Slađana Savović
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are the important mechanisms through which companies can achieve growth, gain access to new markets and diversify their activities. Although companies engage themselves in M&As with optimism, empirical evidence shows that many M&A transactions are not successful. Therefore, research is often focused on the identification of the ways to improve post-acquisition performance. One of the key success factors of M&A is to provide adequate transformational leadership during the process of change, especially in the critical phase of the post-acquisition integration. A transformational leader should provide incentives and support to the employees in order for them to accept changes and focus on achieving challenging goals. This paper explores the impact of the different dimensions of transformational leadership on the post-acquisition performance based on the example of a company operating in the Republic of Serbia’s retail sector, which was the subject of a cross-border acquisition. In order to ensure the adequate representativeness of the sample, a questionnaire was distributed in all parts of the company throughout the Republic of Serbia. The results of this study show that all the dimensions of transformational leadership positively impact post-acquisition performance. The “individual consideration” dimension of transformational leadership has the strongest impact on post-acquisition performance, whereas the “intellectual simulation” dimension has the weakest.
Srđan Šapić
In terms of modern life, consumers have an increasing number of options when it comes to choosing a restaurant when they do not wish to eat at their homes. Fast food restaurants represent one of those options. In addition to domestic fast food restaurants, the development of global restaurant chains is also noticeable. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that affect the evaluations of products and services and the intentions of users in terms of using the services of fast food restaurants. In relation to that, it is important to analyze the factor of cosmopolitanism and tradition. Cosmopolitanism, as the willingness of people to cooperate with other cultures and tradition, and tradition, as a reflection of respect for the customs and ideas that are imposed on individuals by their culture or religion, affect consumers’ intentions and their willingness to use the services of foreign fast food restaurants. In accordance with that, the purpose of this research study is to determine if and how cosmopolitanism and tradition affect the evaluations of products and services and consumers’ intention concerning foreign restaurant chains and domestic fast food restaurants of both the local and the family types. The results of the conducted empirical research show that cosmopolitanism positively affects the evaluations of the products and services of foreign restaurants and that tradition positively affects the evaluations of the products and services of domestic fast food restaurants.
Veljko Marinković
Economic, political and militaristic tensions between countries are present throughout the world. The devastating effects of the global financial crisis are still generating the ever-increasing instability of the world economy. Patriotism and nationalism, as well as animosity towards the economic and military policies of certain foreign countries, seem to be on the rise across many countries and nations in recent years. It is precisely the current situation in the world that is favorable for encouraging citizens to purchase domestic products. The policy can be particularly useful for less-developed import-oriented economies. Thus, in the conditions of the economic crisis, the study of consumer ethnocentrism is gaining in importance. The paper examines the effects of the patriotism of the citizens of the Republic of Serbia and animosity towards the EU on consumer ethnocentrism. The results show that both these variables stand out as the statistically significant antecedents of consumer ethnocentrism; however, it should be noticed that patriotism shows a stronger influence on the consumer’s orientation towards buying domestic products. The research findings indicate that love of one’s country may direct consumer choices towards domestic brands, despite the positive image and high quality of foreign ones. In addition, due to citizens’ strong dislike towards the EU economic policy, some of them may decide to buy lower-quality domestic products; however, this does not necessarily negatively affect one’s perception of foreign products.
Loc Viet Nguyen
The business community is a social force which has had a great influence on all aspects of life and the socioeconomic conditions of every country. In the context of today’s globalization, particularly in international economic integration and the multi-cultural business climate, the current study will offer a theoretical model of entrepreneurial culture in order to identify, measure and evaluate the essential entrepreneurial culture of the business community. The paper introduces an entrepreneurial culture model through a cultural value system approach. The value system approach, also known as the table of cultural stratification values, helps model the entrepreneurial culture created by value factors. Such factors can be measured, they are easy to reproduce and help identify the strengths and weaknesses of the business community.
Dragana Rejman Petrović
Razvoj modela za unapređenje poslovnih procesa u e-lancima snabdevanja podrazumeva primenu procesnog pristupa i metodologija za razvoj informacionih sistema, i obuhvata dizajn modela zahteva, logički dizajn modela klјučnih procesa sa definisanim tokovima informacija unutar logičkih podsistema, logički dizajn modela podataka, logički dizajn modela mreže i distribucije podataka, kao i logički dizajn modela interface-a za potrebe različitih korisnika. Pri tome korišćene su različite metode i tehnike za različite faze razvoja menadžment informacionog sistema, upravljanje poslovnim procesima, upravljanje performansama poslovnih procesa i analitički hijerarhijski proces kao metod višekriterijumskog odlučivanja. U radu su analizirani poslovni procesi i različiti tipovi lanaca snabdevanja u automobilskoj industriji kao predstavniku složenih sistema. Izabrani su ključni poslovni procesi i ključni indikatori performansi poslovnih procesa na bazi kojih je razvijen model analitičkog hijerarhijskog procesa i vršena njihova optimizacija. Rezultat rada je model menadžment informacionog sistema za unapređenje klјučnih poslovnih procesa u e-lancima snabdevanja. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da se kroz unapređenje performansi poslovnih procesa u e-lancima snabdevanja, primenu razvijenog modela za unapređenje ključnih poslovnih procesa, kao i primenu Web baziranih informaciono-komunikacionih rešenja utiče na efikasnost i kvalitet e-lanaca snabdevanja.
Yang Wangping and Lu Xiaolu
In this paper, we construct the six criterion layers evaluation index system of new urbanization, including population urbanization, land urbanization, economic urbanization, social urbanization, ecological civilization and overall planning of urban and rural areas. We use the horizontal and vertical levels of the grade method in order to determine the weight of each index, and then calculate the quality of the urbanization process at the provincial level in 2004-2013. The result shows that the overall comprehensive
evaluation index of China has a trend of rising volatility. The quality of new urbanization has continuously been improving since 2004; the new urbanization process, however, shows significant differences between the regions and specific performances: eastern urbanization level is the highest, whereas the western is the lowest. The evaluation index, however, increases steadily during the studied period and the gap with other regions gradually narrows.
Gulfen Tuna1 and Vedat Ender Tuna2
The aim of this study is to examine the long-term relationship between each pair of the countries separate from those in the Stock Markets of Fragile Five Countries and determine the optimal portfolio options for each of the BIITS countries according to the pieces of evidence obtained. Thus, the reflection of the concertedness among financial markets to the optimal portfolio options has been studied. Accordingly, long term relationships between each pair of BIITS countries have been investigated with monthly price value between June 2006 and July 2015 by means of Maki Cointegration Test. Optimal portfolio options have been established according to the Markowitz Model considering the long-term relationships between the markets. The pieces of evidence obtained show that lower-risk portfolios than the ones in their own national markets can be established in BIITS countries by applying international diversification.
Liu Bolong and Li Danni
This paper chooses pollutant discharge as the study object and utilizes a modified scatter degree comprehensive evaluation method to establish the pollutant discharge comprehensive evaluation index. Then, using the convergence test model and from the perspective of intensity and gross, this paper respectively studies the convergence of the pollutant discharge at the nationwide level and in the three major regions. The result shows that the pollutant discharge level of the middle region is the highest, whereas in the western one, it is the lowest; that of the eastern region is higher than the national average. The σ convergence, based on the Theil index, shows that only the middle region shows a feeble σ convergence tendency, whereas the other two ones show a different tendency. Besides, considering the differences of the per capita GDP, the industrial structure, the structure of energy consumption and pollution regulation, the β convergence shows that the two variables of all the regions are conditional β convergence, not absolute β convergence.
Yuan Xiaoling and Chen Ali
In this article, the urban efficiency factors of 285 Chinese prefecture-level cities in the period from 2003 to 2012 are analyzed by using the spatial econometric model. The result shows that the development of urban efficiency between the cities positively correlates with space. And we conclude that the Industrial Structure, Openness and the Infrastructure can promote the development of such urban efficiency. The Urban Agglomeration Scale, Government Control, Fixed Asset Investment and other factors can inhibit the development of urban efficiency to a certain degree. Therefore, we come to a conclusion that, in the new urbanization construction process, the cities need to achieve cross-regional coordination from the perspective of urban agglomerations and metropolitan development. The efficiency of the city together with the scientific and rational flow of the factors should also be improved.
Dejana Zlatanović
The limitations of the individual use of systems methodologies in creative dealing with complex, dynamic and ambiguous problems, i.e. problem situations, caused by the increasing complexity and diversity of problem situations, indicate the necessity of a combined, i.e. synergistic use of systems methodologies. The aim of the research is to show how some limitations of the individual using of the interpretive systems methodology of Strategic Assumptions Surfacing and Testing (SAST) and Organizational Cybernetics (OC), as a functionalist systems methodology, can be eliminated by their combining. After identifying Critical Systems Thinking as a relevant conceptual framework for combining systems methodologies, the key features and limitations of SAST and OC are specified, and the assumptions, the conditions, the potential way, as well as the limitations of their combined, i.e. synergistic use are then determined. Despite the limitations, the methodologically appropriate combined use of these systems methodologies enables the improvement of managing problem situations in enterprises.