<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The concept of sustainable development has undergone various developmental phases since its introduction. The historical development of the concept saw participation of various organizations and institutions, which nowadays work intensely on the implementation of its principles and objectives. The concept has experienced different critiques and interpretations over the time while being accepted in different areas of human activity, and the definition of sustainable development has become one of the most cited definitions in the literature. In its development, the concept has been adapting to the contemporary requirements of a complex global environment, but the underlying principles and goals, as well as the problems of their implementation, remained almost unchanged. Still, some goals have been updated, and the new goals were set. These goals are united in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals 2015 which outline the challenges that humanity has to fight not only to achieve sustainable development but to survive on Earth as well.</abstract>

The Concept of Sustainable Development: From its Beginning to the Contemporary Issues

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
In history of human civilisation, throughout the world, the power of a triangle, numeral 3 or the trinity is widely visible. These concepts have been used inter-changeably in different fields of science, philosophy, and religion. The presence of these concepts in socio-economic sphere can also be proved. Following is an analysis of these concepts in mentioned fields.
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The Triangle, Numeral 3, and the Trinity

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>The objective of the conducted research includes examining importance of financial statements and financial statements analysis in business decision-making process. Conducted empirical research is focused on analysis of determining and evaluating the frequency of using accounting data and annual financial statements within the business decision-making process. According to obtained results, it can be concluded that more than 60% of examines frequently use accounting information and information available from annual financial statements within business decision-making process, and that they are familiar with methods of using technics of financial statements analysis for purposes of evaluating financial position and business efficiency.</abstract>

Accounting Information in a Business Decision-Making Process – Evidence from Croatia

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> Social media has phenomenally changed the communication landscape. Particularly social network sites have received enormous popularity and user acceptance globally. The business model of many social network sites is based on advertising. The survival of these social network sites depends on the user acceptance of advertising appearing on these websites. Users usually accept the advertising which is consistent with their motivations for using social network sites. The current study examines the underlying dimensions of entertainment motivation for using social network sites and their impact on user acceptance of social network advertising. Analysis of data from 450 university students show entertainment motivation for using social network sites a multidimensional (SNSs) construct consisting of enjoyment, social escapism, relaxation and pass time factors. Furthermore, the results exhibit that SNSs entertainment motivation partially impacts user acceptance of social network advertising.</abstract>

Impact of Entertainment Motivational Drivers on User Acceptance of Online Social Network Banner Advertising: A Gratification Perspective

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The concept of working students meeting triple demands of their work, studies and private life has not been sufficiently described or empirically supported in the literature, although combining work and study is not only a necessity for many students, but a common phenomenon among them. As well, studies so far focused on the dyads of work-nonwork relationship, predominantly on the work-study conflict/balance and rarely on the study-life conflict/balance, while the triad of work-study-life balance (WSLB) is understudied. This study is the first one to empirically examine the WSLB concept, defined as a balance of conjoining three ‘categories of student commitment’ – their work obligations, demands of their studies and their private life, using a methodology grounded in the work-life balance (WLB) theory. We conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study on a sample of 235 students, focused on the most relevant dyads of the WSLB concept, socio-demographic predictors and emotional consequences of WSLB. Our five key findings are: (1) it is possible to balance work, studies and private life, (2) work-study balance (WSB) is critical for achieving WSLB, (3) all subgroups of students based on their socio-demographic characteristics are equally (un)successful in achieving balance between and among various life aspects, (4) WSLB is significantly participating in students’ emotional state in terms of their happiness, unhappiness and relaxation, and (5) the study-life balance (SLB) dyad is the most relevant dyad for the students’ emotional state.
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Work-Study-Life Balance – the Concept, its Dyads, Socio-Demographic Predictors and Emotional Consequences

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
An important feature of every financial system throughout history is its capability to facilitate transfer of money in a secure and cost efficient manner. Cryptocurrencies as sources of innovative solutions – especially Bitcoin as their most prominent representative – have offered a completely new transmission system for a piece of information that can contain and carry value. There are many approaches to evaluate (un)successfulness of Bitcoin as money, and arguably one of the most important is to assess the fulfilment of its inventor’s original proposition: can it be used to send money directly and securely abroad, to international destinations, without fear of double-spending? Moreover, by removing institutions and their fees from the system hierarchy, can it be done for a lower price? The objective of creating Bitcoin network (among others) was to promote democratization of finance by enabling monetary transactions over the internet without unnecessary intermediaries inserting and charging multiple layers of fees. In decentralized, distributed blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum subjects are incentivized to collectively maintain the public ledger (blockchain) by collecting block rewards (“coinbase”) and transaction fees. Block-chain maintenance is known as mining, and miners are compensated for their effort in the form of fees (and coinbase rewards) for verifying transactions. The objective of this paper is to examine and compare fees for transferring money internationally by means of Bit-coin network, in contrast to using traditional pathways, mostly banks, and in this manner to scrutinize the proof of concept and one of the cryptocurrency solutions to the issue of money transfer. By doing so we are attempting to provide answers to the questions of functionality and cost-effectiveness of an alternative financial system based on the blockchain technology. Transaction fees for international payments made by Bitcoin are compared by analysing a novel dataset obtained from World Bank and Croatian National Bank (CNB). CNB’s data is not publicly available, and was attained for this paper specifically. It contains 1.400 types of fees charged by the 23 banks operating in Croatia for the period of October 2018 to February 2022. Bank fees for international transactions were matched with Bitcoin fees in the same period, with the data taken from Blockchain.com online service. On average, to send 1,000 USD abroad by using Bitcoin network required approx. three times less in fees than by using banks in Croatia. The calculation structure of bank fees, also presented in the paper, required higher costs for sending lower amounts (in terms of percentage); when transferring 200 USD banks worldwide charged on average approx. 30 times more in fees than Bitcoin miners. Additionally, transaction fees for international remittances were analysed with quarterly data from World Bank. Comparative analysis of these and Bitcoin fees was made, and it is clear that (on average) sending money abroad via Bitcoin network bears significantly lower costs for the end user, especially when transferring lower amounts. Due to the non-normality of the distributions of the underlying variables, non-parametric tests were applied and the null hypothesis that transaction costs have identical medians was rejected. In conclusion, when needing to transfer money internationally users can obtain significantly lower costs by using decentralized technologies such as Bitcoin’s blockchain. This finding validates one of the key propositions of the distributed ledgers. Rather than focusing on wild daily Bitcoin price swings and its volatility, Bitcoin network functions as a cost-effective international payment system and proves itself as an alternative to traditional money transfer schemes.
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Overseas Transaction Fees: Sending Money via Bitcoin vs. Banks

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This paper focuses on the employment problem in the context of EU regions. Two main hypotheses were verified. The first hypothesis was related to the spatial heterogeneity problem, i.e., we hypothesised that relationship between the employment rate and the explanatory variables (GDP per inhabitant, educational attainment level and compensation of employees) may vary spatially. The second hypothesis dealt with the spatial autocorrelation, i.e., we assumed that the regional employment process is not isolated and that the neighbourhood of the regions also plays a significant role. As the main methodological tool the spatial regime models were applied. Spatial analysis of employment rate data indicated two spatial regimes. The results revealed the spatial instability of estimated parameters across the two regimes. Also, the spatial regional interconnections within both regimes were confirmed. Statistical significance of spillover effects of considered employment factors outlines the high importance of spatial spillovers.
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Spatial Heterogeneity and Spillovers of Employment in the EU Regions

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The challenge to predict the direction of market requirements is an increasingly pronounced challenge of today’s management structures, i.e., how to make timely decisions that ensure the sustainability of the business. In predicting when and where the potential for success will arise or what the sources of threats will be, it is essential to properly implement and continuously use the early warning system by monitoring indicators from the environment. This paper presents a theoretical and practical contribution to understanding the importance of early warning systems in Croatian companies operating in international markets. The introduction includes a discussion on current business conditions, and then the term “early warning system” is conceptually discussed. The research part of the paper presents the results of empirical research on the perception of respondents on the level of development of early warning systems in their companies operating in the international market according to the legal form, size, headquarters, and ownership of the company. The established attitude of the respondents was that the level of development of the early warning system is low, i.e., that they are used primarily by large foreign-owned companies based in more economically developed counties.
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Development of Early Warning Systems in Croatian Companies

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Digitalisation remains a complex process in terms of integration into healthcare, a significant challenge worldwide. This study aims to identify the most influential trends in terms of authors, sources, countries, affiliations, and highly engaged documents that significantly contribute to the healthcare system’s digitalisation. To perform a comprehensive science mapping analysis, a logical data frame of 336 Web of Science database recent papers published between 2018 and 2022 are analysed using R-Bibliometrix. Our results highlighted throughout a scientific mapping and visual framework that digitalisation of the health-care system is a revolutionary, actual, and pervasive concept, considered a new research area recognised by evolution and consistent growth. Moreover, the results provide different types of networks and highlight the keywords, authors, documents, and countries with the highest interest in the subject of the digitalisation of healthcare.
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Scientific Radiography of Healthcare System Process Efficiency Digitalisation

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This article examines how the large shock in emigration following Croatia’s accession to the European Union affected local public finances. To do so, a difference in differences research design has been used on a balanced panel dataset of municipality level observations over a ten-year period. The areas that experienced the largest emigration in the post 2014 period saw a large negative decrease in total tax revenue over the subsequent years, mainly driven by income tax revenue decrease. The results of this research warn that large emigration flows can lead to a cycle of economic degeneration as local areas lose fiscal revenue to spend on local services, in turn making them less likely to attract citizens.
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The Fiscal Consequences of Emigration: Evidence from Croatia

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Change management in banking becomes more complex with a strong accent on the non-financial aspects to preserve sustainable development. The objective of this research paper is to promote powerful market interactions in the evolution of banking business models by exploiting the business model canvas method. The major banking business models in North Macedonia, identified by the method of cluster analysis in this paper were analyzed from the marketing perspective in order to present a generalized canvas of the commercial banking digital transformation aspects and strategy at the country level. The analysis was conceptualized over eight key strategic aspects. The visualization method was chosen to approach the relevance of stakeholders in the banking strategy and the value creation for society. Finally, this study concludes with the existence of substantial digitalization capacity of the banking institutions in North Macedonia, confirming its positive linkage with size, social responsibility, and international aspects.
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General Aspects of Bank Strategy on the Digital Transformation in North Macedonia

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This research study investigates the factors affecting export instability in Pakistan by using time-series data from 1981 to 2017. The determining factors of export instability in this study are commodity concentration index, geographical concentration index, food ratio, export earnings and total export quantity. The study employs Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to investigate the long-run (LR) relationship between export instability and its employed determinants. The empirical evidence reveals that commodity concentration, geographical concentration, food exports and export earnings are the key factors explaining export instability in Pakistan. The study finds the positive relationship between export instability and commodity concentration, while a negative association with geographical concentration. Furthermore, food exports and export earnings are also found to be negatively related to export instability. The study finds that concentration or dependence on a few exports causes export instability in Pakistan, but this problem would be overcome if Pakistan’s commodity basket for exports become diversified.
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Impact of Commodity Concentration and Geographical Concentration upon Export instability in Pakistan

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This study investigates the impact of hierarchical jumps in the CEO’s succession on firms’ financial performance. To contemplate deeply, hierarchical jumps have been categorized into high and low level evaluating the positive impact of high-level hierarchical jump on firms’ performance. Moreover, this study has also formulated hierarchical intensity signifying the idea that despite neglecting senior board members during hierarchical jumps, still marginal increment in the firms’ growth has been observed. Using panel regression technique along with 2sls instrumental regression, this research reveals that hierarchical jumps in CEOs successions are more conducive only if the incumbent CEOs are selected irrespective of age, degree or high hierarchical position within the hierarchical ladder. Lastly, this study enunciates that firms having high total assets boost their performance via hierarchical jumps emphatically.</abstract>

Whether CEO Succession Via Hierarchical Jumps is Detrimental or Blessing in Disguise? Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Eco-innovation, as a new concept, and green technologies are central to the Europe’s future and at the core of the European Union policies to boost competitiveness, create jobs, and generate sustainable growth for years to come. In this context, eco-innovation is a significant tool that combines decreased environmental impact with a positive socioeconomic impact. This paper highlights the prominent role of eco-innovation and investigates still scarcely explored impact assessment of GDP growth, quality of institutions, and recycling rates on the eco-innovation index in the 28 European Union member states. Specifically, the set of regression analyses that use panel estimation models was undertaken and the system GMM estimator with robust standard errors was used. Econometric analysis indicates that GDP growth rate, quality of institutions, and recycling rate of municipal waste had a statistically significant and positive effect on eco-innovation in the period 2010-2016.</abstract>

Eco-innovation and Economic Growth in the European Union

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The idea that working capital management impacts profitability and risk of a company is generally accepted and in last 10-15 years has acquired a substantial interest. Accordingly, from the aspect of the measure of efficiency of working capital management, the objective of this paper is to evaluate working capital management impact on profitability of Croatian software companies. This impact was examined using descriptive and correlation as well as panel regression analysis for six-year period (2008-2013). The results show that after controlling for characteristics of the company and macroeconomic conditions working capital management significantly affects the profitability of Croatian software firms. Moreover, the results imply the existence of a nonlinear, concave quadratic relationship between the net working capital and return on assets. This suggest the existence of an optimal level of net working capital that balances costs and benefits and maximizes profitability of analysed companies.</abstract>

The Impact of Working Capital Management on Profitability of Croatian Software Companies

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This study has investigated the relationship between government spending and inclusive growth in Nigeria over the period 1995 to 2014. Specifically, it examined how, and to what extent, government spending on education, government spending on health, economic freedom, public resource use, and real GDP growth rate have impacted on inclusive growth in the country. It used the Dickey-Fuller GLS unit root test to ascertain the order of integration of the series. Consequently, through the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound testing technique, the study found that in the long-run government spending on health, economic freedom, public resource use and real GDP growth rate had significantly positive influence on inclusive growth. In the short-run, however, only real GDP impacted significantly on inclusive growth while other variables were not significant in causing inclusive growth. Thus, in conclusion, government spending in the form of redistributive spending on health propelled inclusive growth in Nigeria.</abstract>

Government Spending and Inclusive-Growth Relationship in Nigeria: An Empirical Investigation

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This study adopted two-stage DEA to estimate the technical efficiency scores and assess the impact of the two most important components of fossil fuel associated with oil production on macroeconomic efficiency of Seven oil producing African countries during 2005-2012. Our results showed that increasing the consumption of natural gas would improve technical efficiency. Furthermore, increasing the share of fossil fuel in total energy consumption has negative effect on the efficiency of the economies of the top African oil producers. Also, we found that increasing the consumption of primary energy improves efficiency in these economies. We therefore, recommend that governments and other stakeholders in the energy industry should adopt inclusive strategies that will promote the use of natural gas in the short term. However, in the long-run, efforts should be geared towards increasing the use of primary energy, thereby reducing the percentage share of fossil fuel in total energy consumption.</abstract>

Non-Renewable Energy and Macroeconomic Efficiency of Seven Major Oil Producing Economies in Africa

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Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business

 ZIREB is an international journal of economics and business. It covers wide range of topics in macroeconomics, microeconomics, management, marketing and tourism. In general, it...

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 ZIREB is an international journal of economics and business. It covers wide range of topics in macroeconomics, microeconomics, management,...