Vladimir Dženopoljac1, Amer Rastić2 and Aleksandra Dženopoljac3
The paper examines how intangible assets, measured as the Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC), impact the margin and return ratios of the most profitable companies in Serbia. Previous research has demonstrated that intangible assets have a positive effect on the company’s profitability across various contexts, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Serbia as well. This research study aims to determine whether intangible assets have a positive effect on the four ratios, namely the Net Profit Margin (NPM), the Earnings Before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization margin (EBITDAm), Return on Assets (ROA), and Return on Equity (ROE) or not. In the study, a sample consisting of the data collected from the official publication of the Serbian Business Registers Agency (SBRA) covering the period from 2017 to 2020 is used. The sample includes the 72 most profitable firms after excluding those not meeting the VAIC requirements. The findings of the study are indicative of the fact that intangible assets do have a positive impact on all the four ratios (NPM, EBITDAm, ROA, and ROE), which implies that companies in Serbia should prioritize investing in intangible assets so as to enhance their profitability and competitiveness.
Slađana Savović, Dejana Zlatanović and Jelena Nikolić
In line with the open innovation paradigm, technology acquisitions which seek to gain access to new technologies and knowledge are becoming an important strategic tool for enhancing the innovative potential of companies. This research study is aimed at showing how technology acquisitions can help companies be more successful in making an innovation a reality. In that sense, various possibilities of improving companies’ innovative potential after the implementation of technology acquisitions are analyzed in the paper. The challenges that companies are faced with in a period after technology acquisitions are explained and possible ways to overcome those challenges are indicated as well. The results of the conducted empirical research in the impact of technology acquisitions on a company’s innovation are presented. The paper confirms the fact that the process of acquiring technology and knowledge from external sources and the harmonization of external knowledge with the internally developed knowledge base improve a company’s innovative potential. Additionally, the research results show that acquisitions increase the likelihood of innovation in integration companies. Innovations are also made a reality much faster than they would be without the cooperation of companies.
Taiwo Azeez Olaniyi and Babatunde Akinola
Traditional theories ignored the power of culture with respect to tax performance, even though culture does have an impact on everything that people do or decide not to do. This study examines the impact of the national culture dimensions: the power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence on tax performance in ten African countries. A quantitative research design was adopted and a panel dataset from 2010 to 2016 was analyzed using the Panel-Corrected Standard Error estimator. The results show that indulgence indicates a significant positive impact on tax performance, the power distance, individualism and long-term orientation have a significant negative impact on tax performance, whereas masculinity and uncertainty avoidance have an insignificant impact. Thus, high tax performance is associated with a low power distance, low individualism, low short-term orientation, moderate uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and high indulgence. This study recommends that tax policymakers should consider cultural values when designing tax compliance legislation or when investigating possible behavioral irregularities.
Marija Kastelan Mrak, Danijela Sokolic and Nenad Vretenar
Industries create specific business settings that exert a backward influence on industry prospects. In this paper, the manner in which two industries – the construction industry and the food and beverage processing industry – have behaved during a crisis period is examined and compared. First, the performance indicators available from statistic sources are compared; then, the panel data of the two subsamples of the largest Croatian firms in terms of capital and employment related to construction and food processing in the period 2005-2014 are subjected to comparison. The provided data demonstrate that the five largest business firms in the two industries have a tendency to employ different business behaviors specific to the industry they are part of. The basic idea behind this research was that industry characteristics are created by individual business firms through their adjusting their behavior, i.e. strategies, organizational design and operation models to perceived industry settings. So, in the longer time period, depending on resource availability at the firm level and the market opportunities in the industry, a dominant pattern of the business model will evolve. The research showed differences in the rate of the activity and business demography during the observed period. There is also evidence of different business models being employed in construction and food processing. However, at this stage of our research, we have not been able to establish a relationship between the business model employed and the firm´s or industry performance.