Dejana Zlatanović
The Fifth International Scientific Conference entitled Contemporary Issues in Economics, Business and Management (EBM 2018) will be held at the Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac, on November 9 and 10, 2018.
Nenad Janković
During the 20th century, the dollar gained the status of the world’s most important currency. Therefore, the Bretton Woods International Monetary System was based on the dollar. However, in the 1970s, the situation changed significantly – demand for dollars declined, the currencies of the most important European countries became convertible, the volume of international trade increased greatly, international capital flows were liberalized, the external convertibility of the dollar to gold was abolished, and the currencies began to fluctuate. In this way, the original Bretton Woods international monetary system ceased to exist. In addition to the changes, the functioning of the international monetary system is greatly impacted by the fact that the United States recorded an increasing amount of current account deficits from year to year and, in the 1980s, moved from the position of the net creditor to that of the net debtor, that the euro was created on the soil of the EU and that China became the world’s largest exporter and one of the largest (if not the largest) world economies. For this reason, the theoretical assumptions of the international monetary system are systematized in the paper, the role of other world currencies is examined, and the question of why the dollar continues to be the dominant world currency is answered.
Rade Stankić, Biljana Jovanović Gavrilović and Jasna Soldić Aleksić
Education has always been a driving force behind economic prosperity. However, this has become especially important in a globalized knowledge- and new-technology-based economy. The research presented in this paper focuses on the relationship between ICT, population education, and economic growth and development. The analysis of this relationship is based on the latest data collected from relevant national and international institutions. The results obtained from a survey conducted at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, are also analyzed. The paper highlights the challenges faced by the education systems in general, and the education system of the Republic of Serbia in particular, confronted with the new wave of technological innovation which is fundamentally changing the nature of work and imposing new requirements with regard to the necessary knowledge and skills. Our research results indicate that ICT and education have been recognized by the Government of the Republic of Serbia as the important determinants of economic and the overall social development.
Jelena Nikolić
Starting from the normative approach, a decision as the outcome of the decision-making process should represent a rational choice made by a completely informed decision-maker. With the development of the behavioral perspective of the decision-making process, certain mistakes in decision-makers’ behavior have been noticed, emerging as a consequence of their limited cognitive capacities and the information asymmetry. The application of heuristics as simplified mental strategies, as well as certain deformations in decision-makers’ thinking and perception, leads to the different biases that affect their attitudes and approach to problem solving. The aim of the research study is reflected in identifying the biases that most often occur in the decision-making process, as well as their causes and consequences. The qualitative methodology of the research has been applied in parallel with the relevant methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction. On the basis of the conducted empirical studies, the recommendations for overcoming biases have been defined, which represents the main result of the research study. The derived conclusions with respect to the possibilities of overcoming biases can help decision-makers to improve the decision-making process in real situations.
Dejan Jovanović and Vesna Janjić
With an increase in the number of the companies that have adopted the ISO 14001 standard, the interest demonstrated in research studies regarding the assessment of the motives for and benefits from the ISO 14001 standard implementation has also been increasing. Nevertheless, in spite of the importance of the ISO 14001 standards, a discussion on their importance and the role of accounting in this process yet remains an open issue among researchers and practitioners. Starting from the above said, the main purpose of the research conducted in this paper is to identify the motives for and benefits from the implementation of the ISO 14001 standard and to examine the role of accounting in the implementation process. The empirical research in this paper was performed on the example of the 33 companies that have the obligation to submit their data on the sources of environmental pollution to the National Pollution Register. The data were collected through a poll of the management of the companies via a questionnaire, whereas the data analysis was performed by using various quantitative statistical methods and techniques, and primarily through the application of descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests. The results of the research indicate that the primary motives for the introduction of the ISO 14001 standards are an environmental responsibility, creating the image of a socially responsible company and the improvement of performances, whereas the benefits can be synthesized through the improvement of environmental performances, efficiency and profitability. Also, the results of the research study indicate that the managers of the companies partly recognize the role of accounting in the implementation of the ISO 14001 standard. The main conclusion of the research is that the management of the companies partly recognize the role of accounting in the ISO 14001 standards implementation. The main conclusion of the research is that the management of the companies in Serbia understand the importance of the implementation of the ISO 14001 standards, but not to a proper extent, as well as the role of accounting in that process.
Amaechi Patrick Egbunike and Godsday Edesiri Okoro
Quite a few studies have argued that green accounting does matter to the profitability of a firm; however, little is known about Nigerian firms. To address this gap, this paper seeks to investigate whether green accounting matters to the profitability of Nigerian firms or not. Towards achieving this, an expo-facto research design was adopted and ten non-consumer goods firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange were selected during 2012-2016. The data were sourced from the annual reports and accounts of the selected non-consumer goods firms. The data comprised of green accounting (expenses of community involvement and the amount spent on environmental protection) and profitability (return on equity and Tobin Q) indicators. The data obtained were analyzed by using canonical correlations. The study revealed that there was no significant relationship between green accounting and profitability measures among the non-consumer goods firms. The implication is that whether or not firms engage in green accounting, their profitability level remains unchanged. In addition, this provides evidence that the practice of green accounting among non-consumer goods firms in Nigeria is still at its ad-hoc stage. On the basis of the above findings, we proposed that the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and corporate entities should, as a matter of fact, accommodate the growing awareness in green accounting and formulate a disclosure requirement aimed at improving the profitability of firms. This will no doubt enhance green accounting practices among firms and in general policies aimed at enhancing their competitiveness in the industry in which they are domiciled.
Slavica Manić, Ljubinka Joksimović and Siniša Zarić
The gender role hierarchy in the Republic of Serbia is an inspirational topic on several grounds: first, this is a specific issue within a wider gender equality problem, which has recently become the priority of structural reforms; second, it is a separate segment of gender segregation, the research issue unjustifiably ignored by the domestic academic community; finally, it is just a piece of the “puzzle” that reflects the situation in the gender inequality field, but exactly the one which neither national nor European statistics provide detailed information for. The above-mentioned reasons represent the basic motivation for writing this paper. In order to determine whether the position of women in science varies according to their position on the career scale, as it usually happens all over Europe, we shall examine the situation in the higher education system in the Republic of Serbia. That is why we apply the methodological procedures of descriptive statistics to the micro-data obtained from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in order to calculate the following relative indicators: the teaching staff structure by gender and grades across different fields of science and the glass ceiling index. We believe that such a relatively precise insight into the range of vertical segregation could be useful in conceiving future initiatives aimed at the systemic introduction of a gender perspective in the adoption, implementation and monitoring of public policies.
Vlastimir Leković
After the conducted double-blind review procedure and the improvement of the received manuscripts, Issue 1 Volume 2018 of the Economic Horizons contains seven contributions: three original scientific papers, three review papers, and the announcement of the international scientific conference.