<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Numerous factors affect the rate of return that a financial institution earns. Some of these factors include external forces that shape earnings performance and internal elements found in each financial institution. Policy implications are determined by the type of explanation and should be taken seriously. This paper classifies determinants of bank profitability as well as reviews existing literature on bank performance. The second section of this study quantifies how external factors and internal determinants have influenced the profitability of EU banks. This paper constructs fixed-effect models and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), which sheds new light on understanding various factors influencing how the EU banking industry performs. The observation period was from 2012 to 2019, and the findings revealed that EU bank profitability is influenced by both external macroeconomic environment and management decisions. The results of this study suggest that equity to assets ratio (EA), Gap ratio, and GDP have a positive impact on bank profitability, while the loan to assets ratio (LA) and the provision for loan losses to total loans ratio (PLL/TL) hurt EU bank profitability. The empirical findings are consistent with the expected results, although, they are different from those of studies that investigated the structure-performance relationship of EU banks because they found that market share and concentration have a positive effect on bank profitability.</abstract>

Challenges of Banking Profitability in Eurozone Countries: Analysis of Specific and Macroeconomic Factors

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The analysis of the factors of corporate governance is divided into four thematic sections. In the first part corporate governance is defined as part of the broader economic context. The second part deals with the principles of corporate governance. In the third part, the relation between the index of corporate governance and individual indicators (an indicator of commitment, transparency, and disclosure, caring for partners, and control and audit) regarding ownership is defined. An analysis was undertaken for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. A higher level of foreign ownership had a positive correlation with the corporate governance index. On the other hand, the correlation between state ownership and corporate governance index was not clear. The prevention of poor banking practices does not only lie in controlling functions, but also in the general corporate and risk-taking cultures, and the social perception of managerial roles, regardless of ownership structure.</abstract>

The Importance of Corporate Governance of Banks Concerning the Ownership in the International Environment

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Demographic change is a complex phenomenon, but it has generally been accepted that having better employment opportunities and quality of jobs are among important factors that determine people’s mobility. The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between the increase in the number of people living in urban areas and the job opportunities in these areas in Albania. In order to do so, we performed a statistical analysis of a dataset on labor force surveys for the time period of 2007-2013. Our findings confirmed a positive correlation between the increase of individuals living in a certain area and job opportunities for specialized occupations in that area; however, a significant relationship was not found when job opportunities in general, in general, were considered.</abstract>

Urban Population Growth and Job Opportunities: The Case of Albania

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The ISO 9001:2015 certificate of quality is nowadays the most renowned quality standard in the world. Standardised quality has become an imperative competitive advantage on the market for all serious business organisations. The fluctuation of the number of certificates of quality indicates to what extent companies are willing to ensure the quality of their products and services to customers and clients, and how fast the domestic market is standardised and integrated into the global economy. This paper presents the results of two empirical studies. The first one focused on the analysis of the fluctuation in the number of ISO 9001:2015 certificates in the period from 2008 to 2018, while the second aimed to determine the satisfaction of leadership with the certificate. The study has shown that, during the observed period, the number of certificates of quality in Croatia fluctuated between – 18% and +22% annually. At the annual level, a certain number of companies lose their certificates or opt for decertification. For that reason, a study of the leadership’s level of satisfaction with the ISO 9001:2015 certificate was conducted using a sample of 296 certified business organisations. The study has proven that the leadership showed a high level of satisfaction with the certificate of quality and that they appreciate business organisations with certificates of quality. It demonstrates that the quality management certification has a bright future regardless of the annual fluctuation of the number of certificates.</abstract>

Analysis of the Fluctuation of the Number of ISO 9001:2015 Certificates in the Republic of Croatia and Assessment of Satisfaction of Business Organisations Leadership with the Certificate

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Marketing segmentation is one of the key strategic elements in marketing planning that helps identifying key consumer groups and their characteristics and enables the adaptation of marketing strategies to different target consumers. The aim of this paper is paper aims to segment classic theatre audiences based on their attendance frequency and identify major socio-demographic characteristics of each segment. A self-completion questionnaire was developed upon analysis of previous studies and was distributed to the population in an area of about 50 km around Osijek. The research was conducted on a convenient sample, using an in-person method in two different intervals: in the first interval, research was conducted on young respondents (18-34), and in the second interval, research was conducted on adult respondents (age 35+). Altogether 1315 participants took part in the research. Statistical techniques of univariate analysis (frequency distribution and central tendency measures), ANOVA, and two-step cluster analysis were used.The results of the study have identified six classic theatre segments: young theatre friends, young theatre acquaintances, young theatre strangers, adult theatre friends, adult theatre acquaintances, adult theatre strangers. Each segment is described in detail by their geographic (distance from the venue), demographic (age, income, marital status, education, employment) and psychographic characteristics (social activities, free time spending, and informing gathering about classic theatre offer) characteristics. The research results emphasized the differences in classic theatre audiences, which calls for continuous market segmentation in order to ensure timely recognition of consumer trends and changes in preferences. This would enable theatre management to adapt and implement adequate marketing initiatives and strategies.</abstract>

Insights into Classic Theatre Market Segments

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">There is a growing gap between higher education systems and the needs and demands of the labor market. Many of today’s students will work at jobs that just have emerged or do not even exist yet. The “newcomers” will need both digital and social-emotional skills in the coming years. These new competencies will make the new generation of employees’ company goals. This article presents the results of the recent research about modern-day competencies to evaluate what exactly relevant companies’ expectations are, how students see their knowledge and value in future workplaces, and how academia is coping with this new demand. For this analysis, I have conducted deep interviews with applicable entities, namely companies from the car industry and from the field of security industries (cyber security, integrated camera surveillance, financial security) to see how Industry 4.0 shapes the competencies they expect from our students entering to the job market. Engineering students - by questionnaire -were also interviewed at the Óbuda University, to examine their views about the skills gained at the university and how these competencies helping them to apply for the right position in the job market. Although the competence list showed similarities in the expected skill sets, the order of them differs. While most companies are aiming to hire team players with creative problem solving and those are capable and willing to accept changes, the students’ observations showed that technical skills, expertise, and problem solving are the most important competencies for future employment. Based on all participants’ answers and additional research, we aim to involve international companies to take part in our higher education system more thoroughly either by widening the practical in-site education or by inviting them to our university for lecturing future engineers. Furthermore, new courses are introduced at our university, such as information security, humanitarian response management, rehabilitation environmental planning engineering or ergonomics and human factors specialization.</abstract>

Donat Banki Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering

Karoly Keleti Faculty of Business and Management

Industry 4.0 and Current Competencies

AHEAD OF PRINT

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Naše gospodarstvo/Our economy

 Naše gospodarstvo/Our economy – Journal of Contemporary Issues in Economics and Business (NGOE) is a quarterly, double-blind peer reviewed international scientific journal, focusing on economics and business sciences. Scientific articles and review papers provide new insights into the research topics of both disciplines. The journal aims to provide a venue for high quality theoretical and empirical articles that significantly contribute to the disciplines of economic and business sciences.   NGOE promotes particularly the publication of articles that address issues in the following areas of economics and business sciences: Business Economics, Economic Growth and Development, Economic Policy, Economic Theory, Econometrics and Statistics, Financial Economics, History of Economic Thought, International Economics, Labour Economics, Political Economy, Public Finance, Social Policy, Social Economics, Sustainable Economics, Accounting, Auditing, Banking and Finance, Change Management, Corporate Law, Corporate Social Responsibility, Crisis Management, Decision Making, Education Management, Entrepreneurship, Ethics in Business, Health Management, Human Resource Management, Information Management, Innovation Management, International Business, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Marketing, Operations Management, Organizational Behaviour, Organizational Development, Portfolio Management, Product Development Management, Production Management, Project Management, Public Administration, Risk Management, Services Management, Strategic Management, Systems Theory, Taxation, Tourism Management, Sustainable Business.   Why Subscribe and Read   The articles published in NGOE aim to synthesise and integrate the advanced knowledge of economics and business research, to promote the enrichment and integration of ideas among the areas of economics and business sciences.   Why Submit   Published continuously since 1955, NGOE is moving towards higher publication standards and we have taken important steps towards reaching global readership. We maintain a rapid review and publication process. The double-blind peer review process takes between five and seven weeks on average.   Publication Charges   There is no article processing charges (APC) nor article submission charges.   Peer review process   The aim of the peer review process is to ensure that high-quality and original research is published. All articles published in the Journal of Contemporary Issues in Economics and Business Naše gospodarstvo/Our Economy (NGOE) are peer-reviewed and all papers submitted follow the procedure outlined below.   Initial paper evaluation   All papers submitted for publication consideration in NGOE are first evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief. Papers which fall outside the aims and scope of the journal or fail to meet the requirements of a scientific research will either be rejected at this initial point or returned to the author for revision. Papers are never accepted by the Editor-in-Chief without the reports of two reviewers, at least.   Plagiarism checking   Papers that pass the initial evaluation stage are subject to a similarity/plagiarism scanning by using a plagiarism screening program. Any paper with a similarity percentage (excluding references) greater than 25 % will be rejected. Manuscripts that pass the initial evaluation stage and have a similarity rate below 25 % proceed to the referee process. All submitted papers are subject to anti-plagiarism control in the iThenticate system.   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The formal evaluation of the paper should include answers to the following questions:    whether the layout and contents of tables and graphs is readable and convenient for recipients   is the information in tables not repeated in graphs and vice versa,   are there no reservations about the length of the paper, its linguistic correctness, the method of citation of the literature and usage of units, etc.?    Reviewers' evaluation   Papers are sent to at least two reviewers assigned by the Editor-in-Chief or Co-editor. The reviewers are chosen according to their expertise. Reviewers are asked to evaluate the manuscript’s originality, methodology, contribution to the literature, presentation of results and support for the conclusions, and appropriate referencing of previous relevant studies. Reviewers may either recommend accepting the manuscript, rejecting the manuscript or may require a revision for content and/or technical issues. 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