors to the journal are (a) authors (Ogrean C., Herciu M.), (b) institutions (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Bucharest University of Economic Studies), (c) countries (Romania, the USA). The most predominant are papers with a single author (37%), which means that 17% of the authors prefers to write and publish an article by itself. The largest number of authors are implied in three co-authored papers. On average, a paper published in SBE is elaborated by 2.12 scholars. 63% of papers published in SBE have more than two authors and 83% of scholars prefer co-authorship publications. The following key-topics were preferred by authors: impact, economic growth, performance. The indexing of SBE in WoS and Scopus led to an increase in the interest of researchers to publish in this journal.

The fast-paced development and evolution of the marketing concept in the last decade has generated the need to delve into the past to understand the future. Therefore, the current paper aims to bring forth a better understanding of the evolution of the concept of marketing thought, while doing a bibliometric analysis on the papers that mention the term “marketing thought” in their title and / or abstract. The findings of the literature review as well as the results of the analysis are representing a starting point in the process of continuing the research undertaken by authors in the 20th century and, thus providing a starting point in the development of new marketing theories on the evolution of the marketing thought in a time governed by the internet, social media, artificial intelligence, or online consumer behaviour.

The preservation and promotion of cultural heritage has been a major focus of European and international policy makers and researchers. Access to it is transformational (europeana.eu), which is why new technologies seem to be a good opportunity in doing so, especially in education. The young generation (Gen Z) is one of digital natives, as a result of their early exposure to the Internet and electronic gadgets. Thus, they usually expect more engaging experiences. At the same time, games have a powerful role in improving key skills and competencies required for success in education and professional life (Pellegrino, Hilton, 2012). Thus, this paper reviews available literature, exploring opportunities for cultural heritage sites through digital storytelling and gamification. A detailed bibliometric analysis provides insights about the progression of scientific papers related to cultural heritage and new technologies. Data was extracted from Scopus and mapped with VOSviewer visualization tool. Literature on Generation Z perception on cultural heritage is scarce. Even research on perception on cultural heritage of different generations is limited, with papers published in the last 2-3 years.

This paper presents an analysis of the perceptions surrounding the traditional and alternative educational systems. The aim of this study is to explore the various perspectives and attitudes towards these two approaches to education, considering their strengths and weaknesses. The analysis draws upon a comprehensive review of existing literature, examining both empirical research and theoretical frameworks. The data was collected with a questionnaire and a logistic regression equation was estimated with the help of SPSS 23 statistical software. The variable of interest was education system (traditional and alternative) and the independent variables were the following attributes: main benefits, capability, growth mindset, gender, age and degree. The findings reveal a wide range of perceptions and opinions, with proponents of the traditional system emphasizing its long-standing effectiveness and familiarity, while supporters of alternative approaches highlight their adaptability and potential for innovation. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these perceptions for policymakers, educators, and students, and suggests avenues for future research.

The paper aims to examine the evolving retail sector in recent years, specifically how digitalisation and technological innovations have transformed it. All actors have had to adapt to remain competitive. Notably, a new innovation in the retail sector, namely the checkout-free or cashierless store, emerged in 2018. Systematic literature is relied upon to achieve the study's objectives. The significance of this study lies in the use of multiple IT tools such as AI, cameras, sensors, and self-organising shelves to replace human intervention in the retail sector. Globally, several startup companies have developed this new unmanned solution, and Amazon Go stands out as one of the most well-known among them. The primary objective of this pioneering concept is to enhance efficiency by saving time and reducing queues. The aim is to enable customers to enter and exit the store with minimal human contact as quickly as possible. This paper presents the recent trend of the cashierless concept, its evolution, and proliferation. A systematic literature review and data analysis from the Crunchbase Database were conducted. The findings demonstrate that this recent concept is altering both consumers’ purchasing behaviours and companies’ business models. This paper provides novel perspectives and insights into the wider literature on cashierless concepts and smart retail in the context of digital business.

In the current context, the focus on optimizing energy distribution is intensified by high-impact events such as resource scarcity, import dependence, war, inflation, or environmental threats. As a consequence, international agencies have built extensive policies and targets that will reflect directly into the general energy distribution. One of the most crucial would be the 65% share of electricity that is bound to be generated from renewables until 2030. To study the feasibility of that goal, we will analyze the evolution of the energy mix worldwide in the last two decades, identifying the shift towards alternative energy sources, while also pinpointing the agents of change in terms of the low-carbon transition. The methodology will consist of a bootstrap clustering algorithm that has been computed for 3 moments: 2000, 2010, and 2020, generating clear differences in terms of energy distribution. In the second part of the paper, we have employed an ARIMA model that aims to predict the share of renewable energy by 2030, with the worrying conclusion that if the current rhythm continues, the goal will not be met and the climate could face severe consequences. Therefore, the paper significantly contributes to the methodological void in terms of bootstrap clustering applicability, while also illustrating a complete energy picture from a geographical and time perspective.

The increased price of energy and the limited resources of the planet have increased the worldwide attention to renewable energy resources. The purpose of this paper is to present the European context regarding these renewable sources. In addition, the evolution over time of some indicators relevant to this field is described for better shaping the general audience’s understanding of the current status on the renewable sources. Using a statistical approach, the paper ranks the member states in terms of the consumption of renewable resources in areas such as transport and electricity. Throughout the research, it has been noted that there are significant differences between member states. An example to reinforce what was previously described is the fact that, for the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption, the minimum value is approximately eight times lower than the maximum. Additionally, forecasting methods of indicators analysed based on historical data were applied to establish the course of EU27 countries for the year 2030, when the implementation period of the Sustainable Development Goals ends.

Gold holdings increased during recent time. Geopolitical factors could be responsible for such shift taking into account rising number of conflicts in the world since 2014. However, optimal share for gold in external assets is still disputable. The paper provides empirical tests to identify political economy factors of central bank’s gold holdings. The paper imply two empirical approaches: analysis of how gold reserves in tones and as a share of reserves distributed among the countries with different political regimes; logit regression to identify role of political economy factors that may push countries’ switch to gold. Results of empirical analysis shows that political regime itself is not obvious driving force of gold share. Excluding developed countries, it is possible to see that autocracies do not outperform democracies in terms of mean and median share of gold systematically. Countries demonstrated shifts toward gold early then reference point of 2014 year despite political regime. Logit regression also helps to see that countries heavily have being exposing to gold are more likely hoarding large exchange reserves and politically stable. Proxies of geopolitical aggressiveness are valid with some covenants. While Global Peace Index is well proxy to identify geopolitical preconditions of countries’ switch to gold, military expenditures are not. This means that geopolitical motives of gold hoarding probably work directly and indirectly through exchange reserves accumulation and supportive political stability. Geopolitical aggressiveness that coincides with only large military expenditures but not with reserves accumulation is likely to stand on weak economic ground.

This paper examines and reviews the fundamental challenges that academicians face when using the event study methodology to assess the long-term consequences of financial events on the economy and to describe market reactions. Numerous studies have demonstrated that businesses can experience abnormal returns from 1 to 5 years after major financial events. Also, this paper investigates the long-run price performance of initial public offerings (IPOs) in Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The sample period expands from 2018 to 2022. Various findings are obtained by employing several analytical methods. First, long-run price performance of IPOs is negative, and a strong evidence shows that the long-run performance is sensitive to the benchmark employed. To assess the long-term performance of IPOs, I used both cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) and buy-and-hold abnormal returns (BHAR) as aggregated models. I explained the methodology which is adopted in this study in detail for the event–time approach. However, I used the crucial values for the skewness-adjusted t-statistic to infer statistical tests. Even though BHAR provided weaker results, all methods indicated negative long-run abnormal returns for IPOs. Yet this performance varied when comparing the performance utilizing ASEI, Fama–French three-factor (FF3F), and matching firm (MF) as benchmarks.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the relation between a company’s indebtedness and its value. We used a sample of 20 North Macedonian companies, listed on the Macedonian Stock Exchange (MSE) mandatory listing, and the data for 6 years’ time span. In the paper, we use Panel Data models (Pooled OLS regression, Fixed and Random Effects models) to estimate the relation between debt financing and the company’s value measured by return on assets (ROA) and Tobin’s Q. According to the results of short-term debt has a statistically significant and negative impact, while the return on investments in human capital (HCROI), company’s size and current ratio have a positive and statistically significant impact on the ROA. When investigating the impact of indebtedness on a company’s value measured by Tobin’s Q, short-term and long-term debt have positive and statistically significant effects. Our research suggests that while debt increases a company’s indicators for market performance, it also decreases the company’s accounting operating performance. Therefore, when analyzing a company’s value, investors should be considering not only Tobin’s Q, which can be sometimes regarded as a market-to-book value ratio, but also to look at the fundamental ratios, such as ROA, ROE (return on equity) and EPS (earnings per share).

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the travel habits of Ukrainian tourists changed after the beginning of the 2022 war in Ukraine in comparison to the year 2021. The theoretical part of the paper discusses the impacts of war on tourism; in the empirical part, the secondary and the primary research on the Ukrainians’ travel habits before and during the war is performed. The research gives an insight into the frequency of travelling, planned spending on travel, ethnic dilemmas on travelling, and travel destinations. The research is essential in the context of war and post-war periods for understanding the psychological and behavioral effects, assessing economic consequences, addressing destination marketing and recovery efforts, and facilitating reconciliation and social integration. Research limitations include the scope and generalizability of the findings, self-reporting biases, causality and temporal issues, and limited timeframe and context.

Sales growth is essential for an enterprise’s survival and financial growth. If an enterprise manages to achieve sales growth, its expansion can be accomplished. However, does sales growth always have only positive effects? If the enterprise is not collecting enough cash, it can miss a payment on its debt, triggering a series of events that can lead to its insolvency. The goal of the paper is to explore the relationship between an enterprise's sales growth and its insolvency. The relationship is tested empirically on the data set of 4271 SMEs in Croatia. The results confirmed that there is a relationship between sales growth and insolvency. Better indicators exist with solvent and growing SMEs than with insolvent and non-growing. Results have also shown that high growth can be at the same time a high risk. The paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between sales growth and insolvency and empirically demonstrates that sales growth over 200% per year induces the highest probability of insolvency compared to other lower levels of growth.

The purpose of this paper is to present two empirical approaches of estimating/approximating the size of cultural tourism in Romania based on existing data at municipality level. These approaches have been labelled ‘the potential supply approach’ (based on municipalities with man-made tourism resources as dominant resource) and ‘the demand approach’ (based on municipalities that register visitors in museums). Number of tourists (arrivals) in accommodation establishments was considered the benchmark statistical indicator. The analysis of Pearson correlation between number of tourists and number of visitors in museums was also included, and municipalities where this correlation is positive and statistically significant were grouped in eight clusters. The results revealed a strong concentration of tourism in big cities that are both cultural and tourism destinations as well as a correlation between tourism and culture data for 67 municipalities (out of 284). However, the precise size of cultural tourism is difficult to be quantified in the lack of any specific demand-side survey regarding travel purposes and/or activities undertaken during tourism trips and within such purposes/activities, cultural tourism to be separately identified. But, in these circumstances, the two approaches presented in this paper can outline only a maximum size of cultural tourism in the country.

The present-day interconnected global society has seen a diminished significance of borders and a growing interdependence between companies and their stakeholders. For every organization the influence wielded by these key stakeholders plays a pivotal role. The interdependence between stakeholders and corporate sustainability forms the foundation for generating economic, social, and environmental performance, as well as long-term sustainable value for the stakeholder ecosystem. The aim of the paper is to examine significant aspects related to the stakeholder dimension of corporate sustainability. This research employs a methodology that draws upon both literature review and bibliometric analysis, performed using VOSviewer. The research has identified stakeholder engagement as a critical and emerging theme. Moreover, a modern stakeholder approach is essential for understanding stakeholder dynamics holistically. Amid current challenges, a growing discourse advocates a multi-stakeholder approach, recognizing wider society and the natural environment as important stakeholders. In the context of sustainability, key trends include: promoting a pro-sustainability mindset among all stakeholders, fostering shared interests in sustainability, and empowering stakeholders to advocate for nature and sustainable development. The paper concludes with recommendations derived from the research results, providing insights for academics, researchers, and managers in formulating and implementing corporate strategies aligned with sustainability opportunities and challenges.

This paper explores the potential of social entrepreneurship education (SEE) as a means to foster sustainable businesses. SEE is defined as a pedagogical approach that aims to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes of students to address social and environmental challenges through entrepreneurial solutions. The paper reviews the literature on SEE and its impact on students’ entrepreneurial intentions, behaviors and outcomes. It also presents a conceptual framework that links SEE to the dimensions of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. The paper argues that SEE can enhance students’ awareness of sustainability issues, stimulate their motivation to create positive change, and equip them with the tools and methods to design and implement sustainable business models. The paper concludes with some implications for policy and practice, as well as suggestions for future research.

With the consistent failure of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) globally, many scholars have developed entrepreneurial marketing (EM) models that are aimed at reducing the failure frequently experienced. The aim of this paper is to critically review the different EM models from 2002 to 2022. In pursuit of this aim, the paper reviewed 10 EM models to find out their strengths and shortfalls. The review found that some research constructs such as market sensing and teamwork, which were ignored, were identified as posing a significant contribution to business survival in the integrative EM model. The paper concludes that since different EM models have been developed to reduce the consistent failure of business, efforts should be intensified towards adopting the integrative EM model to measure its applicability in other sectors as well as to have a unified and acceptable EM model that will grow and sustain SMEs.

Cultural intelligence (CQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) represent key competencies of multicultural leadership in the new normal global business environment. This paper aims to present a comparative quantitative study concerning emotional and cultural intelligences in USA and Romania, backed by a brief geo-linked bibliometric literature review. The bibliometric analysis is performed with VOSviewer for the works focusing on these two variables published in USA and, respectively, in Romania. Inspired by the findings of this comparative analysis, it is performed a quantitative research based on 604 questionnaires distributed to managers in USA and in Romania, and on statistical processing using SPSS software. The statistical results show that both CQ and EQ constitute significant vectors in developing multicultural leadership and organizational performance in a multicultural business environment for both USA and Romania. The comparative study reveals a higher level of CQ and EQ in the Romanian business environment than in USA. The difference could be explained by the focus on rationality and profit maximization in the American business education. The contribution of the paper comes from these findings and they can help researchers and practitioners to stimulate their efforts in improving CQ and EQ competences.

In this paper, we investigate the impact of macroprudential policy measures (bundled together into a macroprudential policy index, MPI) on the non-financial corporate sector credit and household credit growth using a one-step system GMM empirical research method. The goal of our paper is to test whether contractionary macroprudential policy stymies credit growth rate and whether expansionary macroprudential policy spurs credit growth rate in selected Euro Area economies (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain) over the period 2008Q4–2018Q4. We test two hypotheses: H1: The tightening of macroprudential policy measures reduces the non-financial corporate sector credit growth rate, and H2: The tightening of macroprudential policy measures reduces the growth rate of household credit. Based on our empirical results, we can confirm the first hypothesis. In contrast, the second hypothesis can be neither confirmed nor rejected since the explanatory variable of interest (MPI) is statistically insignificant in the second model.

International capital movement in the form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by multinational enterprises (MNEs) signifies a widely researched phenomenon in comprehensive review of the FDI literature. Its vastness makes it impossible to fathom its depth, as such the paper highlights what the author considers to be mainstream theories in the domain of empirical studies on FDI. This study critically reviews (FDI) literature over a period of 70 years from 1950 to 2020 to provide a theoretical lens for future research beyond the established models. The discussion covers the mode of FDI inflows, statistical methods applied, theoretical models, contributions to paradigms and empirical papers investigating FDI. Furthermore, the papers selected cover heterogenous geographical regions, while in certain papers FDI has been studied as a dependent variable in others as an independent one. The focus lies on the FDI and its resultant activities of MNEs in the form of subsidiaries to carry out market seeking, strategic asset-seeking and efficiency seeking activities. Though, most researchers have narrowed down to four determinants of FDI i.e., motives of MNEs for undertaking FDI, size of MNEs, entry modes into host country and investments sector recently, many works have applied formal theories to provide a framework for market failure such as holdup problems, non-fulfillment of contracts and related agency costs. It is concluded that FDI has evolved into a significant area of empirical investigation. Overall, the gaps and opportunities in existing literature are identified thereby directions for further research emerge.

Performance management, as a systematic and continuous process of planning, measuring and improving performance, is an important endeavor for any organization, regardless of being private or public. To understand the current state of research on performance management, a comprehensive bibliometric study was conducted. This paper aims to provide a co-occurrence analysis to identify and explore clusters, prevailing and emerging themes, and future research directions. For this purpose data was collected from the WoS database and processed with VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel. The paper contains visual representations of clusters, keywords and their relationships, as well as an analysis of the novelty of the concepts. Based on the average published year (APY), the hottest keywords identified are Covid-19 (APY: 2021), followed by Industry 4.0 (APY: 2020.17), together with other 4IR tools (big data analytics, big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud, Iot, etc.). Resulting from the analysis of concepts with APY after 2017, in terms of their representativeness (occurrence), links, and total link strengths (TLS) with other items from the map, three concepts significantly emerged: framework (Cluster 1); public sector (Cluster 3); sustainability (Cluster 4). Based on the overall findings, new research directions were proposed.

The current paper deals with a rarely studied subject in the Romanian academic field, that of developing a profile of organized crime entities. The aim of the paper is to present the findings of a qualitative indepth-interview based research that was designed (using 11 specific objectives and 15 interviews) to identify how criminal entities are organized in the sense of structure, communication, hierarchy levels, member recruitment etc. The qualitative research was applied to law enforcement employees, prosecutors (former and active ones) and active and former members of organized crime that can help achieve the research objectives. Being structured in several sections (literature review, research methodology, research findings, conclusions and discussions) the current article represents the first step in understanding the way criminal entities are being organized and if the organizational method and management style mach that of economic (legal organized) entities. The results of the research and using as backround the literature review, have generated several interesting future hypothesis regarding the organization of criminal entities that can and are being tested with the help of a quantitative research method in an attempt to identify the best methods and strategies that the law enforcement entities can use to combat illegal activities.

Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new concept in Estonia and measuring the social impact of enterprises is not yet the norm. It has gained more awareness during recent years and therefore several support instruments have been established. The aim of the paper is to provide a framework for impact analysis of an incubator and analysis of the evaluation of the program for social enterprises according to the designed framework. The incubation program itself was piloted at a higher education institution. The paper addresses the concept of social enterprises, new social venture creation, incubation by a higher education institution and its impact on social enterprises. While the development of enterprises is a common topic, the research on social impact incubators is still scarce. The study is characterised by a descriptive and an exploratory study design. The paper explores the social enterprise incubator through mixed-method two-stage content analysis of the applications and self-analysis reports of the participants of the incubator. In the process of the content analysis, qualitative data analysis is used. Finally, the paper concludes that the incubator was successful as it helped the social enterprises to become sustainable and enhanced their social impact. The limitation of the research is the evaluation design which addresses measuring the successfulness of the incubation immediately after the end of the programme and not in the long-term. The study contributes to the literature on measuring the successfulness of incubation processes and on the practice of incubating new social ventures with social impact.

Constantly changing environment, rapid pace of technological development and increased competition have a significant impact on the working environment and the psycho-emotional state of employees. Stress, a human response to unpleasant environmental factors, is one of the most common problems. It affects the physiological and psychological states, and a long-term stressful environment may even cause irreparable damage. From an organisational point of view, it affects performance, job satisfaction, motivation, social relationships, and overall success and goal achievement. The aim of the paper is to present organisational stress in a positive context, which stimulates new ideas and methods, increases performance and professionalism of employees. To explore the issue, recent literature and research papers are discussed. The main conclusion is that coping with stress depends on the management and the employee’s personality. If appropriately managed and on time, it can become a stimulator of innovation and new ways of dealing with various challenges; moreover, it can increase performance. Organisations must have pre-defined approaches and methods, as well as relevant knowledge, to respond in a timely manner and promote both employee and organisational development.

This research paper aims to identify the factors, components, and key aspects that significantly contribute to the establishment of a sustainable business ecosystem through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis. By analysing prominent publications, we seek to describe coherent strategies with an expected impact. Our objectives encompass exploring trends from both theoretical perspectives, such as predictions by scientists, and empirical perspectives, including figures derived from studies. We outline several secondary objectives that guide our step-by-step approach. Firstly, we identify defining elements of a sustainable business environment based on insights from specialized literature. Secondly, we categorize ecosystems into different types, such as economic, digital, ecological, and entrepreneurial, providing further elaboration later in the paper. Thirdly, we present an updated understanding of the dynamic evolution of ecosystems and their components. This includes examining the influence of digital advancements and digitalization on the business environment, as well as the opportunities and threats they generate. Of particular importance is the role of universities as a significant landmark within the business ecosystem. We discuss the university's involvement in technological and informational transfer to ensure sustainability, focusing on the levers through which universities consolidate and stimulate the business ecosystem. To achieve our objectives, we employ bibliometric analysis, utilizing the VOSviewer software, which offers valuable insights for constructing diagnostic schemes and development models tailored to specific business environment challenges. The research methodology relies on the VOSviewer software for processing academic publication databases. To align with the theme and purpose of this study, we selected the SCOPUS database for its implicit certification of superior academic quality in the publications it contains.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the teacher in facilitating student-centred teaching. Central to that is to understand the association between teachers as a leader and learners as a leader. The paper demonstrates that within HE leadership and engagement in the classroom positively influences the behaviour of the learners. Positive classroom behavior leads to improving learner participation. The focus is on facilitating HE learners’ responsible behavior for them to utilise their maximum potential. This research study has considered the experiences of students of Higher Education in a UK private institution only. Therefore, the findings and results may, or may not be, the same for students studying beyond HE, or for those studying in public sector Universities, or those studying outside of the UK. This paper makes two different contributions. Firstly, it contributes to the literature on the methods for improving learners’ educational motivation in general. Secondly, it strengthens understanding of the combined responsibility of teacher leaders and students as leaders in providing educational motivation for students to take responsibility for their education and achieve better outcomes and promote continuous learning.

The purpose of this case study research paper is to provide unique and in-depth data and understanding of Enterprise-Wide Risk Management within the real-world context of a private HEI. The research presented adoption of risk management practices within a UK higher education (HE) setting that demonstrates the evolution of processes towards enterprise-wide educational governance in support of a sustainable HE sector. Effectively managing enterprise wide risk ensures sustainability is on the governance agenda. Within this research paper a wide spectrum of risk management practices and theories is assessed and a case study review shows a mature adoption, over time, of a holistic approach to managing risk. This research paper therefore, provides valuable lessons learned and gives practical guidance for policy makers, governors and senior management in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The case study organisation provides a best practice view of enterprise-wide risk management system taking guidance from global standards, national regulatory bodies, universities, colleges and experts in risk management from all levels. The main gap in current published knowledge presented is that the drivers for successfully implementing sustainable risk management in the HE sector are not known. The research questions have led the inquiry to provide three contributions to a better understanding of adopting Enterprise-Wide Risk Management in HE with a new roadmap for implementation; thematic direction for governance; and six drivers for successfully implementing sustainable risk strategies.

History taught us that the best time to talk about adaptability and innovation is that of disruption, crisis and adverse conditions. This research paper addresses the pre- and post-pandemic learning environment in terms of online and classroom delivery. The main objective of this research paper is to analyze factors that have been impacted by the shift from face-to-face (or in person) to online learning practices, assessing elements related to a learning session as: logistics, participation adoption, tools, feedback and geographical span. As research method, the approach incorporates a case study on the European population of one of the major players in the service industry in analyzing European relevant training data points, over a period of three years. Reasoning of data comparison is aligned to data relevance, hence one-year pre pandemic versus two years in the forced virtual delivery of pandemic conditions. The main aspects under research were aiming for a found analysis of a sustainable shift while understanding the implications of such changes. The result of the study shows a positive learning landscape, with multiple opportunities for those ready to adapt, a trusted tool for sustainability and yet at the early age of becoming one of the core elements for keeping relevant in the business imperatives. The element of novelty in this study suggests impact, shift, dependability and responsibility for learning at scale; and the global impact of the adapted learning opportunities, such as awareness, relevance and adoption rate of learning offerings.

Mergers and/or acquisitions (M&A) are important business operations for firms that wish to diversify, become stronger and more competitive. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of M&A announcements on the abnormal stock returns of firms listed on the Portugal and Spain stock exchanges. The empirical work analyzed 29 trades in the PSI-20 and 25 trades in the IBEX-35, since the year 2000, using the event study methodology. Most of the research investigates corporate combinations that take place in international markets and among large firms. Therefore, a first contribution of this paper is to study the phenomenon in smaller markets and firms. The results suggest that the two markets react differently to announcements of M&A. Overall, the findings seem to show that in the Portuguese market the joint firms present average gains and that in the Spanish market the joint firms present average losses, bidders have sharper reactions and targets have higher losses. The study also indicates that the abnormal returns of the Portuguese firms (especially the bidders) and the Spanish bidding firms tended to stabilize around a week after the announcement date. This conclusion is another useful contribution of the paper for academics and decision makers of corporate restructuring.

In the knowledge-based society, knowledge workers ares the most important resource for organisations, and they are increasingly striving to attract and retain them. One of the tools that organisations are using more and more frequently lately is growing job satisfaction. Studies in recent years have shown that, companies with a high level of job satisfaction tend to have higher profitability and productivity and reduced knowledge worker turnover. All this justifies the growing interest of management of modern organizations in identifying the level of employee satisfaction and methods of increasing it. The aim of the paper is to present to readers with all these concepts, to determine to what extent the concept of job satisfaction is known by knowledge workers and what elements are taken into account to measure the level of job satisfaction and the frequency of their use. We are aware that it is not enough to present only the theory of a complex economic concept, therefore we have carried out and present in the paper the second part of our research addressing these issues.

While the positive and negative effects of insider trading have been discussed in the each firm levels, there is little evidence for the effects of insider trading on financial markets. This paper aims to provide empirical evidence for the effects of insider trading in the capital market. This study examines the association between insider trading and information asymmetry in firms with certain information environments. If capital market regulation for insider trading is effective and companies are well-governed, the positive rather than negative effects of insider trading in the capital market will be enhanced. The empirical results indicate that insider selling (buying) in firms with high ratios of foreign share ownership is associated with a decrease in stock volatility (market liquidity). The results in this paper enables policy makers and practitioners to understand the impact of corporate insider trading on outsiders in the capital market. Our findings may also help to reform regulation of insider trading as it is applied in real business environments, especially in firms with high levels of information asymmetry.

The association between selling orientation and customer orientation and sales success has been a matter of intensive research since the publication of the selling orientation-customer orientation (SOCO) score in the early 1980’s. However, which attitudes predispose salespeople for high perfor-mance remains elusive. In addition, the association between customer orientation may be curvilinear and depend on the selling situation – and little research has been devoted to business-to-business (B2B) sales. This paper aims at starting to close those knowledge gaps through the development of a self-assessment tool for attitudes of salespeople. An extension of the 10-item SOCO score is developed through literature research in sales/business development and on service orientation in other settings. The score was subsequently validated through feedback by sales scholars. The extended score adds a dimension that tests whether professional salespeople consider the sales process as a service (SPAS) that should provide value beyond the identification of the best offering. Response rates by sales scholars was low, resulting in the need for further validation of the candidate SOCO-SPAS score. Business-to-business (B2B) relationships are an essential but understudied area of economics. The current paper provides a means to assess the relationship between attitudes and sales performance in modern B2B sales, by extending a scoring system that has originally been developed for B2C sales and many years in the past when market conditions were different than today.

This paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in a sample of 10 ex-socialist European and Asian countries. While the link between FDI and economic growth has been extensively investigated in empirical literature, this paper contributes to this literature by econometrically investigating the effects of FDI inflows in specific sectors using the panel data estimation techniques. In addition to confirming the positive impact of total FDI inflows on economic growth, using the WiiW (the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies) FDI database, which disentangles the FDI data across different industries, the paper finds significant effects of FDI inflows in manufacturing on growth, whereas FDI inflows in other sectors are only sporadically statistically significant. This finding serves as a basis for further investigation of the specific subsectors (NACE 2-letter classification) within manufacturing, and the empirical investigation finds that not all FDI inflows within manufacturing enhance economic growth.

The area of entrepreneurship education is developing rapidly, potentially conveying positive effects to business education, innovation and economies. Our paper seeks to analyse the entrepreneurial intention of a group of higher education students, and the data includes 29 interviews, administered to students of Portuguese higher education institutions. The results obtained allowed to confirm some of the aspects described in the literature, although a few divergences were also found. It was also possible to clarify some of the theories associated with barriers to entrepreneurship. The main limitations are related with the sample size, opening space for future research with larger samples. The most important implications relate to the identified need for very specific topics in entrepreneurship education. However, the key contribution of the paper also lies in its qualitative research approach.

The success of the organization is based on the quality of human resources, their competencies, motivation, loyalty, and their business results. The basic aim of this research is to determine whether and to what extent human resources competency management influences the business success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The empirical research was conducted in 234 SMEs in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in January 2021. An original questionnaire was created for the survey, which gathered the opinions of top managers. In the paper, human resources competency management is viewed as a process consisting of: determining the required competencies, determining current competencies and the competency gap and undertaking activities to ensure and develop the necessary competencies. For the business success of SMEs, business performance was researched through four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard (financial, customer, internal business processes and learning and growth perspective). The research results showed the correlation between the studied variables and the influence of human resources competency management on the business success of SMEs viewed from all four perspectives. The paper includes a comparison with similar research, limitations and recommendations for future research. The originality of this work lies in creating an original model of the connection between human resources competency management and business success (performance) of SMEs as viewed through four perspectives of the BSC, which has been empirically tested. Also, no such research has been conducted in B&H to investigate the influence between the human resources competency management and the business success of SMEs.

The COVID-19 virus pandemic has influenced tourism policy makers to change their decisions and management methods due to the new challenging situation. The inability to establish normal tourism business, due to difficult mobility of tourists and unfavorable epidemiological situation, has led to finding various innovative solutions that could help improve results in tourism. In addition to improve the current situation, the innovations introduced during the pandemic were aimed at bringing certain changes in the coming period, when the tourism industry is not burdened by the pandemic, which will accelerate the growth of the tourism economy. The main goal of this paper is to point out certain models of implementation of innovative solutions, which could affect the more dynamic development of tourism in Montenegro. The subject of research in this paper are innovations in tourism and their application with special reference to Montenegro. Montenegro has not yet fully recognized the importance of introducing innovations in tourism, so the next period should be dedicated to their implementation. The tourist offer of Montenegro should be enriched by the introduction of new specific forms of tourism, in order to adequately meet the demands of the main emitting markets. In addition to the innovative tourist offer, solutions should be sought in the integration of digital and virtual technologies into marketing functions, because the modern tourist business is increasingly relying on these technologies. Research has shown that it is necessary to work on creating new strategies and plans that will more studiously deal with this issue.

Research purpose. The subject of this paper is the role of e-commerce for companies in increasing their competitive advantage in the market during and after the pandemic. The paper monitors the digital transformation and e-commerce implementations in a developing country (North Macedonia) and whether this can lead to a better position in the market.

This special issue of Business Systems Research (SI of the BSR) highlights the past, current and future perspectives of digitalization in teaching economic disciplines. The emphasis has been put on digital competencies, the quality of e-learning, e-exams, digital tools, gamification, and digital and mobile technologies used in the teaching process in the field of economics. The main focus groups of the research are teachers and students from the economic field of education at both university and secondary school levels. Seven papers selected for this SI of the BSR present the digitalization era’s impact on teaching economic disciplines. The conducted research and publication of the papers are funded under the project “Challenges and practices of teaching economic disciplines in era of digitalization” (project no. 2020-1-HR01-KA202-077771), which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.