EFSA

Volume 16, No. 1South East European Journal of Economics and Business

Published February 8, 2021

  1. Sanja Pfeifer, Slavica Singer, Nataša Šarlija, Sunčica Oberman Peterka

    PERCEPTION OF THE NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP CONDITIONS – DIFFERENCES ACROSS TIME AND EXPERT SPECIALIZATION

    Creating an external context that will have nourishing effect on the entrepreneurial activities seems to be timely, path and location dependent process. The systemic explorations of the national entrepreneurial context (environment) are still relatively underrepresented. The paper explores strengths and weaknesses of the national entrepreneurship conditions in Croatia and how stable these conditions are in the longer time frame. The aim of the study is to provide more detailed insight on the differences in perceptions among experts engaged in Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and along the time. Findings indicate deterioration of the national entrepreneurial conditions in Croatia. Experts’ perceptions of national entrepreneurial conditions diverge between experts who have and those who do not have prior entrepreneurial experiences. The time also matters – perceptual difference in evaluating the quality of national entrepreneurship conditions is observed across 2015-2018.

  2. Lejla Lazović-Pita, Lamija Šćeta

    A STOCHASTIC FRONTIER APPROACH TO MEASURING INEFFICIENCY OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

    The significance and methods of measuring inefficiency of local communities has been gaining prominence in the last decade. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the level of technical inefficiency in the sample of local communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for the year of 2017. We implement parametric stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to conduct an input-oriented stochastic parametric approach to measuring technical inefficiency of local communities in BiH. The results of our work are complementary to previous research indicating relative technical inefficiency of local communities in BiH. On average, BiH local communities’ total expenditures can be reduced by 46.8 percent without reducing output levels to achieve the result of the local community on the best practice frontier. Since our analysis and selection of variables are driven by data availability, the future research plans to include more variables.

  3. Mile Bošnjak, Gordana Kordić, Ivan Novak

    REAL EFFECTIVE EXCHANGE RATE AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIVITY IN CROATIA: WAVELET COHERENCE ANALYSIS

    This paper brings releationship between real effective exchange rate and industry production in Croatia. Research sample consists of monthly data from January 2000 up to June 2019. Following wavelet coherence approach, empirical results reveal the relationship across time and frequency domain. The empirical obtained from wavelet coherence analysis and confirmed with conventional correlation analysis suggested positive relationship between industrial productivity and real effective exchange rate in Croatia, with depreciation as a factor of positive influence on industrial productivity. Research results provided in the paper also contributes to the debate on exchange rate policy in Croatia, extending the discussion on national exchange rate policy implications.

  4. Sylwester Kozak, Agata Wierzbowska

    BANKING MARKET CONCENTRATION AND BANK EFFICIENCY. EVIDENCE FROM SOUTHERN, EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE

    The importance of the question about the relationship between concentration and efficiency lies in the fact that banks’ efficiency affects ability to extend loans and ensure financial stability of the banking sector. The study examines this relationship on the example of 150 banks operating between 2005 and 2019 in 11 EU and 8 non- EU countries from the SECE region. The value of profit efficiency was assessed with the stochastic frontier approach, and next regressed with the banking market concentration and bank specific and macroeconomic explanatory variables. The results for the entire sample as well as for domestic and foreign-owned banks indicate that concentration positively and nonlinearly impacts bank efficiency, both in EU and non-EU countries. Moreover, the size of a bank and income diversification help to improve efficiency of banks in the SECE region. The study shows that banks in SECE countries seem to follow the efficient structure hypothesis.

  5. Ivana Đunđek Kokotec, Silvije Orsag, Marina Klačmer Čalopa

    THE IMPACT OF INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS’ OWNERSHIP ON PERFORMANCE AND FINANCIAL POSITION: EVIDENCE FROM FIRMS IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

    The research problem of this study is focused on examining the impact of the ownership of institutional investors on the corporate governance of Croatian companies. The problem was approached comprehensively such that institutional investors were analysed as both homogeneous and heterogeneous groups (investment funds, pension funds, insurance companies). The results of this study reveal a statistically significant impact of institutional investor ownership being viewed as both homogeneous and heterogeneous groups on business performance and financial position, which reduces the gap between ownership intentions and management interests, thereby resulting in an increase in shareholder wealth while limiting the satisfaction and social goals of a company.

  6. Mohammad Harisur Rahman Howladar, Md Sahidur Rahman

    THE INFLUENCE OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP ON ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR: THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

    The main aim of the study to find out whether organizational commitment has any mediation effect on the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Data was collected from 432 managers and staff of private commercial banks in Bangladesh. The respondents were selected using the convenience sampling technique. Structural equation modeling was used for analyzing the collected data. The study reveals that servant leadership has a direct influence on organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior, as well as organizational commitment has a direct impact on organizational citizenship behavior. It is also revealed that the relationship between servant leadership and organizational commitment is partially mediated by organizational commitment. The main implication of the study is that employees’ organizational citizenship behavior can be improved by servant leadership of managers through the indirect effect of organizational commitment of employees. The study also pinpoints some limitations as well as future research directions.

  7. Bojan Ristić, Dejan Trifunović, Tomislav Herceg

    CAPACITY COMPETITION IN DIFFERENTIATED OLIGOPOLIES: ENTRY DETERRENCE WITH ALTERNATIVE OBJECTIVE FUNCTIONS

    This paper aims to identify the possible implications of quantity competition in markets with differentiated products on entry deterrence. If capacity commitments characterise this industry, quantities can be expected as the choice variable of rational players, even in the presence of product differentiation. Different equilibria of a static game occur depending on the degree of asymmetry of players, incumbent and entrant, which will crucially affect the shape of their best response functions. Asymmetry can stem from players’ advantage in demand and costs, their different objective functions, or the first-mover advantage. We will analyse entry where incumbent maximises the weighted average of profit and revenue while entrant is maximising profit. The reduction of asymmetry may intensify competition in the industry and, consequently, reduce entry barriers. Our findings provide an insight that could be used for practical recommendations for conducting competition policy and other sector-specific regulations, where the introduction and higher intensity of competition are desirable.

  8. Anida Krajina, Melika Husić-Mehmedović, Kemal Koštrebić

    CAN YOU SEE HOW IT SMELLS? WHAT EYE TRACKING CAN TELL US ABOUT THE SHELF MANAGEMENT OF LUXURY PERFUMES

    The purpose of this paper is to advance the theory and contribute to the practice of luxury perfumes’ shelf management by decoding the relationship between attention on the shelf, purchase decision-making, and brand recall. It employs an eye-tracking experiment to analyze attention spans and fixations, which is combined with a questionnaire to uncover recall and purchase intent. The research identifies attention patterns and the influence of attention on recall and purchase intention. It further reveals the main factors that influence attention on the shelf in the luxury perfume industry. This is a milestone for further elaboration on the benefits of the fashion mainstream for luxury perfumes and the debate regarding whether luxury perfumes should be treated similar to mainstream fashion or similar to any other product in basic shelf management rules. This study enables shelf managers and marketers to place the perfumes both on the shelf and in consumer minds to maintain a top-of-the-mind brand position. Managerial implications are significant and address perfume industry packaging as well as shelf positioning.

  9. Amila Pilav-Velić, Matej Černe, Peter Trkman, Sut I Wong, Anela Kadić-Abaz

    DIGITAL OR INNOVATIVE: UNDERSTANDING “DIGITAL LITERACY – PRACTICE – INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOR” CHAIN

    Digital transformation has put tremendous pressure on employees to innovate with the use of information technology (IT). This paper explores the extent to which digital literacy and personal innovativeness contribute to individual’s innovative work behavior (IWB). To test our hypotheses, we apply double bootstrapping chained mediation analyses paired with relative importance analysis on a dataset collected from employees (N = 167) in a pharmaceutical company. The results showed the existence of a double-mediation chain whereby digital practices and attitude toward digitalized innovation mediate the positive relationship between digital literacy and IWB. Surprisingly, said chain was not supported for personally innovative individuals, indicating that digital literacy plays a relatively more important role in stimulating attitudes toward digitalized innovation and IWB. Our findings add further specificity to research on digital natives and may help organizations understand the role of digital literacy and personal innovativeness in organizationally-relevant outcomes, such as IWB.

  10. Nina Vujanovic

    TECHNOLOGICAL TRENDS IN THE MANUFACTURING AND SERVICE SECTORS. THE CASE OF MONTENEGRO

    Technological efficiency is one of the main factors of economic growth in modern history. Technologies have traditionally been important for manufacturing sector, but the age of digitalization has also made service sector increasingly rely on modern technologies. There are not many studies measuring the technological trends of these two sectors. This study uses the micro approach of the dynamic panel to measure productivity of the manufacturing and service sectors in Montenegro during 2010 to 2019, between the two global economic crises, using firm level data. The results indicate a clear upward technological trend in manufacturing but not in the service sector. Divergent technological trends are found amongst the manufacturing and service industries that require different level of technologies and knowledge in their production processes. The study concludes that there is a room for further technological improvements in both sectors and proposes concrete policy measures for further development.