Volume 4 (2013): Issue 2 (December 2013)

Background: In spite of the course of the economic crisis of 2008, there have not been changes dramatic to the extent that they would strongly alter the behaviour of the trend in the Average Gross Monthly Wages and the Monthly Wage Medians in the Czech Republic. In order to support public and monetary planning, reliable forecasts of future salaries are indispensable. Objectives: The aim is to provide an outline of the behaviour of the average gross wages and the gross wage medians of the Czech business sphere up to the end of 2018 using an optimised random walk model and an optimised ARIMA Model with a constant. Methods: Consumer price indices were used in the confrontation of the behaviour of the Average Gross Monthly Wages and the Monthly Wage Medians with the behaviour of inflation in the Czech Republic. The Box-Jenkins methodology is used for the time series modelling. Results: The Czech Average Gross Monthly Wages and the Monthly Wage Medians in the business sector will continue to grow more rapidly than the Czech inflation growth, expressed by consumer price indices. Conclusions: It is possible to expect that the rising trend of the Average Gross Monthly Wages and the Gross Wage Medians will be more rapid than the growth of inflation.

Background: During the last four years, the banking sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been facing crisis which has caused the stagnation within the sector. Still, the results within the sector vary to a great extent from bank to bank. Objectives: The efficiency score is assessed for each bank and serves as a basis for further comparisons between banks in the period between 2008 and 2010. Methods: A modified model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been used in order to combine several financial indicators simultaneously in a unique efficiency measure. The model provides a rounded judgement on a bank's relative efficiency. Results: Efficiency of individual banks varied throughout the observed period and not all of the banks were a part of the negative banking sector trend induced by the crisis. There is no significant difference between performance of banks in different entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and between smaller and larger banks. Conclusions: The results of the study can be used by bank managers to assess the performance of their banks, as observing financial ratios separately can result in a misleading conclusion. The most valuable practical implications of the findings are the provided feasible targets for the three observed years.

Background: New methods, means and approaches for increasing the efficiency of public administration are constantly being discovered. This paper considers the possibility of applying a new form of organisation-known as the process organisation structure-in public administration. Objectives: The first aim is to conduct research on the extent to which work processes in public administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina are process oriented. The second aim of this paper is to measure the efficiency of public administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Methods: The research was conducted through a questionnaire survey and included all governmental levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study involved 112 public organizations' managers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Results: The first result is that the concept of business process organization has different values depending on the level of government. Another result is that the success of public organizations is different at different governmental levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Conclusions: This paper shows that the process-oriented management can be applied in public administration with the result of increasing the efficiency of organisations, thus increasing citizen satisfaction with public services. This paper should encourage managers and leaders to consider applying this model in the public sector, i.e. in public administration.

Background: Transitions in the modern business environment cause significant organizational changes not only in private companies, but also in the public sector. Introduction of an adequate organizational model for the public sector could improve the quality level of public services. Objectives: This article aims to present general benefits of the application of the holding organizational paradigm in the public sector through a parallel analysis of several cases that were observed individually in our previous research. The goal is to suggest possible restructuring directions to policy makers in cities where the public sector has not been adjusted to the changes in the modern business environment. Methods: The case study research based on the documentation analysis, interviews and direct observation using the standard management consulting practice provided an additional and deeper insight into the functioning of public enterprises in one European capital and one small municipality. Results: The examples presented in this paper showed that the application of the holding institutional solution in the public sector leads to an improved command, an increased level of control, reduced management costs, better allocation of city resources and decreased overheads in the public sector. Conclusions: Switching from a functional towards a network model of the organizational structure improved the performance of public enterprises and increased the quality of public services

Background: In contrast to the rational (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ), spiritual intelligence (SQ) is often underestimated and insufficiently investigated. This type of intelligence refers to our approach to the issue of the meaning and value of life, in terms that our actions are placed in a wider context. Objectives: The aim of this paper is to investigate in which extent spiritual intelligence determines the decision making process. In this context, the success of business decision is assigned as its functionality as one of the most prominent feature of successful decision. Methods: The inductive method of building an expert system, i.e. a knowledge based system (Doctus Knowledge-Based Expert System Shell) and casebased concluding on the degree of informativeness (with a key impact on functionality of decision) of individual components (Case Based Reasoning) are used in testing this relationship. Results: The study demonstrates the fact that most of respondents (managers) have not been even familiar with attributes of SI as well as their relationship with decision making process. Conclusions: Identification of the most significant components of SI that affect effectiveness of decisions would allow managers to focus on those which mostly contribute to the functionality of their decisions.

Background: A systematic and continuous product policy management is important for a company's competitiveness and the question is to what extent and in what way companies engaged in the furniture manufacturing sector actually apply them. Objectives: The objective of this paper is to explore to what extent the design profession is involved in the product policy and teams which define market properties of products in the furniture industry. Methods: In order to achieve the objectives of this paper, the Model for Exploring the Role of Design in Defining Market Properties and the Product Policy in the Furniture Industry has been devised. Two surveys have been conducted, measuring the level of involvement of the design profession in the product policy, as well as the involvement of designers in the work of teams which define market properties of products in the furniture industry. Results: The design profession is not systematically and continuously involved in the function of the product policy as the key component in programming a company's development and growth in the furniture industry. Conclusions: Companies engaged in furniture manufacturing should consider the possibility of involving design managers in coordination and management of product development, as well as in communication coordination on the manufacturer - designer level.

Background: The tourism cluster-approach is considered to be an appropriate strategy in emerging economies and less developed areas. Due to scarce resources and a great number of structural problems of rural areas in Montenegro, uniting all stakeholders and attractions into a competitive tourism cluster would ensure that the area could operate and become an effective and efficient rural tourism destination. Objectives: The objective of this paper is to highlight the key challenges of rural tourism clustering and provide new data and a wider understanding of the tourism-cluster approach in Montenegrin rural areas. Methods: Using the extensive literature, available secondary data from government bodies, NGOs, foreign development agencies, relevant international organisations and primary data collected from rural tourism operators in Montenegro, the paper investigates key challenges and factors associated with (in)efficiency of Montenegrin theme trails. Results: Several management and marketing issues are identified regarding the cluster approach implementation. Special importance and significance of information technologies and intelligent systems have been recognized in sense of cost-effective marketing implementation. Most Montenegrin trails are still in the first phase of cluster development, whereas just two of them have experienced a significant improvement in cooperative behaviour. Conclusions: Key benefits of the cluster approach are noted and clearly defined, but in the case of the Montenegrin rural tourism sector, these potentials are still, to a large extent, underused.

Background: Although there are many formal models about interactions among habit formation, preference change and the economic growth, only a few formal models examine implications of habit formation and preference change for the economic growth with resources. Objectives: This paper builds an economic growth model with endogenous physical capital, renewable resources, habit formation and preference. Methods: Although it is influenced by the Ramsey growth theory with time preference and habit formation, the paper applies a new approach to the household behaviour. Results: We plot the motion of the economy and conduct a comparative dynamic analysis with regard to certain parameters to obtain insights into interactions between the preference and the economic structural changes. Conclusions: We have shown that habit formation and preference change have significant effects on the economic grow and resources utilization both with regard to the transitional paths and the long-run equilibrium.

Background: The Framework Programme (FP7) is the main instrument of the EU for financing research, and participation in the programme benefits greatly to countries’ technological development. Objectives: The aim of this paper is to assess the participation of Croatian organisations in FP7 in terms of specific programmes, funding schemes and the coordinator organisations. Methods: In order to assess this participation, two analyses have been done: the first is the analysis of participation itself analysing the basic characteristics of Croatian participation in FP7 using participation data. The second analysis is the analysis of external conditions for participation, i.e. a framework that influenced the quantity and the quality of participation in FP7. Results: Participation of Croatian institutions in the FP7 has the following features: the positive rate of the national and the EU financial contribution; an unequal regional distribution; a small number of projects coordinated by Croatian participants; a low success rate and rare participation in large research projects. Conclusions: Support should be provided to researchers in order to increase the participation in future funding programmes. First, researchers should perform only research and not the project administration since it requires well-educated and trained administration staff. Second, participants in future projects, especially coordinators, should be financially rewarded.