Volumen 62 (2016): Edición 1 (March 2016)

The financial crises are closely connected with spread changes and liquidity issues. After defining and addressing spread considerations, we research in this paper the topic of liquidity issues in times of economic crisis. We analyse the liquidity effects as recorded on spreads of securities from different markets. We stipulate that higher international risk aversion in times of financial crises coincides with widening security spreads. The paper then introduces liquidity as a risk factor into the standard value-at-risk framework, using GARCH methodology. The comparison of results of these models suggests that the size of the tested markets does not have a strong effect on the models. Thus, we find that spread analysis is an appropriate tool for analysing liquidity issues during a financial crisis.

The aim of this paper is to introduce and develop additional statistical tools to support the decision-making process in stock trading. The prices of CROBEX10 index stocks on the Zagreb Stock Exchange were used in the paper. The conducted trading simulations, based on the residual-based control charts, led to an investor’s profit in 67.92% cases. In the short run, the residual-based cumulative sum (CUSUM) control chart led to the highest portfolio profits. In the long run, when average stock prices were used and 2-sigma control limits set, the residual-based exponential weighted moving average control chart had the highest portfolio profit. In all other cases in the long run, the CUSUM control chart appeared to be the best choice. The acknowledgment that the SPC methods can be successfully used in stock trading will, hopefully, increase their use in this field.

Theories often describe leadership with different classifications, based on personality and behaviour, and have been used to establish the traits and behaviours that determine an effective leadership style. We used the quantitative methodology to investigate the determinants of the leadership style among nursing leaders in Slovene hospitals. Based on the results, we determined that demographic characteristics such as gender, age, length of employment, and level of education do not affect the choice of the leadership style. Internal organizational characteristics such as job position, emotional intelligence, communication, personal characteristics, and the decision-making process are positively associated with the leadership style. Personal characteristics are considered important when it comes to using specific leadership styles, regardless of the choice of the leadership style, which also depends on the situation and external influences.

Although many researchers agree that environmental and personal characteristics are important for becoming an entrepreneur, it is still not clear if their influence is equally significant. Numerous authors have pointed out unresolved matters regarding the relationship among innovativeness, gender, and entrepreneurial intensions. The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of gender and country of origin in relation to entrepreneurial intentions and innovative cognitive style. Research was conducted using a sample of students majoring in information and communication technologies from Croatia and Slovenia. The results revealed the influence of gender, country, attitudes toward entrepreneurship, and innovative cognitive style on entrepreneurial intentions.

Concepts of national and regional innovation systems can serve as an analytical framework forming the empirical base for innovation policy creation. It is possible to distinguish various types of these systems. One of these typologies is based on the assessment of innovation deficiencies. There are three types of regions: metropolitan, peripheral, and old industrial. Metropolitan regions can be characterized by a high level of research, innovation, and patent activity. The aims of this paper are to find relevant indicators that can be used as the basis for defining metropolitan regional innovation systems and using them for the identification of Czech metropolitan regions. The results of the point method combined with the cluster analysis showed that the capital city, Prague, as well as the South Moravian, Pardubice, Central Bohemian, Pilsen, and Liberec Regions can be defined as metropolitan regions.

This paper offers an alternative approach to defining the management concept. The proposed methodology relies on the identification of tools supporting the given concept. The author assumed that the identification of tools’ evolution gives clearer insights into circumstances of constant development of—by its nature—a more general concept. The tools’ classification resembles a phylogenic tree and is based on the idea of an affinity diagram. To provide the proof for such reasoning, the total quality management (TQM) concept was chosen. This proposition can be useful for better understanding origins and the development of management thought. It clarifies relationships among methods constituting frameworks of quality management.