Search

Poduzeća elektroprivrede posluju danas u turbulentnoj okolini koju obilježavaju promjene energetske regulative, otvaranje tržišta električne energije, dolazak konkurencije i gubitak tržišnog udjela, povećani zahtjevi kupaca, veća očekivanja interesnih skupina, promjenljivost cijena električne energije, goriva i CO2 emisija, poteškoće u osiguranju transportnih putova za dobavu goriva, poteškoće u osiguranju prijenosnih kapaciteta po prihvatljivim cijenama i drugi čimbenici. Učinkovit sustav upravljanja rizicima može omogućiti poduzeću prepoznavanje prilika i pravodobno reagiranje na promjene u okolini, odnosno zaštitu i povećanje vrijednosti poduzeća. U radu je postavljena hipoteza prema kojoj postoji ovisnost između učinkovitosti sustava upravljanja rizicima i stupnja otvorenosti tržišta. Za potrebe testiranja hipoteze oblikovan je pokazatelj stupnja učinkovitosti sustava upravljanja rizicima. Rezultati istraživanja, provedenog na uzorku od dvadeset i jednog poduzeća elektroprivrede koja posluju u zemljama Europske unije i izvan nje, pokazali su istinitost navedene hipoteze., Electrical power companies are operating today in a turbulent environment characterized by changes in energy regulatory policies, opening of the electricity markets, competition and a subsequent loss of market share, increased customer demand, increased expectations from stakeholders; price volatility of electricity, fuel and CO2 emissions; difficulties in securing fuel supply routes, difficulties in securing transmission facilities at acceptable prices and other factors. An effective risk management system can permit an enterprise to recognize opportunities and react to change at the right time, i.e. to protect and increase the company value. In this paper, a hypothesis is presented that there is a correlation between the effectiveness of a risk management system and market competitive intensity, MCI. For the purpose of testing this hypothesis, an index has been developed to measure the effectiveness of a risk management system. The results of research conducted on a sample of twenty-one electrical power companies operating both inside and outside the countries of the European Union confirm this hypothesis.

Controlling is primarily a phenomenon found in practice. The interesting question of how controlling develops in practice has received respectable attention in research and corresponding literature. In this paper, we explore controlling in the light of empirical research. Moreover, the unexplored question of how controlling develops in practice in Croatian companies is the main inspiration for this paper. The objective of this paper is to provide an insight into the role of controlling and its understanding, function, tasks, instruments and information flow. We analyse the perceived contribution of controlling to business success as well as incentives and obstacles to its development. This study is based on the analysis of primary data with the aim of describing the development of controlling (explorative study). The research study covers the time span of 15 years in three different points in time: 2001, 2007 and 2015. The study is a retrospective longitudinal study, and this allows us to explore the process of change related to particular aspects of controlling. The study is at the same time a trend study since it enables the analysis of changes at the level of the researched sample. In this paper, we observe, describe and explain findings from the controlling practice in Croatian companies. Our results show that controlling in Croatian companies is most frequently understood as assurance of management rationality. In general, operative tasks and operative instruments dominate with internally-oriented focus. What is still needed is a more strategic and normative orientation, more external orientation and more freedom for controllers to create tasks and activities. Controlling is also recognized as a business success factor in Croatian companies. Management has the main influence over the development of controlling while IT support is discovered as the main obstacle in its development. The contribution of this paper is threefold: firstly, we provide insight into the controlling function ; secondly, we explore the dynamic perspective in controlling over the last 15 years in Croatian companies, and thirdly, with this paper we hope to provide design guidelines and recommendations that have to be concretized in organizations by taking into account the specific conditions of each individual case

The aim of this paper is to provoke discussion regarding the sustainable mode of transport as a solution for greener urban tourism destinations, and to point out that this solution lies in cycling, particularly in bike sharing as a relatively new sustainable transportation concept. A case study method was applied on the urban tourism destination Zagreb. Students perception toward 1172 cycling and bike sharing was collected via face- to-face survey. Students perceive cycling, and bike sharing as a good sustainable transport solution. The most important advantages of cycling are improvement of mental and physical health due to physical activity of people, and reduction in traffic congestions, pollution, noise, vibration and financial savings. Specifically, bike sharing impacts on the reduction of greenhouse gases and climate change, increases the quality of life in cities, and encourages people to engage in recreational activities and have more positive attitude towards the environment. The study provides theoretical implications for tourism and sustainability literature to enhance destination management knowledge about the concept of bike sharing underlying students attitude toward it. The implications for practitioners include better understanding of bike sharing as a solution for sustainable transport development. The limitation of the research is the convenience sampling technique, thus findings have limited generalizability. The present study contributes to tourism and sustainability literature in two ways. First, the tourism and sustainability industry must understand people perception toward sustainable mode of transport. People perception is essential for implementing new modes of transport as a solution for sustainable development of urban tourism destinations like Zagreb. Second, the findings provide guidelines for destination management in implementing sustainable transport solutions in urban destinations. Trends in the tourism market indicate that a preserved environment, and thus sustainable development will be even more important in the future. With the help of sustainable transport like bike sharing, and young people who accept the new forms of transportation green future is possible.

Dynamic business environment requires publishing accurate and reliable information about company business performance. In this context company financial reporting becomes standard, obligatory and important company communication channel. Publishing company performance information is not for the interest of investors only, but it is because of the interest for customers as well. In present business environment, growing interest for environmental protection and sustainable development, the financial reporting framework becomes insufficient. Information related with social and environmental aspects of business grows in importance not only for employees and local community but for investors and customers as well. Tourism industry highly prioritises environmental protection issues and sustainable development as factors of highest importance for sustainable destination management. In this context non-financial reporting was voluntary for many years, but now non-financial reporting becomes not only important market issue but becomes obligatory, and standards for non-financial reporting are still developing. The primary objective of this study was to identify the level of existing experience and readiness of hotel companies in Croatia to report on sustainable reporting and sustainable business.

Mogućnost uvođenja kontrolinga u hrvatsku javnu upravu na primjeru općine Abstract: Primjena kontrolinga u javnoj upravi je područje istraživanja ovog rada. Temeljna svrha rada je istražiti koristi i ograničenja uvođenja kontrolinga u javnu upravu, a cilj rada je predložiti instrumente kontrolinga koji bi pridonijeli povećanju transparentnosti i učinkovitosti u radu javne uprave. Budući da je javna uprava vrlo kompleksna, potreba za većom razinom transparentnosti, stručnosti i znanja u njezinom funkcioniranju postaje sve naglašenija. Zbog toga je u ovom radu kontroling, koji je nositelj stručnosti i transparentnosti u poduzećima, izabran kao instrument pomoću kojeg bi bilo moguće unaprijediti rad javne uprave. U tu svrhu su analizirani najveći problemi javne uprave te su na primjeru općine prikazane prednosti za javnu upravu koje proizlaze iz primjene kontrolinga. Na temelju rezultata istraživanja ponuđena su rješenja primjene kontrolinga kao i konkretni modeli njegove implementacije.

It is nowadays becoming increasingly clear that financial reporting can no longer be sufficient when it comes to business reporting. In that sense, the non-financial reporting is a ‘must’ in the modern economy for different groups of the general public as it reflects the responsibility of a company to conduct business activities in a sustainable way. The non- financial reporting represents relatively new area of research, and very little research has investigated the role of controlling and IT support in nonfinancial reporting. Therefore, the aim of this study was to find the best business practices and reveale the role of controlling and IT support in the process of preparing and publishing nonfinancial reports in hotel companies in Croatia. We applied the case study approach on the hotel company Ilirija d.d. The results show that the role of controlling in Ilirija d.d. is most significant in the economic field, and it is of great importance both in the ecological and social spheres ; while the IT has a significant role in preparing and tracking data for non-financial reporting.

Sustainability reporting is increasingly becoming an integral part of business reports. It encompasses reporting on environmental-, social-, and employee-related matters, as well as reporting on human rights, anti-corruption, and bribery issues. Implementing the stated principles requires knowledge and poses a challenge for managers.

Reporting on corporate social, environmental and economic responsibility has broadened widely within the last decade. The European Union is the most active region in the world in terms of sustainability reporting, largely on a voluntary basis. Most of the empirical research related to sustainability reporting in Europe has been conducted in Western European countries. In Central and Eastern Europe, only a small number of studies have focused on sustainability reporting. Little, however, is known whether how and why companies in CEE report about their corporate sustainable activities. The aim of the research project is to describe the status quo of SR in CEE, to explain some noteworthy differences between the two subsamples CEE and WE and to predict the future development of SR in the CEE region. To address this research issue, we have established a research consortium with researchers from ten Central and Eastern European Countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Two Western European countries, Germany and Austria, have been added to the sample to enable a regional comparison.

The development of technology influences changes in how we live, work, communicate and learn. Market and technology development forces all companies or organisation to re-evaluate their position, role, organisation and application of information and communication technology. Since people and their knowledge are the key elements of every successful business and information system, the adoption and application of new knowledge and continuous education becomes the key elements of a company’s success. Consequently in this dynamic and technology rich environment the teaching and learning process falls under a strong pressure to change and adopt new technologies and business trends. E-learning has a numerous benefits in comparison with the classic classroom teaching. Introducing e-learning is complex process and involves different groups of participating students, teachers, faculties, universities, and firms. It requires not only the participants’ motivation, time and willingness but suitable infrastructure and strong coordination off all parties involved. The acceptance of e-learning in Croatia is at lower level in comparison with other developed countries in spite of the significant efforts made at several universities and faculties. Therefore it was imperative to collect more facts about teachers’ perception, attitudes, opportunities and obstacles towards e-learning, and compare them with students’ attitudes and perception towards e-learning at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Croatia. The main goal of the paper was to explore: teachers’/professors’ and students attitudes towards (1) e-learning usage and (2) implementing an e-learning program. In June 2015 questionnaire was conducted in order to discover whether the professors are familiar with e-learning, its usage and possibilities. The questionnaire was emailed to 127 professors (assistant professors, associate professors and full professors) of the Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb. Another questionnaire was sent to 1169 students of the same school. The results of these questionnaires have confirmed that majority of teachers and students have shown a positive attitude towards e-learning despite the lack of information about the benefits of e-learning with a large portion of students. Almost all of teachers and students agreed that e-learning is future of education. The results lead to the conclusion that significant efforts are necessary in order to make the students aware of possibilities and the benefits by which e-learning can improve their learning experience and existing curricula as well as develop new ones. Significant efforts must also be made at the institutional levels to support e- learning curriculum development and establishing proper technology and organisational infrastructures. The comparison of our results with those from similar research carried out in some other countries has given us additional motivation to strive more in fostering e-learning development.

Despite the importance of early warning systems (EWS) in revealing weak signals on environmental changes and in constructing a solid base for timely and appropriate business response, particularly against the backdrop of business crises, empirical evidence - especially at the country level - still lags behind. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the practical and theoretical knowledge about EWS by providing empirical evidence from companies located in three different European countries, i.e. Croatia, Austria and Greece. We propose that companies in richer countries, as measured in terms of GDP, have a higher implementation level of EWS and are more likely to meet current state-of-the-art EWS standards while companies in the countries with a lower GDP show a lesser level of development. Moreover, we explore the reasons for not implementing EWS. For our survey we used a structured questionnaire. Contrary to our hypotheses, there are no significant differences among the countries concerning the level of EWS implementation. However, there are some differences as to the kind of EWS. Overall, EWS are predominately short-term oriented and operating in all three countries. The main reasons for not implementing EWS are the shortage of employees and the lack of management initiatives.

Reporting on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has broadened widely within the last decade. Sustainability disclosure is valuable because it helps a company demonstrate that it is managing its risks and has a track record of paying attention to key stakeholder issues. A great deal of research on sustainability reporting (SR) has focused on American and Western Europe companies. Only fragmentary studies exist that compare reporting patterns of CEE countries. There is substantial room for investigating how and to what extend companies in CEE disclose sustainability information in different communication channels. The research questions therefore are: How does SR vary among CEE countries and in comparison to Western Europe (WE), and do differences in SR correlate to national factors? And is there a CEE pattern of SR? This study uses surveys to investigate the practice and divergence of sustainability reporting in CEE countries. 50 largest companies in nine CEE countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia) and two WE countries (Germany and Austria) were investigated. The study identified four determinants of sustainability reporting of which two -- globalization and national culture -- explain divergence while economic development and the civil society don ’ t.

Cilj istraživanja je prepoznati suvremenu razinu razvoja kontrolinga na nacionalnoj razini na uzorku 30 najvećih dioničkih društava koja kotiraju na Zagrebačkoj burzi i time stvoriti vrijedan benchmark u hrvaskom kontrolingu. Također, prikazuje se profil prosječnog kontrolera u velikom dioničkom društvu i iznose se mišljenja, stavovi te ocjene hrvatskih kontrolera o danim aspektima kontrolinške prakse. Zaključuje se da kontroling u Hrvatskoj ima neusporedivo veliki razvojni potencijal te da njegova uloga kao aktivnog nositelja poslovnog uspjeha sve više dobiva na važnosti.

It has commonly been thought and said that the main goal of a company is to make profit and increase its value. If this is so, then the ways of achieving those goals are irrelevant. Are they really irrelevant? We are witnesses of excessive depletion of natural resources, climate change and a loss of biodiversity. Water, air, soil, light and noise pollution is increasing. We are also faced with the ignorance of human rights and income inequality. At the end the quality of life is worsening as well. The need of paradigm change from profitability to sustainability is self-evident. Sustainability is an integrative, holistic and long-term approach that advocates balance between economic, social and ecological dimensions of business, making companies responsible not only for monetary, short-term goals, but also for people and the planet. It is a known fact that many companies are mightier than numerous countries. But let us not forget that the reverse side of might is responsibility. Companies which choose the path of responsible business publish sustainable reports that reflect their efforts in respecting social and ecological business dimensions. Companies in Croatia accept this new understanding of business more and more. According to research results, they are aware of an increasing importance of social and ecological consequences of business, and the trend of sustainable reporting is on the rise. Top management has the most important function in implementing the sustainable company policy. Research shows that successful companies have a prominent role in pioneering the paradigm change. The aim of the paper is to raise awareness of sustainability in business, to reaffirm everlasting values such as respect of human rights and nature, to share examples from a small country, and to stimulate benchmarking and cooperation between international researchers.

Suvremeni uvjeti poslovanja potiču razvoj kontrolinga i povećavaju potražnju za kontrolerima. Na temelju provedenog istraživanja o obilježjima kontrolera u 30 najvećih hrvatskih dioničkih društava na Zagrebačkoj burzi provodi se usporedba sa značajkama kontrolera u njemačkim dioničkim društvima iz uzorka DAX indeksa Frankfurtske burze. Istražuju se različiti aspekti profila kontrolera i uspoređuju rezultati dvaju istraživanja. Cilj istraživanja je identificirati te usporediti tipični profil kontrolera u poduzećima Zagrebačke i Frankfurtske burze. Rezultati komparativne analize pokazuju kako se zbog povijesnih, ekonomskih i drugih egzogenih i endogenih razloga profil kontrolera u poduzećima Zagrebačke i Frankfurtske burze tek dijelom razlikuje. Pored značajnih sličnosti postoje i razlike u obilježjima; one mogu biti poticaj za daljnji razvoj kontrolera u poduzećima u Hrvatskoj., Controlling becomes nowadays a more complex and dynamic function, as well as an essential component of successful business. Based on the research about the level of controller development in the 30 biggest Croatian companies on the Zagreb stock exchange, the paper examines the development convergence with German companies included by the DAX index of the Frankfurt stock exchange. In this paper results of two surveys are being compared. The conclusion lies in the fact that because of historical, economic and other endogenous and exogenous reasons controller partly varies in the German and in the Croatian companies. However, the development of controlling in Croatian companies has an incomparably great potential.

The student’s acceptance of e-learning in Croatia is lower in than in other countries. This Research presents students perception of e-learning at Faculty of Economics. The results confirm that positive attitude towards e-learning prevails among the students but there are still large portion of students which still makes difference between diplomas or certificates gain by classic or distance learning method. This attitude makes significant obstacle in e-learning acceptance. It is obvious that is important to inform students better about e-learning and how e-learning can improve students learning practice, existing curriculums and develop new one. We compared results of this research with some similar researches done in other countries.

High dynamic and complexity of environment as well as high dynamic and differentiation within a company make success management more complicated than ever. Success factors are subtle instruments which we can influence, at the same time influencing the business success. It is important to explore and understand the success factors of the hotel industry too. In this paper authors investigate the success factors in Croatian high quality hotels, that is four and five stars hotels. Achieving business success depends on many factors and authors will specifically focus on internet as a distribution channel and controlling as an expert management support. In Croatian economy, tourism is one of the most important development factors, because it directly or indirectly creates around 22 % of total domestic product, and more than 40% of total export. Trends of its growth are visible in the number of high quality hotels, which has risen from 64 to 165 since 2007. Tourism industry represents one of the areas in which Internet technology has a significant influence in changing some of the key industry premises. In the hotel industry, combination of human and technological elements can strongly influence competitiveness on the market, the quality of goods and services, decreased distribution costs and improved customer services. Attempting to reach the global consumer in a fierce competition on the market, Croatian hoteliers use internet technology more intensely. Although internet and primarily web sites offer new opportunities to hoteliers, they need to be employed efficiently and effectively, in order to bring about greater business success. Therefore, the first proposition of this paper is that Croatian high quality hotels accepted internet’s potential and use it in striving for greater success as an additional distribution channel. Also, controlling represents a function within a management system which increases its effectiveness and efficiency. So, another proposition of this paper is that companies with controlling achieve greater levels of business success than do companies without controlling, and that by improving controlling as a key measure, companies may directly increase their possibility of business success. In order to find support for stated propositions, evaluation of 165 four and five stars hotels’ websites was performed to evaluate the websites of Croatian high quality hotels and their content. The study results show that management of Croatian high quality hotels is still using Internet technology for presentation purposes only and there is no awareness that website content needs to be managed well. Furthermore, to evaluate the second proposition, authors conducted a comparative overview of hotel companies with and without controlling departments using the basic indicators of liquidity, productivity, economics and profitability. The resulting conclusion is that controlling, in its institutional and functional sense, is to be found in relatively few very successful hotel companies. Ultimately, authors’ findings indicate that both, internet as a distribution channel and controlling, are significant factors of hotels’ business success, but poorly used in Croatian high quality hotels.

Postizanje poslovnog uspjeha ovisi o mnogim faktorima. Polazi se od hipoteze da poduzeća koja imaju odjel za kontroling ostvaruju veću razinu poslovnog uspjeha nego poduzeća bez kontrolinga. Time bi se dokazalo kako kontroling izravno povećava vjerojatnost poslovnog uspjeha. Na primjeru hotelskih poduzeća želi se dokazati kako kontroling pridonosi poslovnom uspjehu, odnosno daje faktor poslovnog uspjeha. Kontroling je funkcija unutar menadžmenta koja pridonosi povećanju efikasnosti i efektivnosti poslovanja. Nakon komparativne analize hotelskih poduzeća sa i bez kontrolinga s osnovnim pokazateljima likvidnosti, ekonomičnosti i rentabilnosti može se zaključiti kako se kontroling u institucionalnom i funkcionalnom smislu nalazi u relativno malom broju vrlo uspješnih hotelskih kuća., Achieving business success depends on many factors. The starting point ol this research are the hypotheses ihat companies with controlling achieve greater levels of business success than do companies without controlling, and that by improving controlling as a key measure, companies may directly increase their possibility of business success. By presenting a comparative analysis of hotel companies with or without controlling departments in regard to business success, this research attempts to prove the basic hypotheses that the business success of hotel companies is in high correlation lo the degree of the controlling department's development. Controlling represents a function within a management system which increases its effectiveness and efficiency. On conducting a comparative overview of hotel companies with and without controlling departments using the basic indicators of liquidity, economics, and profitability, the resulting conclusion is that controlling, in its institutional and functional sense, is to be found in relatively few very successful hotel companies.