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Transition to market economy in the Republic of Serbia started with one decade of delay compared to most former socialist countries. The transition has implied liberalization of economic policies in the area of foreign direct investments, even in some industries that have been previously considered strategic. Multinational companies have used new business opportunities and acquired some of the most important and largest domestic companies. This paper analyses the impact of cross-border acquisitions on the profitability of targets in Serbian cement industry during the period 2000-2020. Serbian cement industry includes three cement plants, all of which were acquired in the process of privatization during 2002. The study analyses changes of ROA (return on assets), ROE (return on equity) and ROS (return on sale) of targets in the short term and in the long term after the acquisitions. The research results show that profitability of all companies improved both in the short term and in the long term after acquisitions. These improvements were achieved through higher cost efficiency and more efficient business asset management.

The aim of this paper is to consider the practice of subsequent measurement of property, plant and equipment in hotel companies in the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Croatia, i.e., to determine whether the preparers of financial statements make greater use of the historical cost model or the model based on fair value. The sample consists of 220 hotel companies in the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Croatia, observing their financial reports for 2019. The research reveals that most hotel companies in both countries subsequently measure owner-occupied property and plant and equipment according to the historical cost model. Hotel companies in Serbia most often apply the fair value model for subsequent measurement of investment property, while hotel companies in Croatia most often apply the historical cost model in the same context. We also find that a large number of hotel companies in the observed countries do not disclose the basis for subsequent measurement of property (including investment), plant and equipment in the notes to their financial statements, which means that the quality of financial reporting on those assets in the hotel companies should be improved.

Due to the specifics of the political and economic system in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), in the recent history of the country it has not been possible to approach the problem and challenges of economic security comprehensively and seriously. The given circumstances reinforce the need for research and analysis of economic security in BiH in order to show the real situation. This paper analyses economic security as a part of national security, with the help of relevant indicators, and then the connection of economic security with the economic development of BiH. Methods of analysis, synthesis, compilation, correlation and linear regression were applied for research purposes. The aim of the research is an empirical analysis of economic security indicators in terms of determining the degree of interconnection of key variables of economic security (public debt, availability of financial resources, technological progress, investment in fixed assets, unemployment, military investment, foreign exchange reserves, budget deficit, GDP growth rate, etc.) for the period from 2008 to 2018. The results of the research clearly reveal that economic and national security are mutually interrelated, and that economic security is a precondition for national security, which confirms the main hypothesis of this paper.

The diffusion of technology and the knowledge spillover that accompanies foreign direct investment have made all countries, especially those in transition, interested in this type of capital inflow. Accordingly, in this paper, we have applied econometric panel models to identify determinants of foreign direct investment in Central and Eastern European countries. Our results indicate that differences in foreign direct investment flow in the analysed countries can, to a large extent, be explained by traditional factors such as the availability of skilled labour force, labour costs, infrastructure quality, and market size. In addition, the quality of institutions, primarily democratic government, an independent judiciary, and the absence of corruption, also significantly influence foreign companies' decisions about where to invest in countries in the region.

High unemployment rate, low level of economic activity and low living standards are some of the most significant problems that the Republic of Serbia has been facing in the last few years. The development of small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs as great potential to solve these problems to some extent is still not sufficiently exploited. Keeping in mind the importance of the development of this economy segment, this paper analyses the business economy of entrepreneurs by economic activities in 2018 in the Republic of Serbia to determine the economic activities that have the greatest prospects for entrepreneurship development in the future. The ratio analysis of operations was used as a starting point for comparative analysis. It was conducted using the data obtained from the Annual Bulletin of Financial Statements published by the Business Registers Agency for ten economic activities where entrepreneurs reordered the highest profitability in 2018. Using the entropy method and PROMETHEE method, the ranking of entrepreneurs according to economic activities was performed. The obtained results indicated that in 2018, the best-ranked entrepreneurs were those operating in Professional, Scientific, Innovative and Technical Activities, while the worst-ranked are entrepreneurs operating in Accommodation and Food Services.

Digital transformation is performed through the integration of information technologies into all areas of a business. The changes are radical, comprehensive and as such, they affect workplaces as well. Many authors overemphasize the use of technologies and regard them as central to the digital workplace. On the other hand, the position of the authors who argue that the digital workplace should coordinate technologies, processes and people is more correct. Theoretical research often does not clearly define the term digital workplace. Furthermore, the studies often overemphasize only the benefits while omitting the challenges presented by the digital workplace implementation. Therefore, the paper presents the requirements for a workplace to be considered digital, its advantages and challenges, and it shows how to balance the positive and negative repercussions of workplace digitalization.

This paper examines and analyses the differences in job satisfaction among the conventionally employed and teleworkers. Differences were examined for three control variables: gender, age and education of the respondents. The research was conducted in West Balkan countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia), and included 313 respondents (conventionally employed and teleworkers). Teleworkers are more satisfied than conventionally employed. This is most evident through satisfaction with all forms of compensation, procedures and associates. Job satisfaction is higher in men, both those who work conventionally and who telework. Men are significantly more appreciative of opportunities for advancement, as well as achieving additional benefits and rewards. Younger respondents have greater job satisfaction than older respondents, but this only applies to the conventionally employed. There are no differences in job satisfaction among teleworkers in terms of dependence on age. Job satisfaction does not depend on the respondents' level of education of, and this applies to both conventionally employed and teleworkers. Companies that apply telework evaluate the results of their employees' work and the contribution they provide to the company more objectively, and accordingly, they reward and promote employees adequately. Thus, all age groups and educational categories of employees see their chance in teleworking conditions.

The aim of the research is to present the influence of ownership characteristics on the capital structure and business success of companies theoretically and empirically. The research was conducted on a sample of 96 active companies operating within the beverage industry in the Balkan countries in 2019. Empirical research was carried out by using one-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA). The paper presents two models. One is related to the analysis of the effects of foreign ownership to profitability, liquidity, asset and capital structure, while the other model analyses the impact of ownership concentration on the same variables. The results of the models evaluation confirmed the existence of a statistically significant difference only between foreign ownership and liquidity. In this regard, the ownership characteristics are considered not to affect the business success of the sampled companies, but rather, the performance is affected by other internal and external factors.

After the global economic crisis, a broad consensus has emerged that membership in the Eurozone exerts a strong pressure on fiscal policy, since it is characterized by the dichotomy of common monetary policy and heterogeneous fiscal policies. This paper analyzes the performance of fiscal policies, highlighting the nexus between the public revenues and public expenditure from the angle of 19 Eurozone economies in the period 2010q1-2020q4. The research is based on Dumitrescu & Hurlin (2012) and Juodis, Karavias & Sarafidis (2021) Granger non-causality tests in macro panels in order to test causality direction, as well as Westerlund errorcorrection-based panel cointegration test to analyze fiscal sustainability. Having in mind the heterogeneity and divergency of the Eurozone members, sub-samples were estimated, concerning the core, the periphery and the emerging Eurozone economies. The results imply that all Eurozone economies achieve weak fiscal sustainability, while all economies from the group of Eurozone periphery applied "tax and spend" hypothesis. The empirical finding could be related to the fact that Eurozone periphery economies were hit harder by the global and sovereign debt crisis, and that implemented austerity and bail-out programs were adequate, thus resulting in sustainable fiscal position, reducing heterogeneity of fiscal performance within the Eurozone economies.

This paper investigates the influence of certain factors on the efficiency of companies in Serbia using artificial neural networks. According to the results of empirical research using artificial neural networks, the significance of some observed factors on the efficiency of companies in Serbia is as follows: net profit 55.5%, operating revenues 59.4%, operating assets 52.8%, capital 59.6 %, loss 100% and number of employees 51.3%. In order to improve the efficiency of companies in Serbia in the future, it is necessary, in the first place, to manage profits as efficiently as possible (i.e. to reduce losses as much as possible). This is also achieved with the most efficient management of sales, assets, capital and human resources (training, rewarding, job advancement, and flexible employment). Accelerated digitalization of the entire business certainly plays a significant role in that.

Innovative digital technologies and ever-changing business environment have and will continue to transform businesses and industries around the world. This transformation will be even more evident in view of forthcoming technological breakthroughs, and advances in big data analytics, machine learning algorithms, cloud-computing solutions, artificial intelligence, internet of things, and the like. As we live in a data-driven world, technologies are altering work and work-related activities, and everyday activities and interactions. This paper is focused on big data and big data analytics (BDA), which are viewed in the paper from organisational perspective, as a means of improving firm performance and competitiveness. Based on a review of selected literature and researches, the paper aims to explore the extent to which big data analytics is utilized in companies, and to highlight the valuable role big data analytics may play in achieving better business outcomes. Furthermore, the paper briefly presents main challenges that accompany the adoption of big data analytics in companies.

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the effects that gender, age, and educational level have on leadership styles, based on the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) methodology. The sample used in the research comprises 140 managers from the banking sector in Serbia. The research was performed in 2019. The research methodology includes a literature review in the area of leadership and a statistical analysis of the data collected. The regression models were created to investigate the relations between leadership styles and demographic factors of age and educational level of managers. The results of the research pointed that there are positive statistically significant relations between the transformational and transactional leadership styles and level of education, while in the case of age, there are negative relations observed. The authors presented practical and theoretical implications and limitations of the study.

The focus of the paper is liquidity analysis, which is an essential tool of the corporate financial management process. Converting assets, especially working capital, into cash is the primary way for a company to obtain the resources it needs to pay its current liabilities. The aim of the research is to look at the movement of current, quick and cash liquidity indicators, their comparative analysis, as well as differences in the level of liquidity for the period 2011-2020 on the example of certain oil companies in the Republic of Serbia. Ratio analysis based on their official financial statements was used to measure the liquidity of selected companies (NIS, OMV and LUKOIL), while the one-way ANOVA test was used to test hypotheses. The research results show that there is a statistically significant difference in the level of current liquidity between NIS and LUKOIL and OMV and LUKOIL, while there is no significant difference between NIS and OMV. There is a statistically significant difference in terms of quick ratios between NIS and LUKOIL, while there is no significant difference between NIS and OMV and OMV and LUKOIL. Observing the cash liquidity indicator, there is no significant difference between these indicators in the companies that are the subject of the research.

The fiscal policy of a country is a crucial source of successful and normal functioning of that country's economy. The implications of fiscal policy can be reflected in both the private and the functioning of the public sector of a country's economy. Public finance is an area of economics dealing with the analysis of tax policy and government spending policy. One of the important areas of public finance research is corporate income tax. Corporate income tax is a direct tax imposed at the national level for the purpose of taxing the profits of certain companies, whether state-owned or privately owned. The aim of this paper is to look at the actual amount of profit tax paid, i.e. by observing the profit before taxation of companies listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange. The paper considers the effective tax rate of companies and points out the deviation of the same from the legally prescribed corporate income tax rate in the Republic of Serbia and the implications of corporate income tax on the company's business results. The paper presents graphical and tabular representations of the effective tax rates of each company as well as the average effective tax rate of companies listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange in relation to the law in the period from 2013 to 2020 in the Republic of Serbia. Finally, a statistical analysis of the presented results is given in order to understand more precisely the deviation of the effectiveness of corporate income tax of companies listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange as well as the analysis of the correlation between the growth of the average pre-tax profit and the growth of the average effective corporate income tax rate.

This research focuses on the nexus between foreign direct investments (FDI) and external balance in selected Emerging European Economies (EEEs). Emerging countries in convergence process tend to have problem of structural external imbalance that is covered with foreign capital inflows. FDI are long-term and sustainable source of financing the current account deficit. The aim of this paper is to test if FDI together with chosen macroeconomic indicators are relevant factors of trading balance in EEEs in order to give useful implications towards economic policy creators in emerging economies. The research hypothesis is tested with robust micro panel models for total sample and two subperiods: before and after the structural break caused with Global financial crisis (GFC). The results indicate that substantial FDI inflows are significantly related with negative sum of trading balance on the total sample level i.e. average external position deficit is financed with the FDI inflows. Also, dummy variable for the Western Balkans indicates that FDI are significant variable that finances external imbalance in this subsample. The government policy recommendations are directed towards incentive measures for attracting greater FDI inflows, especially greenfield investments motivated with greater efficiency and export stimulation in order to stabilize trading balance and foster economic growth.

Job satisfaction is one of the most analysed job attitudes which may have significant positive consequences on the individual-level and organizational-level performances, too. This is why companies have to analyse the antecedents of job satisfaction. Work design and work characteristics have compelling impact on employees' job satisfaction. The aim of this paper is to identify the work characteristics with the highest impact on job satisfaction across various occupations and positions in Romania. The empirical research had been carried out within the Global Work Design Project initiated by the Academy of Management HR Division, based on the work design questionnaire (WDQ) developed by Morgeson and Humphrey (2006). The Romanian sample consisted of 394 employees from 69 organizations. In our paper we identify the job features and characteristics which lead to high job satisfaction. The findings may have empirical implications on companies' HR strategies not only in Romania, but also in other countries from the Central and Eastern European region.

The aim of this paper is to analyse three approaches in order to give a comprehensive analysis of the efficiency of the banking sector in Serbia. The paper analyses the intermediate, operating and profitability approach for measuring bank efficiency in order to give an answer to the question which is the most efficient and where can be improvements made. The paper applies a non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) on a sample of 23 banks operating in Serbia in the period during and after the covid-19 pandemic, i.e. for 2019, 2020 and 2021. The results of the analysis showed that efficiency is the highest according to the intermediate approach, while the efficiency of banks is the lowest in the approach of measuring profit efficiency. The fact that the lowest levels of efficiencies in each approach were achieved by small banks with a small market share should be added to the results of the analysis. The results of the research are certainly influenced by low interest rates and the activities of mergers and acquisitions, which are intensive on the Serbian banking market.

As one of the pillars of the economy, financial institutions play important role in implementation of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The paper is focused on CSR in the financial sector, i.e. the perception of employees in banks and insurance companies in Serbia on the level of development of CSR regarding its external dimensions, such as responsibility toward beneficiaries, community and environment. The aim is to identify the employees' perceptions of external aspects of CSR in the financial sector, as well as to determine the impact of selected external aspects on the expected CSR benefits. The results of the conducted empirical research demonstrate a positive attitude of employees in financial institutions in the Republic of Serbia towards external aspects of CSR, as well as statistically significant impact of CSR towards beneficiary and environment on the expected CSR benefits. Additionally, the results indicate that CSR towards the community does not affect the expected benefits. Accordingly, we identified some practical and theoretical implications that can serve as a basis for creating and implementing a strategic approach to CSR in financial institutions.

The paper sets out to investigate the potential advantages of applying insights from the field of cognitive linguistics to teaching prepositions in business English over an approach relying on the traditional linguistic framework. For the study, three of the English prepositions were chosen: to, for, and at. Study participants were divided into two groups: an experimental group, which received a cognitive treatment of the three prepositions; and a control group, which received an instruction relying on traditional accounts. The participants were administered three tests in total: a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest. Their scores were taken on all three tests and then compared within each group and between the groups. To calculate the results, descriptive statistics, t-test of independent means and one-way ANCOVA were used. Grounding the expected results in expert literature, it was anticipated to obtain the results indicative of the advantage of the cognitive approach. According to the study results, the experimental group outperformed the control group at all levels of statistical analysis. The results suggest that a strategic incorporation of a cognitive view of the structure of language into the foreign language classroom could facilitate better understanding, more effective learning and long-term retention of the language points taught.

The paper is based on the findings of the research of students of business administration in the countries of the Western Balkans and aims to identify the impact of entrepreneurial barriers on their intentions to start entrepreneurial ventures. Barriers are classified into four categories. The first category is knowledge and skill barriers. The second group of barriers includes financial barriers. Subjective circumstances represent the third, and administrative procedures and fiscal burdens are the fourth groups of barriers. The research was conducted with 910 respondents, which consists of 71 questions. For the analysis, 6 questions related to the demographic profile and general information were used, while for the second part, 14 were used, which belong to the categories of barriers. The SPSS program was used for the empirical analysis of the results. The results showed that financial barriers, administrative procedures, and fiscal burdens harm entrepreneurial intentions. Within the group of barriers of knowledge and skills, the lack of business plan development skills and the lack of financial skills harm entrepreneurial aspirations, while the other barriers are not statistically significant. It was confirmed that statistically significant barriers to entrepreneurial intentions belong to subjective circumstances: lack of support from the environment and fear of failure.

The efforts of organizations to improve their business processes, establish market competitiveness, achieve goals more efficiently and increase profitability are mainly made through an attempt to upgrade the performance of employees. Increasing the employees' work performance is directly correlated with the improvement of individual skills, as well as the level of ability to effectively transform new knowledge according to daily work obligations. In this process, synergies should be established between employees, on the one hand, who should be adequately motivated, committed, and focused on the acquisition of new knowledge, and on the other hand, organizations that should provide resources, support, and conditions for effective knowledge transfer from educational process to visible improvement indicators of different employees' performance levels. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of training on increasing the individual and organizational performance of employees in entrepreneurial organizations in Serbia. Additionally, the correlation between the two groups of respondents, managers and non-managerial staff, will be tested, to determine more closely whether there is a distinction in relation to the position held by the respondent, for defined issues.

The problem of corporate bankruptcies has intrigued the scientific community for years due to its practical significance. There is no country whose economic well-being is not affected by business failures. The research problem stems from the lack of analyses related to the issue of business failures in the the Republic of Serbia. The main aim of this research paper is to determine whether ratio indicators are relevant in predicting business failure one, two and three years before bankruptcy proceedings start. The research was conducted on a sample of 100 companies from the teritorry of Serbia. The data for ratios calculation was taken from the official website of the Business Registers Agency. Statistical analysis is based on Mann-Whitney test, which is used to identify differences between two groups with respect to a variable (ratio). The test was conducted in IBM's SPSS v.26 tool. Results of the research indicate that financial ratios can be useful for business failure prediction even three years before bankruptcy proceedings start, since there are statistically significant differences in ratio values between bankrupt and solvent companies.

The analysis of Serbia's residential real estate market is the main goal of this paper. Price movements in that part of the market affect price and financial stability equally, which are thus the main goals of most central banks. Prior to the highly contagious COVID-19 pandemic, there was a gradual increase in the number of transactions involving real estate and prices, with oscillations observed throughout the second quarter of 2020. In this paper, we will present the available databases from the Serbian residential real estate market, as well as regulations that have been in place since the 2000s. By analyzing the trajectory in the long run of the housing credit share to GDP by using a Hodrick-Prescott one-sided filter with the parameter set to 400,000 and correlation and regression analysis, the paper's concluding part will determine whether there is a price bubble in this market segment. According to the analysis, there is currently no price bubble in Serbia's residential real estate market.

Every investor, trader, portfolio manager or analyst tries to evaluate the performance of the selected asset to develop a strategy for investment or trading. There are a variety of analyses that can be used depending on the asset class chosen. Since this paper is about REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), two ratios will be calculated: DPU (dividend distribution per unit) and FFO (funds from operations). The objective is to investigate whether these two performance measures produced significantly different results during the COVID 19 crisis. The selected assets were chosen to cover most of the asset classes in the real estate industry: 1. Public Storage: PSA, 2. Host Hotels & Resorts: HST, 3. Healthpeak Properties: Peak, 4. AIMCO: AIV. It can be concluded that REITs as an asset class generally offer steady returns, however, some sectors are more affected than others during the crisis. It is difficult to estimate which sector will be affected, as crises are always novelties. The best performing asset class was that of the storage sector, which remained stable and positive throughout the entire period, paying higher dividends than the other asset classes.

The paper deals with the impact of low interest rate environment on the insurance companies' portfolio composition in EU countries. The aim of the research is to show that continuously low interest rates could influence insurance companies to become more exposed to risky asset classes, but there is also possibility that insurance companies remain mainly exposed to fixed income assets. The secondary data analysis is carried out to further examine the potential portfolio dynamics in Q4 2017-Q4 2021 period. The results of the analysis show that in most EU countries insurance companies remain invested in fixed-income assets. However, in eight countries (mostly Nordic countries) insurance companies have become significantly more exposed to equity and equity mutual funds, which suggests that portfolio reshaping has taken place in these countries.

In response to investor demands, with the introduction of the fair value (FV) concept, other comprehensive income (OCI) has become a significant indicator of changes in the current values of certain financial statement items in successive periods. Although it deviates from the traditional concept of historical cost (HC) and its prudence principle, on which reliability rests, the use of fair value contributes to the relevance of the presented information. The total comprehensive income (TCI), as a summary of realized and unrealized gains and losses recognized in the income statement, i.e. OCI, represents a valuable base of relevant information for investors and other users of financial statements. The paper focuses on a sample of listed entities on the Regulated Capital Market of Serbia for the period 2016-2020 and finds that the FV concept is predominantly used for the subsequent measurement of property, plant and equipment (PP&E). In addition, we analyze the impact of changes in the fair value of certain non-current assets' items (i.e.: PP&E, intangible assets and long-term investments) on TCI. Our research shows that some OCI items have a divergent impact on TCI, and, thus, different information power, which can increase uncertainty, i.e. make it harder for analysts to predict net income.

The sector that has suffered the highest market turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is the retail sector. Evidence for this can be found in the great shocks on the demand side, primarily for essential products necessary in conditions of self-isolation and quarantine. The principal question is whether the sharp increase in demand, restrictions on the operation of retail facilities, strict epidemiological measures among both employees and consumers, tightened safety protocols, mandatory protective equipment etc., have affected the business, primarily of small retailers. In this regard, the aim of the paper is to analyze productivity between key groups of retailers in the market of Serbia with special reference to the assessment of productivity in the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed statistically significant differences existed between the productivity of local and regional retail chains in relation to the leading retail chains. It was confirmed that the average productivity of associated retailers is higher than that of independent (local) retailers. Also, there are differences in productivity per employee between the observed groups. However, the results showed no statistically significant difference in the degree of productivity of the retail sector in the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The obtained results suggest that the retail supply chain has stabilized after the first months of the pandemic and shown its complete flexibility to sudden market shocks. Guidelines for future research are included in the paper.

Government expenditures represent one of the most important issues for policymakers both in ordinary and extraordinary conditions. The aim of this paper is to estimate and identify the effects of selected macroeconomic determinants on government expenditures in Serbia from 2002 to 2020. Using the ARDL technique, the empirical findings confirmed that there is a long-run relationship between gross domestic product, government revenues, inflation, and population size and government expenditures for the observed period. The significant and positive effects of explanatory variables are confirmed in the long run, except for inflation, whose impact is not significant in the short run. Specifically, GDP growth, higher inflation rate, greater government revenues and population contribute to the higher government expenditures level. The obtained findings give certain directions to fiscal authorities in creating and defining optimal government expenditures level in the context of influences of chosen macroeconomic variables.

This paper aims to demonstrate the theoretical and empirical impact of the COVID-19 virus pandemic on profitability. The analysis was performed on a sample of 131 actively operating companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 2014 and 2020. Applying panel regression methodology, an empirical study was conducted. The assessment of fixed-effect model revealed the presence of a negative and statistically significant effect of the coronavirus pandemic on profitability as measured by return on total assets (ROA). The findings validated the curiosity of the construction sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina, suggesting that it is among several sectors with increased demand for its products - residential and non-residential buildings, throughout the pandemic crisis and recession at the beginning of 2020. The results of this study could help construction companies to develop operational performance and risk management in pandemic situations, and the flexibility of their actions in the face of future crises of a similar nature, given that the construction sector has played a crucial role in supplying construction of all types of residential buildings, buildings for industrial production, e.g. factories, workshops, assembly plants, parking garages, warehouses, schools, as well as, hospitals in challenging times and has met the increased demand.