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Our modern world is becoming increasingly reliant on the processing, exchange and storage of information. This trend of so-called "digitalisation" is penetrating every pore of human civilisation, including nature, people, and machines; our economy and production, which must be as local as possible; and our global ecology. The use of information processing technology brings benefits to a wide range of endeavours. In this sense, many computing technologies and techniques must be used to achieve the goal of an integrated global service ecosystem, a Rainbow ecosystem of all hierarchical levels of computing. One of the most important new developments in recent years is the development of blockchain technology. A blockchain can solve many problems of persistent and traceable storage, as well as enable direct coordination, compensation, etc. Therefore, in the Dew-Fog-Cloud hierarchy, blockchain technology is a promising new approach to enable novel applications in a variety of fields, from social and educational to scientific and industrial. However, there are two important points in many implementations of the current blockchain which prevent them from being used for public service solutions. The first is the proof algorithm - the vast majority of proof-of-work algorithms do useless work and waste enormous amounts of energy. The second one is that proof-of-stake algorithm is not suitable for open public infrastructure. The HashNET algorithm, which uses proof-of-authority combined with master nodes to achieve distributed consensus and ensure trust, is explained in detail in this paper. As an example of future applications in science, education and society, we also briefly describe certificate validation and future application for scientific publications.

Companies manipulate financial statements for various reasons, and such behaviors have been observed equally in companies of developed and less developed economies. Consistent legislation on accounting transactions, accounting policies, and auditing procedures reduce the incidence of financial statement manipulation. Many models and methods have been developed to detect and evaluate manipulative behavior. On the one hand, their reliability, accuracy, complexity, and execution speed vary. According to some previous beliefs, companies tend highly to manipulate in times of reduced economic activity and the danger of falling into difficulties. The paper investigates the tendency to manipulate the financial statements of 170 companies from three sectors in the economy of the Republic of Croatia from the period 2008-to 2014, which was a relatively long period of economic recession. Using the Beneish M- score model, we found that the propensity to manipulate in times of recession decreases from the initial recession period to begins to increase with a hint of exiting the recession period. The forms and specifics (i.e., ratios and accounting items that make them) of manipulation in individual sectors and different sizes of enterprises are investigated. The accuracy and predictive power of the Beneish and Jones modified model were also tested on a limited sample of firms.

Due to its environmental benefits, natural gas has become one of the most popular energy sources. Natural gas is the third largest energy source in 2020, after oil and coal, accounting for nearly 25%. The consumption of natural gas has been increasing in recent years, except for last year when consumption decreased by 2.3%. The aim of this paper is to present a neural network model (using Multilayer Perceptron algorithm) that could predict natural gas consumption on an hourly basis. The dataset consists of hourly natural gas consumption data obtained from natural gas supplier and distributor, and meteorological data. There have been many studies in which researchers have attempted to predict gas consumption, and the accuracy of these models is important for decision making, especially for gas nominations (gas orders). The results show that the statistical correlation between the actual and predicted values is very high, but the relative absolute error and root relative squared error are about 25% which cannot be considered satisfactory for this type of prediction. The comparison between the actual and predicted values shows that the model appears to be good at predicting gas consumption in the winter months, but predicts lower values than actual ones for the summer months.

Health management is considered a specific discipline that requires successful operation in health systems.. Healthcare facilities differ from most other companies in their effectiveness. They can measure their success in treatment, prevention in terms of staff workload per hospital bed, the number of patients treated, and mortality. This study aimed to investigate and evaluate the optimal way of managing the introduction of changes in the health care organization and employee satisfaction with the changes achieved. The effectiveness of introducing changes in the healthcare organization in transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership between managers and employees was examined. The research was conducted by surveying health professionals and managers, with the Ethics Committee’s approval, in the clinical Hospital Center Rijeka’s health institution from 1.11.2020. to 31.12.2020. Moreover, it included 114 health professionals and 26 managers in health departments. The values of the obtained data of health professionals were compared with managers. SPSS V 26.0 was used for statistical data processing, where the reliability of the questionnaire was checked by calculating the Crombach coefficient (α). The following statistical methods were used to test the hypotheses: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, F-test. The significance of the introduced changes is statistically positively correlated with transformational leadership (p

The natural gas system in Croatia is based on accepted principles of the Europe-an Union’s natural gas system management. This means that, although highly integrated, the system works by separating market, physical, information, and financial flows. The system was introduced to deregulate or de-monopolizing large state- owned energy systems. Customers who receive gas through distri-bution systems are provided with gas by the gas supplier. Suppliers, grouped into balance groups, use the capacity of transmission systems and determine by which distribution systems they will deliver gas to their end customers. Since the distribution systems act on unique operating principles (predefined con-stant pressure), suppliers must reserve the capacities of transmission systems daily. This implies that the suppliers must forecast the required amount of gas on daily basis, and if the forecasted quantity is less than or greater than the ac- tual consumed quantity, imbalances in the transmission system will arise. The imbalances need to be resolved to preserve the system’s continuity and to miti-gate the risk of over or undersupply the clients. Suppliers have to pay imbal-ances (deviations) in the transmission system. Also, additional energy needed for imbalance removal, called balancing energy has to be used if imbalances go beyond the daily limits. National regulatory energy agency ensures the trans-parent market conditions under which transmission capacities are reserved, as well as the purchase and sale of surpluses and deficits of gas for a given gas 820Josip Mesari : DISCOVERING THE INEFFICIENCIES IN CONSUMPTION PLANNING AND MANAGING GAS SUPPLIERS’ BUSINESS PROCESS ON...day or defined period. The gas-trading platform is given and led by Croatian Energy Market Operator.

Upravljanje kamerom u računalnim igrama je postupak kojim se temeljem trenutne situacije u igri i akcija igrača u stvarnom vremenu upravlja položajem i parametrima virtualne kamere. Osnovni cilj upravljanja je da igrač u svakom trenutku ima optimalan pogled na scenu u igri, no dinamikom kamere mogu se postići i dramatički efekti vezani uz trenutne događaje u igri. U izradi algoritma za upravljanje kamerom cilj je postići ravnotežu između automatizacije postupka s jedne strane i slobode izražavanja s druge tako da se prilikom samog kreiranja dijelova igre može upravljati efektima kamere, ali da nije potrebno ručno definirati svaki detalj pokreta kamere. Kroz ovaj diplomski rad proširena je igra tipa platformer koja je razvijena za vrijeme diplomskog projekta naprednim sustavom za upravljanje kamerom. Camera control in computer games is a procedure by which the position and the parameters of virtual camera are managed, based on current situation in the game and the players actions. The main aim of camera control is constantly subordinated to making sure that the visibility of the virtual world is optimal, but camera movement can also provide dramatic effects correlated with current game situations. When it comes to making the algorithm for camera control, the aim is to reach a balance between the automation of the procedure and creative freedom, so that in the process of creating the game camera effects can be controlled, but it is not necessary to manually define every detail of its movement. Through this master thesis, the platformer game that has been developed as a masters degree project is further developed with an advanced system for virtual camera control.

Uvođenje projektnog menadžmenta kao formaliziranog predmeta ili grupe predmeta u visokoobrazovnim institucijama jugoistočne Europe korespondira s pojavom široko disperziranih obrazovnih programa posebno u području menadžmenta i nekih tehničkih disciplina koji su se pojavili pri rekonstrukciji obrazovnih programa i usvajanju studija na temelju Bolonjske deklaracije i Lisabonskih sporazuma. Motivacija za uvođenje Projektnog menadžmenta u nastavne programe studija menadžmenta i ekonomije korespondira s brojnim zahtjevima i mogućnostima koje su se u tom smislu javile u pogledu broja i vrsta projekata financiranih iz lokalnih izvora i od strane Europske unije. Rastuće potrebe za PM znanjima suočile su zemlje jugoistočne Europe s nedostatkom znanja o pripremi i vođenju projekata, što je rezultiralo u inicijalnim nesnalaženjima i „uvozu“ tog znanja iz projektno produktivnijih država Europe. S vremenom se PM znanje i iskustvo domaćih sudionika povećavalo broju projekata i metodologija za rješavanje projektnih problema. Pojedinci koji su imali zahtijevano formalno obrazovanje s jedne strane i projektna iskustva s druge strane postali su nositelji PM obrazovanja na fakultetima i visokim školama. Na temelju podataka o PM programima, u ovom se radu nastoji procijeniti stanje PM obrazovanja na studijima menadžmenta i poslovne ekonomije u Hrvatskoj i Sloveniji. Podatci su prikupljeni na 12 visokoškolskih institucija, 4 iz Slovenije i 8 iz Hrvatske. Analizira se obujam i sadržaji predmeta Projektni menadžment, oblici nastave, broj ECTS-a, ishodi učenja (gdje je bilo raspoloživo. Na temelju tih podataka nastojalo se također procijeniti kompetencije koje student stiče na predmetu Projektni menadžment na spomenutim studijima. Analiza je pokazala da postoje razlike u broju kontakt sati nastave (od 30 do 75 sati po semestru) i broju ECTS-a (od 5 do 9). Raspored sadržaja različito je disperziran u pogledu sadržaja o samom projektnom menadžmentu, procesima PM-a i upravljanju projektima s različitih aspekata. Fakulteti i visoke škole sklone su upotrebi metodologija PM-a profesionalnih PM udruga (PMBOK, CCPM, PRINCE2). U većini slučajeva koriste se IT alati za projektni menadžment. Polazeći od obujma i sadržaja kurikuluma PM-a, procijenjeno je se da se najbolje kompetencije stječu uravnoteženim sadržajima prezentiranim na predavanjima, diskusijom na slučajevima korištenja i priređivanjem projektnog plana te izvršenjem ili simulacijom izvršenja samog projekta. Stvarno stečene kompetencije mogu se preciznije evaluirati prikupljanjem dodatnih podataka kroz detaljnu analizu ishoda učenja, odnosa ishoda, sadržaja, ECTS-a, oblika nastave i načina provjere stečenih kompetencija. Odgovori na postavljena istraživačka pitanja bit će obogaćena nakon analiza upitnika i intervjua koje je namjera provesti sa studentima i nastavnicima PM-a. To će značajno poboljšati PM obrazovanje i stvoriti jasniju sliku o kompetencijama projektnog menadžera u kontekstu zahtijevanih kvalifikacija u okviru nacionalnog i europskog kvalifikacijskog okvira.

Insufficient employment of women is one of the continuous challenges in many countries of the European Union. One of the priorities of the European Social Fund is to increase the employment rate, with a particular focus on people at the risk of poverty and social exclusion. In the Republic of Croatia, there has been a significant decline in unemployment rate in the period 2016 - 2018. In addition to actual employment, the statistics were also ontributed by the high level of emigration, especially among young and educated people, mainly to other EU countries. As part of the social inclusion priorities on the state level, a major social and economic focus is put on providing care to the elderly and disadvantaged, by hiring and educating members of the most sensitive groups, the longest unemployed, with the lowest level of employability in the labour market, namely women over the age of 50, with a lower level of education, more serious health and sociological problems. „Make a Wish!“ programme to provide jobs for women in the Republic of Croatia, is a continuous tool aimed to help both vulnerable groups. The programme has been successfully implemented in 2017 and 2018, and its implementation continues in 2019. This paper analyses the data on the on-going distribution of the funds from this program and its projects' employment and education plan for Slavonia region. It presents the results that the program achieved by the end of 2018 and the plans for the future period.

Aim of this research is to provide extensive overview of research achievements regarding use of value stream mapping in natural gas supply chain analysis and optimization activities, and to provide guidelines for more effective value stream mapping use. Indicative preliminary literature review has been done by analyzing and comparing relevant scientific papers from Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus scientific databases dealing with value stream mapping use in natural gas supply chain activities. Results indicate only 9 research papers that use value stream mapping in natural gas supply chain activities, but all of them point to significant benefits of this method in company and supply chain surroundings. This fact justifies a need for considerable new research contribution to this field. Also, mostly used method in analysed researches of value stream mapping application in natural gas supply chain activities is case study method

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have the leading role in the transformation of business, government services, lifestyles of citizens, and thus society. They are the foundation of the digital society as well as the knowl-edge society, which are systematically promoted and gradually built by the EU with the aim of encouraging innovation, creativity, and competitiveness of the European industry and the rest of the world. Digitalization implies wider use of the Internet and greater involvement of people, government and companies that are engaged in it and regularly use it. Higher quality broadens the availability and intensive use of ICT infrastruc-ture are the main priorities for the investment of ESI funds, particularly from ERDF. Allocation for that priority within Croatian Operational Programmed Competitiveness and Cohesion is EUR 307.95 million out of 6, 881 billion. 1633INTERDISCIPLINARY MANAGEMENT RESEARCH XVThis allocation must be directed towards the development of the innovative e-services of modern public administration by the “smart government” principles, including providing full services, digitizing business and administrative pro-cesses, and opening public administration information through various chan-nels available at any time, anywhere and through different devices. The main purpose is to improve the lives of Croatian citizens and to boost the competi-tiveness of the economy by supporting the development of the digital economy to include the unique EU digital market.The paper gives results of comparative analysis of key indicators of the digital economy and society level (DESI) of Croatia and EU 28 countries and mea-sures to be taken to reach the level of EU development.

With growing importance of natural gas as third most important fuel and fastest growing component of world primary energy consumption, its supply chains are becoming more complex in seeking of ways for simultaneous optimization and further expansion. To gain clearer insight into situation and relations between members of natural gas supply chain, to explore possibilities for optimization of its processes, to avoid multiplication of activities and to prevent the occurrence of failures or catastrophe in the system, practitioners and scientist use supply chain mapping techniques. Paper aims to present existing types of supply chain maps, its benefits, limitations and ways of use for natural gas supply chain mapping through case study method of mapping Croatian natural gas supply chain. The second objective is to identify key sources of the inefficiency of the process under regulated market conditions and to offer a conceptual simulation model that can serve to eliminate or minimize the inefficiencies resulting from the mismatch between the order (nomination) and the withdrawal of gas by the balance groups.

Production and consumption of many products are subjected to a thorough study of their evident impact on local ecosystems and global warming, with the purpose of reduction their emissions, finding product and process alternatives and/or their total suspension or penalization. The procedure for assessing these impacts through a different length of the supply chains is known as product life cycle assessment (PLCA). PLCA is the basis for the study of environmental damage and the costs of their prevention and compensation. Putting priority on the issue of environmental protection, PLCA and Environment life cycle costs assessment (ELCCA) concepts leave aside problem of development, especially for the less developed areas. Given the fact that the production and consumption of products in a single life cycle must contribute at least declarative social equality of participants in the PLCA, the concept of social life cycle assessment was offered. Starting from the fact that sustainable development involves both generating and maintaining a certain level of material well-being, environmental protection and adequate supplies of natural resources and social equity, the concept of life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) was proposed. The formal supply chains that are created in the product life cycles are still looking for total and partial optimality, mainly through the analysis of economic criteria which may be in conflict with the concept of LCSA. The paper analyzes LCSA of pork meat in Croatia based on cradle-to-grave approach. Based on data of production, import, export and consumption of pork meat in a given period, and also findings in previous research about emission and functional unit (kg CO2 equivalent/kg pork consumed), a simple PLCA, ELCCA and LCSA were conducted. The imbalance in the supply chain was confirmed showing questionable sustainability of pork meat life cycle in Croatia. The results can be the basis for future comprehensive LCSA and research of entire meat sector as well as to create a framework for development policy of meat sector in Croatia.

In modern vertical marketing systems (i.e., in grocery sector), the greatest power is demonstrated by retail chains, and producers depend thereupon. This paper analyzes vertical marketing systems and the role of retailing therein. Specially analyzed is the power of retail chains’ demand with regard to the entire supply chains they head, as well as the present-day new competition in retailing and modern business concepts related to the vertical marketing systems. Additionally, analyzed are also select indicators to examine the significance of retailing in an individual national economy. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the new indicators of significance of retailing in economy with regard to the realized GDP, as a component of value chains. These indicators complement the usual retailing significance analyses from the point of view of its share in the number of employees and the number of companies. From the conducted analysis, one may conclude that the vertical marketing systems become increasingly important, and retailing assumes a new role in economy in that sense. Thus, new indicators of retailing significance might also be necessary.

Eastern Croatia and its most important urban and university center city of Osijek have undergone a drastic transformation of the economic structure in the last quarter century. With the disappearance of traditional industries (metal processing, wood processing, textiles, graphics and part of the food processing industry) and the inadequate development of the primary sector (agriculture, forestry) a huge gap was created in the economics equality of the regions in Croatia. The young generations of educated people remain unemployed for a relatively long time, migrate to large urban centers (in this case to Zagreb) or even emigrate to European countries in search of employment. Under these conditions, a small enthusiastic groups and individuals appear who, relying solely on its own intellectual capital, leave the limitations of the local environment and begin to produce services that can be implemented in the global market. This capital primarily consists of the knowledge and skills of the creative use of ICT. Recognizing the limitations of small separate groups in this sector, began their association in order to achieve better positions in the regional and global market, find new market niches, as well as to create educational centers parallel to the official teaching at schools and universities. There was no classic cluster approach applied, but in early 2013 the non-profit, non-government association named Osijek Software City (OSC) was founded. Its aim is to increase the attractiveness of IT development profession in Osijek, encourage IT entrepreneurship, networking and design of cooperation programs. Today, Osijek Software City brings together more than 40 companies and dozens of individuals. The aim of this study is to assess the possibilities for further development of the regional ICT sector, analyze data on the number of businesses and employment in this sector, as well as to determine whether there is a possibility that this region becomes more competitive and attracts even more young and educated IT professionals and large companies.

Natural gas is considered to be one of the most important energy sources. Due to its many advantages, demand for this energy source has increased considerably. Many authors tried to develop models for predicting natural gas consumption. The aim of this paper is to present an overview and systematic analysis of the latest research papers that deal with predictions of natural gas consumption from the year 2002 to 2017. In this paper, prediction methods, input variables used for modelling, prediction area, as well as prediction horizon will be analysed. This research could be helpful for other researchers in order to create better and more accurate prediction models.

The paper presents results of research on the acceptance and use of ICT and advanced web technology among teachers in the higher education process of Economics and Management in Croatia. Acceptance and use of ICT and advanced web technology is estimated by the number and type of digitized materials created by teachers as well as through individual use of different types and frequency of ICT and advanced web technology. Acceptance and use of ICT are assumed to be the result of lessons learned in previous use of technologies, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness of technology and some ‘external’ variables. The model used to evaluate the acceptance of the technology is a modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). In our model we assumed that the actual use of technology results from a previously acquired intention to use technology and from a previously acquired perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of technology. That is why the application of the TAM model represents an interpolation of the model on acquired experience. Data were obtained through a stratified online questionnaire, which consisted of 42 questions answered by 98 respondents. The results showed that dependences have lower coefficients of correlation between the constructs related to those obtained in the ‘focused’ TAM model. The study also showed that, among teachers in higher education institutions in the field of economics and management in Croatia, there is untapped potential for the acceptance and use of ICT and web technologies and that their future use is likely to be more intense if more attention would be paid to training.

WebGL je bibilioteka za hardwerski pokretano 3D renderiranje pomoću JavaScripta. Bazirano je na dokazanom grafičkom API-ju OpenGL. WebGL je podržan od gotovo svih web preglednika kao i većeg dijela mobilnih preglednika. Three.js je biblioteka koja olakšava razvoj aplikacija u WebGL standardu i programskom jeziku JavaScript. WebGL is library for hardware-rendered 3D graphics using JavaScript language. It is based on well known graphic API Open GL. WebGL is supported by all modern browsers and mobile devices. Three.js is WebGL library for JavaScript, which make developing in WebGL much easier.

Background: The paper analyzes a significance of distributive trade in contemporary national economies of select European countries (10) from the point of view of employment, gross value-added creation, supply chain establishment, and international expansion. A cause for the paper is a dissatisfactory level of economic development of certain transitional countries on one side and the high distributive trade shares (especially in the number of employees and in the GDP) on the other side. Methods: Distributive trade's significance for a country is analyzed entirely and segmental. The data collected by Eurostat and Deloitte are analyzed and depicted graphically via usual statistical methods (relative numbers, indices and shares, tabulation and graphical depictions). Results: The results of the research conducted should confirm a thesis on distributive trade's significance based on its shares in the economic structure ; however, as an integrator in the value- creating chains, distributive trade has different significance for certain national economies, for the large-sized companies and groups (especially the retailing ones) are also expanded internationally, along with their supply chains. Conclusions: Distributive trade does not have an equal significance for the economic development in all countries. Equally, all the divisions within distributive trade do not have equal significance for the overall country's economy, as well as for a launch of its economic development. Nevertheless, it should be necessary to analyze concentration and internationalization in detail for the sake of an evaluation of distributive trade's significance as an integrator in value- creating chains. In that respect, some transitional countries observed do lag behind

Business logistics in Europe as well as worldwide is developing extensively both in practical and in scientific area. Increasing global trade and declining percentage of logistics costs in GDP indicates that logistics business is performing more efficiently than ever before. Logistics practice is again reflected on 15th international scientific conference Business Logistics in Modern Management 2015 which was held at the Faculty of Economics of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. Inspired by ever changing market and contemporary logistics and supply chain management problems, Conference continues with tradition of scientific and professional papers that contribute to business logistics theory and practice in all main logistics research areas. This year’s publication presents 21 papers and 44 authors from 9 countries (Germany, Austria, Russia, Poland, Slovenia, Nigeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia). Traditionally, retailing logistics plays primary role in considerations of this Conference. First section starts with analysis of contemporary retail trade as a driver of supply chains, and continues with significance of retail internationalization development in multichannel environment. Authors are also emphasizing interesting topic of emerging RFID technology in retail studied from younger consumers' point of view. This thematic section ends with discussion about scope and significance of concentration in retail trade. Second thematic block is raising challenges in procurement and distribution channels. First article is considering procurement from business conduct approach, while second suggests appropriate procurement algorithms using harmonization method. Next article in this section gives an overview of Eco-food production, distribution channels and market perspectives in Croatia. A European experience in innovative solutions for a «last mile» delivery, with special emphasize on necessity to introduce innovative types of delivery vehicles is next topic, and this section ends with review of distribution channels of major construction materials. Transport and warehouse as main logistics components are topic of third thematic section. First paper examines the conditionality of logistics performances of transport corridor with cost and non-cost factors related to transport corridor where the port is located. Next article is evaluating methods to optimize the handling of reusable containers for parts supply at the manufacturer, and provides a determination for safety stocks of these containers. Two articles regarding warehouse issues provide review of evaluation problem and assessment method of warehouse process efficiency, and present the introduction of variable pay schemes in warehouse logistics leading to productivity improvement. Next article discuss about significance of the intermodal transport route through the port of Rijeka for sustainable transport by highlighting the significance of the introduction of new seaborne truck traffic services from the Southeast Europe countries to the North Adriatic Italian port terminals for the reduction of vehicles gas emissions and sustainable development. Transportation is in focus of last article in this section as well – implication of food standard and food safety supply chain for the final products transportation are considered through case study of Croatian chocolate producer. Last section presents development perspectives of supply chain and logistics. First article is talking about dimensions for supply chain integration - by applying process modelling and simulation methods, authors managed to represent characteristic features of supply chain operation at each integration level for all identified factors in article. Croatian competitiveness in the European logistics space is presented in second article of this section where authors argues that improving Logistics Performance Indicator to acceptable levels would significantly improve trade expansion, ability to attract foreign direct investments, and economic growth of Croatia. One more interesting idea comes with an article about “smart-box”, a business concept towards the physical internet that will enable private persons to ship their private parcels or luggage through designed intelligent containers (so-called “smart boxes”) and technologies for the branch-wide transport-related information flow. Next article provides policy framework for business concepts and models of urban/city logistics of developing economy in which author analyses the effect of traffic congestion, noise pollution and other negative externalities on city/urban logistics. A contemporary development of information technology infrastructure for optimizing logistics operations in segment of cold chain is next article’s topic. Finally, last paper presents goals and benefits of university/industry partnership projects in the field of logistics.

Empowerment of enterprises through mergers and acquisition is ubiquitous trend in all industries and economies, regardless of their current state. Motivation for concentration comes from different objectives that encompass increasing revenues, penetration to new markets, overall costs reduction, and protection of market from new arrivals etc. When considering mergers and acquisitions, companies sometimes neglect supply chain consequences, although they can be significant - both in terms of cost and in terms of service levels. The purpose of this article is to investigate the consequences of acquisitions and mergers in the new structure of the supply chain, and to compare its advantages and disadvantages compared to existing supply chain (before the mergers and acquisitions). Furthermore, the article discusses the strategic decisions that may precede the acquisition and merger, which should take into account the issues of creating new value for all stakeholders of the new supply chain, efficiency of the new compared to the current supply chain, as well as potential problems in the optimization of new supply chains and newly formed system. Methodology used in research is comparative literature review that resulted in list of supply chain factors to take into consideration when deciding about vertical or horizontal mergers and acquisitions. Theoretical positive and negative supply chain effects have been verified through the case study method analysis of one regional food supply chain in which they are implemented vertical and horizontal mergers and acquisitions. Findings showed that the supply chain perspective is often crucial in the decisions on mergers and acquisitions, especially for retailers. Supply chain factors can provide significant market advantages that are reflected not only in the expansion of the market, but primarily in the rationalization of operations. At the same time they can be very aggravating factors when it comes to excess capacity or an inadequate organization and business culture. Research limitations arise from the fact that it is analyzed only one supply chain from the point of retail companies, and only in the food sector. The paper gives insights into supply chain perspective of contemporary mergers and acquisitions, and discuss their consequences on supply chain.

Product quality is one of the dominant factors of survival in the complex economic conditions marked by overabundance of products and keen market competition. Still, it is quite rare to see a systematic approach to the system of quality attainment and maintenance, which is also the case in the baking industry. The issue is usually left to individual technologists in charge of the production process and their capabilities. Consistent quality and efficient production imply a systematic approach to gathering, recording and distributing of knowledge in an organisation, which is the domain of knowledge management. Today, knowledge is not only a characteristic of human beings ; it is also a constituent of intelligent computer systems that are responsible for managing production processes. Knowledge management has become more efficient with the development of computer programming systems for knowledge capturing and recording. These systems are not only devices to record and further distribute knowledge through modern computer networks ; rather, their function is to help in making important decisions in the production process, based on the information from the environment. The basis of such systems is an ontological model that systematically structures the knowledge on a particular element of the structure or a particular business process. One of the tasks of modern scholarship is to provide systematic knowledge structuring so that it can be efficiently distributed through modern communication channels, and then used in real-life conditions. Accordingly, this research was carried out to create a framework model of knowledge management aimed at achieving continuous quality in the baking industry.

In modern vertical marketing systems (i.e., in grocery sector), the greatest power is demonstrated by retail chains, and producers depend thereupon. This paper analyzes vertical marketing systems and the role of retailing therein. Specially analyzed is the power of retail chains’ demand with regard to the entire supply chains they head, as well as the present-day new competition in retailing and modern business concepts related to the vertical marketing systems. Additionally, analyzed are also select indicators to examine the significance of retailing in an individual national economy. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the new indicators of significance of retailing in economy with regard to the realized GDP, as a chain value component. These indicators complement the usual retailing significance analyses from the point of view of its share in the number of employees and the number of companies. From the conducted analysis, one may conclude that the vertical marketing systems become increasingly important, and retailng assumes a new role in economy in that sense. Thus, new indices of retailing significance might also be necessary.

As the world economy is slowly recovering from years of crisis, business logistics continues to strengthen its position as the key rationalization and developing business function - both at the level of one economic entity and in the context of the entire supply chain who now know no boundaries. Continuing the respectable tradition, 14th International Scientific Conference Business Logistics in Modern Management once again explores the scientific and technical challenges within the different areas of logistics and supply chain management. Of particular importance is the fact that this year the Conference has highly emphasized international character due to scientific and professional contributions achieved through 17 papers and 33 authors from 10 countries (Germany, Austria, Poland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Croatia). Certain papers in this publication are the continuation of the ERASMUS collaboration and other projects between scientists from the Faculty of Economics in Osijek and scientists from institutions of higher education in Pforzheim, Celje, Szeged, Poznan and Subotica. In accordance with the growing importance of logistics in retailing, the largest number of papers is in the first thematic block with the same name. The section starts with a paper which is seeking for optimal strategy of stocking of retail outlets. It continues with discussion about space and technology developments and efficiency in retail trade, folowed by paper on logistical challenges and potentials in multi-channel food retailing & distribution. Furthermore, authors discuss issues of retail ready packaging in food manufacturing industry, new scopes of retail internationalization, logistic distribution centers as business success factor, and modern developments in distributive trade. Second thematic block is devoted to supply chain management from information and comunication technology view and to supply chain security issue. Authors present interesting joint maturity model of business inteligence driven supply chain, followed by paper about changes of supply chain management in the information technology industry and its relation to sustainable development, and by paper that emphasize charachteristics of supply chain management in the global electronic market. Here are also papers on influence of authorized economic operators on supply chain security, and on packaging quality assurance in supply chain. Last section, called logistics in theory and practice, starts with a comparative literature analysis of definitions for logistics that aims to provide general definition of logistics, as well as definition of logistics subcategories. Next paper talks about firms' logistics capabilities for increasing international competitiveness. Besides, there are two case study papers concerning efficiency of cargo tram for city logistics compared to road freight transportation in Istanbul ; and new distribution channels in historical city cores in the Adriatic region. We conclude whole publication with analysis of logistics education at Cracow University of Economics. Finally, we would like to thank the Faculty of Economics in Osijekas the organizer, and to the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, who have both supported the maintenance of this Conference. Likewise, we would like to offer a sincere thanks to international reviewing committee for their contribution in improving the scientific quality of this publication.

The "Flour-Bread '13“ Congress topics were the following: breeding and quality of cereal grains, grain storage and milling technology, analytical and rheological methods, baking technology, improvers and additives, starch and modified starch, extrusion and pasta production, biscuit and pastry products, nutritional quality of cereals, cereal food safety and cereal based functional foods.

Conflict can arise in organizations and systems due to differing interests (personal and work-related), differing goals, ways of performing business activities, value judgements, priorities, perceptions of reality, cultural backgrounds, psychosocial and other features of participants. The paper looks into different aspects of conflict, starting with identifying conflicts by frequency and participants. The causes and consequences will be explained, together with ways and strategies for resolving conflict. The study was carried out in eight primary health care institutions in the Republic of Croatia, on the sample consisting of 185 respondents. It was based on a survey, i.e. a questionnaire with 28 complex questions on different aspects of conflict. In particular, the paper examines the managerial aspects of conflict and differences between managerial levels related to causes, consequences, attitudes and conflict-resolving strategies.

Visokoškolsko obrazovanje, a shodno tome i obrazovanje ekonomista, u Republici Hrvatskoj je nakon usvajanja Bolonjske deklaracije i drugih dokumenata vezanih uz reformu visokoškolskog obrazovanja, doživjelo značajne promjeneu kurikulumima pojedinih grupa studija visokoškolskih obrazovnih institucija. U radu se istražuje na koji načinsu oblikovani kurikulumi ekonomskih studija na pet ekonomskih fakulteta u RH. Uočena je, barem prema broju kolegija, ali ne i nužno prema broju slušača, dominacija derivata metodološko-modelskih i tehnoloških disciplina čije se posljedice razmatraju u kontekstu odnosa s jezgrenimi temeljnim predmetima ekonomije kao znanstvene i obrazovne discipline. Dominacija modelsko-tehnoloških disciplina rezultat je (sub)specijalizacije i fragmentacije ekonomskih znanja. Rezultat toga su neizbalansirani odnosi sadržaja i njihove realizacije ili odnosa "što" i "kako"Kurikularni sadržaji , proizvodi ili procesi moraju se mijenjati i nadopunjavati u kontekstu novih filozofsko-metodoloških spoznaja, novih društveno-ekonomskih odnosa, tehnoloških okruženja i zahtjeva budućih tržišta rada i sukladno načelima, ciljevima i zahtjevima koji se definiraju u kvalifikacijskim okvirima i drugimdokumentima kojima se uređuju pitanja obrazovanja

Success Factors of Online Training

With the purpose of a more efficient demand management modern retailers along with other members of their own supply chain perform category management. This process approach to managing product categories as strategic business units enables retailers and their suppliers a significant impact on the demand of end customers. Demand management through category management is carried out through a series of strategies and tactics aimed largely at the retail assortment. In this way, category management processes become the intersection, but also the starting point of marketing and supply chain activities of retailers. The paper aims to stress the importance of category management to demand management activities in the retail supply chain management through the theoretical analysis of the category management process. Also, the paper emphasizes the need for cooperation between retailers with other members of the supply chain in category management, namely involvement of supply (upstream) side of chain in order to successfully manage the demand of end customers. It is also the precondition for effective demand management throughout the supply chain. The paper also points to the potential problems in certain areas of demand management in retailing.

The research presented in this paper shows a study into the training online in large organizations in Australia. In particular, this research is focused on comparing the enablers of online training in Australia’s large corporation as a whole and Recreation and other services industry in Australia. It was accomplished through a survey of 500 large organizations. On-line training is gaining momentum in many countries and is used by many types of businesses [4]. The research reported in this paper is looking at the enablers of online training in very diverse organizations ranging from Communications industry to wholesale/retail trade in Australia. This research has found that many of the enablers identified in the literature are also identified in large organizations in Australia. These include: top management support, skilled work force [14] ; financial support, crossfunctional team, alignment of the software and organizational standards [6] ; just in time training[4] ; usability and transferability [18] etc.

The development and / or analysis of the curriculum are based on knowledge of specific areas in which the curriculum is made and model used for its design. There are several different approaches and each has its advantages and disadvan¬tages. The paper analyzes four approaches for the development of general manage¬ment curriculum innovation. We analyzed few curriculum of American, European, Australian and Croatian studies in general management on bachelor and graduate (master) level. Study of general management at the undergraduate level of Ameri¬can, Australian and some European universities differ significantly from the Croa¬tian Schools in number as well as in the methodological, core and major courses. At higher levels of education (graduate and master) the differences are even more obvious. Based on the performed analysis we tried to estimate the balance of the curriculum in terms of key aspects of the curriculum: the role of managers, the ap¬plication of pedagogy, the methodological basis, the level of research, process and content and the domains and areas.

Konflikti predstavljaju stanja osobne i organizacijske neravnoteže. Zbog različitih interesa (osobnih i poslovnih), ciljeva, načina realizacije poslovnih aktivnosti, vrijednosnih sudova, prioriteta, percepcije realnosti, kulturološkog nasljeđa i psihosocijalnih i drugih osobina sudionika često se u manjem ili većem broju i obujmu javljaju različiti konflikti ili sukobi. U radu su istraženi različiti aspekti konf kata – izvršena je njihova identifikacija po učestalosti pojavljivanja i sudionicima, istraženi su uzroci posljedice, načini i strategije njihova rješenja i uzročno posljedične veze. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od osam ustanova primarne zdravstvene zaštite u Republici Hrvatskoj a obuhvatilo je 185 ispitanika. Istraživanje se temeljilo na anketi koja je imala 28 kompleksnih pitanja o različitim aspektima konflikata, od kojih su u radu obrađeni uzroci, posljedice, načini i strategije rješavanja te neke uzročno- posljedične veze među varijablama koje utječu na neke od navedenih aspekata. Posebno su istraženi menadžerski aspekti konflikata i razlike među menadžerskim razinama vezane uz uzroke, posljedice i strategije za rješavanje konflikata. .

This paper deals with cost assignment for indirect costs, as part of company's internal accounting structure. More often than not, there is a considerable amount of activities exchanged between various service departments, which provide services reciprocally, and not only for production departments. Consequently, when such interactions occur, it is necessary to calculate the total costs of these service departments, i.e. to determine their respective overheads. Based on an actual commercial accounting software application, a variant of the method of reciprocal allocation, namely the method of repeated addition with inclusion, is illustrated, in order to better demonstrate the theoretical and practical aspects of inter-service cost allocation

The paper starts from the importance of merchandise distribution and distribution channels and mutual relationships of the participants in them. Development of distribution channels based on the concentration processes and integration of functions is emphasized. In this context, the position of retail in distribution system is defined in terms of its business units and new elements in their design related to the application of certain business models. The authors try to give hints for finding ways to create new forms of distribution channels and retail business units in the respective national economies. The foundations for such considerations are the theoretical assumptions about the development of new forms of retail business units, as well as contemporary problems in the functioning of retail systems in individual countries. The basis for this development lies in new technological possibilities, i.e. opportunities offered by modern information technologies and new understanding of the connection between physical commodity processes. In this sense, modern vertical marketing systems, new business models and multi-channel retailing can be observed.

Flour and Bread '09

The society and technology determine, by their specificities, the culture of an epoch, of an area and of the people that inhabit it. The modernity is primarily determined by I.C.T. so that the society is often called information society and culture the culture of the information age. Under such circumstances, one can hardly find a living space and activity which are not affected by I.C.T. In this paper, the authors analyze the intensity of the presence of I.C.T. in the rural area and in agricultural activities in Slavonia and Baranja. It is well known that in sociology a “peasant” means a way of life, culture of a certain region and time. Most frequently, this notion used to be determined by an attribute of autarchy and a firm existential orientation to nature. Today, the “peasant” has lost its original meaning. His space is more often determined by a “family farm” and his relation with nature is significantly characterized by technology. To what extent is technology nowadays - in particular I.C.T. - present in the production and in the way of life on a family farm in Slavonia and Baranja and what is the attitude of today’s peasant towards it, is explored by the authors of this paper. A survey was made on the sample of 153 family farms in Slavonia and Baranja.

Some schools of management and institutions with long-standing experience in managerial education have recently started questioning and changing approaches and contents of their curricula, prompted by intensified globalisation processes and the necessity for integrating and specialising managerial knowledge on the one hand as well as disastrous results of managerial practice. Booming of schools of management in the world, as well as in the Republic of Croatia was the reason for investigating management curricula on some world class school of management as well as those in Republic of Croatia. Creation of management curriculum was proposed by using of ontology.

Determining the optimal level of flour inventory is an issue that the baking industry has to deal with on a daily basis. Although a number of models have been developed as support systems for inventory management (whose implementation has been significantly simplified by computers and adequate software), managers in the baking industry (especially in smaller bakeries) persist in basing their decisions on experience and intuition. The main reason for this lies in inadequate education of bakery managers, or more precisely, lack of awareness regarding the advantages of a quantitative approach in problem solving. To make this approach more accessible, this paper presents a flour inventory decision support system based on inventory model with price breaks. In this model, holding costs are defined as a percentage of price. In order to estimate flour demand as accurately as possible, demand values are simulated in the analysis. For each simulated level of demand the order quantity is established which results in minimum total costs. Eventually, the order quantity determined most frequently is considered to be the optimal one. The model application is explained on a hypothetical example. Furthermore, the paper provides the program for solving the stated problem, written in LINGO Modelling Language.

Technological advances and potentials offered by modern information and communication technology have allowed traditional manual form of operations to be increasingly replaced by so-called virtual world operations. Virtual business operations are carried out on a virtual market, which has the same rules in transactions as the traditional market, however, the transactions are conducted in very different circumstances, characterized by high level of transparency, high speed of transactions, large number of participants, and lack of physical interaction in terms of exchange of goods and payment. Everybody needs to adapt to these new operating conditions, both organizations working for profit and the non-profit ones. Information and communication technology has produced a special impact and changes in marketing of those non-profit organizations that function as agencies. Such organizations effect their interactions through virtual market, with organizations or individuals who are their sources of finance, as well as with those organizations or individuals to whom their activity is directed. Operating in such altered conditions implies not only a change in the system of promotional activities, but changes the whole marketing-mix. This in turn changes marketing aims and marketing implementation and control. Without a high quality, scientifically-based model approach it cannot be realistically expected that non-profit organizations will manage to adapt to the new conditions defined by information society.

Development and implementation of ICT become the basis of world competitiveness of single European socio-economic space and this development is managed by highest level of socio-political decision making in European Union. Since the European geopolitical map has changed considerably in the last two decade, and became heterogeneous in levels of economic development and capabilities for research, development and implementation of ICT, the need for empowering of less developed regions (countries) has emerged on one side as well as fostering the leadership, excellence and collaboration of developed regions on the other side. Due to these goals, considerable funds were and are planned to be invest in ICT research and development in EU. Based on number of participants and leadership in some ICT projects of European research programs (subprograms), publically available in CORDIS database, the levels of ICT research and development capacities of European countries and some candidate countries are investigated. The results are analyzed in contextual framework of European ICT projects and some socio-economic factors of particular country in order to assess differences and future capacities for ICT research and development.

Svjetsko gospodarstvo se zadnja dva desetljeća suočava s iznimnim porastom konkurencije uzrokovanim procesima internacionalizacije, globalizacije i koncentracije. U novoj konstelaciji snaga u disribucijskom kanalu, trgovina na malo zauzima dominantan položaj. Kao jedan od ključnih odgovora na ove brojne izazove, uspješne maloprodajne kompanije se odlučuju za okretanje prema članovima vlastitog opskrbnog kanala. Mogućnosti za unapređenje poslovanja traže se kroz povećanu suradnju svih članova opskrbnog lanca. Koncepcija nastala na vjerovanju kako sudionici opskrbnog lanca na svim razinama opskrbe moraju zajedno težiti ubrzanju i usavršavanju prvenstveno toka materijalnih dobara i pratećih informacija, ali i zajedno raditi na rješavanju svih ostalih problema bilo kojeg člana opskrbnog lanca koji mogu utjecati na zastoj toka proizvoda ili usluge do krajnjeg kupca/korisnika, naziva se upravljanje opskrbnim lancem ili supply chain management (SCM). S obzirom da su suradnja i komunikacija osnovni zahtjevi ove koncepcije, shvatljivo je zašto informacijska tehnologija ima ključnu ulogu u upravljanju opskrbnim lancem. Informacijsko komunikacijska tehnologija bila je pretpostavka nastanka upravljanja opskrbnim lancem, danas je temelj njegove implementacije, ali i izvor i podrška njegovom daljnjem razvoju i usavršavanju u budućnosti. U radu se navode temeljne suvremene teorijske spoznaje o koncepciji upravljanja opskrbnim lancem, te prikaz najkorištenijih informacijsko komunikacijskih tehnologija u upravljanju opskrbnim lancem. Posebno će biti opisane tehnologije koje se koriste u operativnim aktivnostima toka dobara, kao i softverske aplikativne tehnologije na kojima se većinom zasniva komunikacija u opskrbnom lancu. Cilj rada je ukazati na značaj informacijske i komunikacijske tehnologije za upravljanje opskrbnim lancem, te pružiti svojevrsnu klasifikaciju suvremenih tehnoloških rješenja koje se trenutno koriste u upravljanju opskrbnim lancem.