Suchergebnisse

One of the main aims of the paper is to estimate how sustainable is the transition of Western Balkans to the European union and to present scenario analysis for this region. The new momentum for real chance of success in accession process towards European Union depends on both economic results and political will of the governing bodies. In this respect, more flexible and differentiated approach towards the Western Balkans is required to enable the exploitation of economic potentials and reduction labour market gaps. Western Balkan Countries' ability to assume obligations of EU membership are summarized by using selected indicators which indicate the readiness of each country to integrate and to harmonize economic system. Taking into account the six transition qualities (Competitive, Well-governed, Green, Inclusive, Resilient, Integrated),the ranking of the Western Balkans countries was performed. By calculating the Pearson coefficient for economic potential (measured by GDP per capita) and the labor market indicator (Average monthly gross wages) in the period 2012-2017. for six Western Balkan countries, it is concluded that there is strong positive correlation between them. The basic research question which has been tested during the research is whether country rank based on transition qualities, respond to country rank based on labour market indicators (such as Average monthly gross wages).

State aid aimed to certain market participants, especially some of its categories, carries a risk of distortion of competition. Therefore, it is necessary to control allocation of state aid and its direction from the sectoral objectives towards more justified horizontal objectives of allocating. This paper examines the practice of assigning sectoral state aid in the European Union and in the selected Western Balkan countries by using the methods of comparative and correlation analysis. The aim is to identify deviations and point out to the preferred ways of state aid allocation.

Abstract
The underying idea behand the foundation of the European Union is a single, integrated and competitive market. The future of the entire Western Balkans region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) lies within the European Union. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the multiplicative effects of the alignment of European Union regulations with the competition policy in Western Balkan countries. In addition, the paper is designed to highlight the specific issues, challenges in this field, and provides an overview of empirical trends. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approach proposes methodological framework which recognizes different economic environments and regulatory frameworks. By comparing selected economic indicators related to competiton authorities (number of staff in the national authorities, annual budget of the national authorities, number of prohibited agreements, abuse of dominant position, notification of concentrations, opinions), the authors give a reliable basis for comparative progress analysis in this filed. Using multi-criteria optimization as a key method, as well as network and input-output display, the obtained results suggest country whose competition authority is efficient frontier. The significance of this research stems from the current debate whether the harmonized competition policy should speed up and facilitate the process of the accession of new member states to the European Union.

The starting hypothesis is that the market structure to a large extent determines the conduct and the level of the achieved performance of economic entities. The aim of this paper is to determine the theoretical and empirical correlation between market structure, conduct, and performance of economic entities. The paper provides an analytical overview of the mobile telecommunications market in the Republic of Serbia. By using different indicators (the Concentration ratio, the HHI, the Lorenz curve, and the Gini coefficient), the supply concentration in this market is measured and the nature of competition is analysed. By using statistical methods (correlation and simple linear regression analysis), the correlation between the variables, which confirmed the existence of a strong positive correlation between the degree of supply concentration on the market and the level of achieved performance is examined.

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.

The key problem in the application of multi-criteria decision methods is to determine the importance of the criteria. That is the reason for the developing of a number of approaches for its calculation. Most of the used classifications divide them into two groups: subjective and objective. This paper presents an integration, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method as a subjective one, and the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method as an objective approach. The basic idea in the proposed procedure is to introduce objectivity into the process of criteria importance derivation with AHP by taking into account the weight obtained by DEA efficiency evaluation after introducing subjectivity in DEA, with an expert opinion.

The importance of this research stems from highly concentrated markets of voluntary pension funds, on the one hand, and intensive competition pressure among market participants, on the other. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the static and dynamic relationship between a pension fund's market share and value of its investment unit. The research was designed to monitor the changes in the size of market share and investment units in the period from 2008 to 2017 in the funds in the Republic of Serbia. The main findings suggest that the size of market share of individual voluntary pension funds has no influence on the growth of investment unit value. Contrary to the static approach, the dynamic approach argues that the changes of market share affect the performance of voluntary pension funds. The obtained results indicate that the performances of individual pension funds do not depend on their size, but rather on their ability to occupy a larger portion of the market and increase their market share. This paper provides a systematic review of the relevant empirical literature on internal and external determinants of a pension fund's performance. It represents a significant contribution to the understanding of market factors, such as market share and value of investment units.