Editorial

Welcome to the third issue of the International Journal of Management and Economics (IJME) in 2020. During the coronavirus pandemic, we continue our hard work to timely process all incoming papers and publish the accepted ones in the regular quarterly schedule. We use the peer review and submission software ScholarOne Manuscripts developed by Clarivate Analytics which allows us to work exclusively online. All our publications are automatically covered by citation monitoring. We maintain a wide international exposure due to our presence in indexing and full-text databases. Currently, the IJME is covered by nearly 40 different services, including Web of Science Emerging Sources, ProQuest, EBSCO, EconLit, and among others.

The current issue contains six research papers covering various areas in management, economics, and finance. There are four empirical papers and two original conceptual works. Additionally, we publish one non-research paper that includes a book review. The substantive and geographical scope of this issue is very wide and truly international. It includes aspects of European Union's finances, performance of pan-European, German, and Polish stock market indices, management of sale forces in the financial sector in Nigeria, marketing of FMCG in Bangladesh, FDI in Ukraine, and internationalization of New International Ventures based in Poland.

Elżbieta Kawecka-Wyrzykowska in the first article entitled “Assessment of the European Commission's proposals for financing the EU budget in 2021–2027” addresses current proposals of the European Commission regarding the EU budget for the next 7-year Multiannual Financial Framework.

In the second article, “Identification of nonlinear determinants of stock indices derived by random forest algorithm,” Grzegorz Tratkowski examines the determinants of price movements of stock indices with the usage of the machine learning algorithm. This study concentrates on the determination of factors that drive Stoxx Europe 600, DAX, and WIG20 and it offers interesting insights that can be potentially useful for capital market participants.

Oniku Ayodele and Anita Kehinde Mokwenyei in the article entitled “Will shared leadership engender innovative work behaviors among salesmen toward improved performance?” investigate the relationship between shared leadership and innovative behavior toward improving salesmen performance in the financial sector. Specifically, authors develop an instrument to measure shared leadership, innovative behaviors, and performance among marketing officers in financial industry.

In the next article, Joanna Bednarz and Patricia Orelly study the role of social media on the FMCG market in Bangladesh, being the emerging market. The majority of respondents in the conducted survey have regular access to Internet facilities and use mainly two social media platforms: Facebook and YouTube. These platforms are source of product information and to make purchasing decisions on the FMCG market. The research also shows that mostly males and the youngest group of respondents show the highest openness to social media.

The fifth article “Determinants of inward FDI in Ukraine: Does political stability matter?” is written by Andrzej Cieślik and Oleg Gurshev. The authors study determinants of foreign direct investment in Ukraine during the period of 2013–2017 that includes the years of armed conflict. Empirical findings indicate that access to Ukraine's cheap labor force is the primary reason for FDI. Quite surprisingly, there is no direct relationship between political events in Ukraine and levels of foreign investment, as the estimated parameters on the indices of democracy, autocracy, polity, and political stability show no statistical significance.

The final research article of this issue, “Network knowledge gathering of International New Ventures: approaches and preconditions,” is written by Lidia Danik and Izabela Kowalik. The study is dedicated to knowledge gathering in both the internationalization process of International New Ventures (INVs) as well as their networking activities. The findings, based on a qualitative study of four Polish INVs from the manufacturing sector, show that internationalizing companies may behave opportunistically in their knowledge-gathering behavior, while at the same time some of their knowledge is also gathered unintentionally. The article suggests correspondingly preconditions of knowledge-gathering behaviors that include the managers’ experience, power division in the networks, and the length of a relationship with a business partner, among others.

This issue is concluded with a note by Aleksander Sulejewicz on scientific heritage of Michal Kalecki (who by many is considered a precursor of Keynesian economics) in conjunction with the book review “Reading Michał Kalecki after half a century” by Leszek Jerzy Jasiński.

We hope that the current issue of the IJME will be a source of good scientific inspiration for our readers. Please enjoy reading!