Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Brands that have highly loyal consumers are in the function of the identity and image of their personality. The primary drivers of loyalty to such brands are the intangible characteristics of brands that have a certain symbolic meaning for consumers. In that sense, brands are in the function of articulating consumers as personalities and achieving an appropriate image. To achieve this, brands are often considered individuals who, like consumers who buy them regularly, have similar characteristics. If the characteristics of brands and the characteristics of consumers are more harmonized, consumers will be more loyal. Starting from the above, the aim of the author is to investigate the influence of brand personality dimensions on consumer loyalty to two groups of products: mobile phones and cars. The research was conducted on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The results of the research are essential for brand management because they represent guidelines for undertaking certain activities in building brands with a leading position in the market.

Many municipalities and cities face certain problems in attracting local and foreign investors and one of them is ineffective local administration, as well as the lack of transparency of rules and procedures start-ups and enterprises, branches and the like. Many local governments are not even aware of what is causing the problem and the lack of investment and investor preferences for other municipalities and cities. To be able to clearly state the causes of the problem, a program of certification of cities and municipalities has been initiated in many countries, including Serbia. This program involves evaluating the quality of services of municipalities and cities in terms of those elements that are particularly relevant to existing and potential investors. On the basis of the data on the level of quality of certain elements, one can realize what the local government of a city or municipality must change in order to be a convenient area for investment, and that would provide a friendly environment for potential investors. In addition, the program ends with a certification in case the municipality or city meets the minimum requirements in each of the elements of assessment. Since the evaluation of the conditions represents the basis for gaining the certificate confirming that the city or municipality is a favorable environment for investors, a very important issue is to determine the significance of the elements, and appropriate criteria, bearing in mind that not all elements are equally important from the perspective of investors. The aim of this paper is to establish a link between the level of fulfillment of the criteria in the process of certification of cities and municipalities and the ability to attract investors, and the acceleration of investment activity at the local level. The paper presents the current way of conducting the procedure of certification of cities and municipalities, and based on the results of the correlation analysis and DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) method an insufficient influence on the fulfillment of these criteria to attract and activate investments at the local level was found.

Local economic environment is characterised by a range of economic, social, political and demographic parameters, based on which we can perform its analysis. Heterogeneity of relevant characteristics of the local economic environment imposes multiple criteria analysis as one of the suitable tools for the evaluation. Assessment of local economic environment often falls within the scope of group decision-making, as it is usually performed on the basis of an analysis of preferences of economic subjects or relevant experts on the issue of the economic environment at the local level. Regardless of whether it is based on economic subjects or expert group, in order to form a multi-criteria model, it is necessary to generate preferences of individuals into a single weight coefficient, which shows groups' preference on the importance of each criterion. The subject of this paper is determination of weight coefficients in the multi-criteria model for the analysis of local economic development based on the preferences from a group of experts, by applying adequate statistical tools, and then by ranking local governments according to the quality of business environment perceived by the expert group.In addition to descriptive statistics and testing the significance of differences, in the paper is applied multi-criteria method Simple Additive Weights - SAW.

By adoption the first Law on Waste Management of the Republic of Serbia in 2009 ('Official Gazette RS', No. 36/09), the necessary preconditions for introduction the order into the subject area were created. The Law on Waste Management was amended in 2010 ('Official Gazette RS', No. 88/2010). According to the guidelines of the amended Law on Waste Management, the Government of the Republic of Serbia has adopted the Regulation on disposal of hazardous waste on landfills ('Official Gazette RS', No. 92/2010). The Government has defined with this Law, for the first time, three categories of waste disposal and all parameters necessary for selection appropriate location, design and monitoring of future waste disposal. The Government regulation on landfills represents a harmonization of domestic legislation with the European Union in the field of environmental protection and waste management and with actual Directive 1993/31/EU.

The favorable climate and the environment in which economic activity takes place is one of the factors for attracting investments, both in terms of the state or when it comes to regions, cities and municipalities within the state. At the international level, states are competing for funds and investors and they are trying to attract as much as possible of investments for starting or accelerating economic activity. Analogue process has been taken within the state, where cities and municipalities are rivals to each other in attempt to emphasize their comparative advantages. Due to specific characteristics that make them able to stand out in relation to other cities and municipalities and with the prior support of a favorable climate for investors, municipalities become 'business friendly'. Experiences from the past in Serbia shows that local government can create a business environment such that the level of competitiveness of the city, municipality or region is far above the level of competitiveness of the state. City of Niš has attracted a significant number of investors over the past period and positioned itself in third place in Serbia in the amount of foreign direct investment, as well as in fourth place by the total number of jobs created after the activation of these investments. The aim of this paper is primarily analysis of the results that City of Niš achieved in the previous period in the field of attracting FDI, but also to emphasize its competitive advantages and opportunities to improve competitiveness.

Abstract
The important role of the banking sector in the economic development of the country imposes the need for continuous measurement and monitoring of bank efficiency. Besides, identifying industry-specific and macroeconomic factors that affect the achieved efficiency is an important task in order to detect potential disruptions, as well as to provide adequate guidelines to improve the efficiency. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to quantify the achieved efficiency and uncover its determinants. The study is conducted in two stages. In the first stage, using the DEA method, the efficiency of banks for the period from 2005 to 2022 will be assessed, while in the second stage, the factors of efficiency will be determined by applying Tobit regression. The results indicate that when it comes to industry-specific factors, greater market concentration unfavourably affects the efficiency of banks. Regarding the macroeconomic factors, the growth of gross domestic product, inflation rate and global financial crisis have a significant influence on the achieved level of bank efficiency in the Republic of Serbia. In addition to expanding the existing knowledge on quantification of efficiency and defining the determinants of efficiency on the example of banks in the Republic of Serbia, the results in this paper also hold relevance to policymakers and practitioners.

Abstract
Implementation of IT innovations in insurance industry enhances actual business models and creates new ones. E-insurance refers to creating and providing insurance and connected financial services through digital solutions. In this paper the impact of IT usage and digitalization on insurance sector in the Republic of Serbia is analysed. The aim of the proposed analysis is to reveal the determinants of the adoption of innovative technological solutions in insurance in the Republic of Serbia. Relying on the TOE framework, three groups of factors influencing the adoption of IT in e-insurance are identified: technological, organizational and environmental. Panel data approach and logistic regression are used to examine the effects of proposed factors on e-insurance adoption. The obtained results indicate that organizational and environmental factors have statistically significant influence on the achieved level of e-insurance adoption, while only the market share of the insurance company positively influences the odds of e-insurance adoption. Therefore, it can be concluded that e-insurance in the Republic of Serbia is the matter of reputation and tendency of insurers to achieve short-term gains and a competitive advantage through innovation.

The paper explores the mismatch between the skills and qualifications required by the labour market and those acquired through education and on-the-job learning. The skill mismatch in transition economies tends to be even more pronounced as the labour markets in these countries are characterized by structural unemployment, affecting both older workers with obsolete skills and the young ones. Employers face poor incentives for investing in workforce skill development, due to the inadequate investment climate and volatile business environment. Transition countries face increasing outward mobility of an educated workforce, loss of human capital, and shortage of workforce in the fields such as ICT, medicine, science and research. The research is based on empirical data generated in a survey on ICT and manufacturing enterprises in the City of Niš, Serbia. The research methodology combines workers' self-assessment method for the skill gap measurement and the competence approach combined with the statistical methods. The findings indicate the presence of a qualification mismatch, in the form of the over-qualification as a dominant irregularity in the analysed labour market. The results of the study are expected to contribute to creating a network of policy instrumentaria that tend to be effective on a sub-national level in addressing the mismatch.

In the contemporary conditions of intense dynamics of competition, clearly articulated demands of the community and booming environmental requests, corporate social responsibility (CSR) becomes an imperative strategy for responsible and ethical company management. The primary goal of the research is to identify the relevance of social performance for financial success of the most liquid Serbian companies included in the BELEXline index in the period from 2014 to 2018. The level of social performance disclosure is determined using content analysis and the formulation of the social performance disclosure index. In order to confirm the initial hypotheses, cluster analysis and the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test are used. The empirical findings of this research indicate that the disclosure of social performance is relevant only at the level of certain financial indicators, given that the non-financial reporting of the companies from the sample is at a low level. With changing business conditions, higher requirements for CSR, and increasingly demanding regulations on non-financial reporting, this study provides information on the relationship between the social indicators and the financial performance that are important both in terms of defining sustainability strategies at the company level and from the point of view of the capital market, regulatory bodies and the academia.

Dynamics in global processes have led to a number of political, economic and cultural changes that have resulted in the emergence of global cities. In the hierarchy of global cities, those who successfully use the limited available resources and offer an adaptable and flexible living environment, represent the most competitive global cities. Nonetheless, accelerated globalization has conditioned direct competition of global cities for different resources, and one of the most desirable being highly-skilled, talented and creative residents. In such conditions, city leaders face the need to understand the concept and factors of urban magnetism. The analysis of the determinants of urban magnetism can facilitate the formulation of concrete actions aimed at increasing the attractiveness of the city, which ultimately leads to the preservation of long-term socio-economic development of cities. Although financial wellbeing and incentives were considered to be a key factor of urban magnetism, contemporary research approaches have emphasized other factors that may influence urban attractiveness. Starting from that point of view, this paper aims to identify the main urban functions that influence the cities' size with an analysis focusing on global cities worldwide. The panel regression analysis is applied to the sample of 39 global cities over the period from 2013 until 2019 and the data on urban functions are obtained from the Global Power City Index (GPCI). The results indicate that the size of the global cities population is positively affected by urban functions related to the cultural interaction and accessibility, while research and development function influences negatively on the size of the urban population. Results of the paper led to the conclusion that contemporary urban management strategies need to be defined and implemented aimed at improving the urban magnetism beyond economic performance of the city, focusing on sustainability and urban quality of life.

Abstract
The topic of wealth and money distribution attracts great attention of economists, as well as researchers from other scientific fields, such as statistical physics and econophysics. An increasing number of models and simulations are being created in order to understand the process of wealth distribution and reaching the steady state of the distribution system. Also, the number of papers dealing with analysis and determining the distribution proportion is constantly growing, and, unlike the previous years, when the Pareto principle was "80-20", today that principle could be "90-10"and even "90-20". In this paper we present an agent-based simulation model derived from econophysics that describes the dynamics of wealth distribution. Two models of exponential function are tested: a one-phase model that uses the Newton's law of cooling and a two-phase exponential function model. We found that exponential decreasing function adequately described the dynamics of wealth distribution, especially in the models without the possibility of borrowing money, and the validity of the Pareto principle "80-20" in these models could be confirmed.

Measuring poverty is of utmost importance for any economy in order to look at the extent and causes of the vulnerability of the population, but also to formulate social and economic policy measures and measure their effects. The multidimensionality of poverty makes it difficult to quantify and measure it. The subject of research is the components of the AROPE (At risk of poverty and social exclusion) indicator in the countries of the European Union (EU). Using the cluster analysis, the EU countries were grouped into homogeneous units, after which the significance of the difference in the average values of the analyzed indicators was tested. Based on the obtained results, the hypothesis of pronounced heterogeneity of EU countries from the aspect of poverty was confirmed. ; Merenje siromaštva je od izuzetnog značaja za bilo koju ekonomiju radi sagledavanja razmera i uzroka ugroženosti stanovništva, ali i radi formulisanja mera socijalne i ekonomske politike i merenja njihovih efekata. Multidimenzionalnost siromaštva u velikoj meri otežava njegovu kvantifikaciju i merenje. Predment istraživanja u ovom radu su komponente AROPE (At risk of poverty and social exclusion) indikatora u zemljama Evropske Unije (EU). Primenom klaster analize zemlje Evropske Unije svrstane su u homogene celine, a nakon toga ispitana je značajnost razlike u prosečnim vrednostima analiziranih pokazatelja. Na osnovu dobijenih rezultata potvrđena je hipoteza o izraženoj heterogenosti zemalja EU sa aspekta siromaštva.

Abstract
Measurement and evaluation of the bank's operations efficiency requires analytical techniques that provide data beyond those available from the standard analysis of financial statements. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a mathematical programming technique that offers valuable insights in finding inefficient banks taking into account the scope of the services and resources used to provide these banking services. The results of the DEA analysis can provide significant information to the bank's management that can supplement the information obtained using traditional techniques for assessing efficiency. The assessment of banks' efficiency in the Republic of Serbia is of particular importance due to intense competition and implemented banking reforms. Therefore, in this paper DEA analysis will be applied for the examination and assessment of the efficiency of the operations of Serbian banks during the period 2014-2016. The analysis will show which of the banks operates efficiently, where the efficiency of the banks is not at a satisfactory level, as well as the potential reasons for inefficiency.

The paper explores the mismatch between the skills and qualifications required by the labour market and those acquired through education and on-the-job learning. The skill mismatch in transition economies tends to be even more pronounced as the labour markets in these countries are characterized by structural unemployment, affecting both older workers with obsolete skills and the young ones. Employers face poor incentives for investing in workforce skill development, due to the inadequate investment climate and volatile business environment. Transition countries face increasing outward mobility of an educated workforce, loss of human capital, and shortage of workforce in the fields such as ICT, medicine, science and research. The research is based on empirical data generated in a survey on ICT and manufacturing enterprises in the City of Niš, Serbia. The research methodology combines workers' self-assessment method for the skill gap measurement and the competence approach combined with the statistical methods. The findings indicate the presence of a qualification mismatch, in the form of the over-qualification as a dominant irregularity in the analysed labour market. The results of the study are expected to contribute to creating a network of policy instrumentaria that tend to be effective on a sub-national level in addressing the mismatch. ; Ovaj rad istražuje neusklađenost između vještina i kvalifikacija koje zahtijeva tržište rada i onih koje se stječu obrazovanjem i učenjem na radnom mjestu. Neusklađenost vještina u tranzicijskim gospodarstvima ima tendenciju da bude još izraženija budući da tržišta rada u tim zemljama karakterizira strukturna nezaposlenost, koja istovremeno pogađa i starije radnike sa zastarjelim vještinama i mlade. Poslodavci se suočavaju s lošim poticajima za ulaganje u razvoj vještina radne snage zbog neodgovarajuće investicijske klime i nestabilnog poslovnog okruženja. Zemlje u tranziciji suočavaju se sa sve većom vanjskom mobilnošću obrazovane radne snage, gubitkom ljudskog kapitala i nedostatkom radne snage u područjima kao što su ICT, medicina, znanost i istraživanje. Istraživanje se temelji na empirijskim podacima prikupljenim u anketi o ICT-u i proizvodnim poduzećima u gradu Nišu u Srbiji. Metodologija istraživanja kombinira metodu samoprocjene radnika za mjerenje jaza u vještinama i pristup temeljen na kompetencijama u kombinaciji sa statističkim metodama. Nalazi ukazuju na prisutnost kvalifikacijske neusklađenosti, u vidu prekvalificiranosti za posao kao dominantne nepravilnosti na analiziranom tržištu rada. Očekuje se da će rezultati studije doprinijeti stvaranju mreže političkih instrumenata koji imaju tendenciju da budu učinkoviti na podnacionalnoj razini u rješavanju neusklađenosti.