Analysis of the Western Balkans Territories Using the Index of Economic Freedom

The aim of the paper is to assess the current state of economic freedom in the Western Balkans region using the Index of Economic Freedom. From the Western Balkans territories, the best rating in the observed period of 2010 – 2019 is achieved by the Republic of North Macedonia and the worst by Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 2020 Index of Economic Freedom, the region belongs to the group of moderately free economies. The investment and business environment of the Western Balkans is at a low level. The reason is poor law enforcement, corruption, organized crime, or the shadow economy.

Development and Intensity of Mutual Trade between the Visegrad Group and the Russian Federation

Russian's position in the foreign trade relations of the Visegrad Group countries has a long history. Russian Federation is an important trading partner for them, especially in the import of energy raw materials. Poland is the most active trading partner for the Russian Federation within the Visegrad Group. In 2018, the three most exported items of the Visegrad Group to the Russian Federation were machinery and nuclear reactors, cars, and electrical machinery. Mineral fuels accounted for 85 % of the Visegrad Group imports from the Russian Federation. The trade intensity between the Visegrad Group countries and the Russian Federation in 2014 - 2018 was higher than one, except for the Czech Republic. That indicates that the Russian Federation has exported relatively more goods to Slovakia, Poland and Hungary than to the rest of the world.

Assessing Financial Resource Capability on Insurance Claims Management in Nigeria: The Moderating Role of Information Technology

This study examines the extent to which financial resource capability impacts claims management in the Nigerian insurance industry and also attempts to determine if this process is moderated by information technology. Given the numerous litigations arising from claims default, the Nigerian insurance sector has earned itself a bad reputation with the consequent customer apathy. However, it is also noteworthy that most of these insurance companies do not appear to possess the financial capacity to meet claims obligations as they arise, perhaps, due to low capitalisation, poor risk assessment and solvency constraints. The research is a quantitative design that utilises the survey strategy. It is predicated on a philosophical foundation of positivism and ontological orientation of objectivism. 17 insurance companies were included in the study using the stratified sampling technique. 280 questionnaires were distributed to the 17 sampled companies out of which 235 were returned and found usable for the study. Data was analysed using the Andy Hayes Process v3.3 for regression. Findings from the study revealed that financial resources and information technology have statistically significant relationship with claims management but the relationship between financial resources and claims management is not significantly moderated by information technology.

Research of product design consumer perception

Professionals perceive product design as an essential factor in product competitiveness, especially in international markets. To achieve that, customers and buyers must accept the quality of the offered product design. Especially by mass-produced products are producers facing a lot of customers with limited knowledge about design requirements. Appropriate communication is necessary to persuade potential customers about design quality characteristics. Paper utilizes previously formed customer classification based on quality perception. It discusses the possibility of applying such classification for product design perception too. Different methods and tools to prove the relevance of the presented model are analyzed to form an optimal model for future research. The result of such research would be the optimization of the use of product design in communication strategy.

Sustainable fashion as a part of the circular economy concept

It has been shown that the textile and clothing industry have a negative impact on both the environmental and socio-economic field. The current trend in fashion, called sustainable fashion, is part of a new concept of circular economy, in which textiles and clothing are kept in the highest quality throughout their life cycle and then put back into circulation. The aim of the paper is to focus and evaluate the current knowledge base in the field of sustainable fashion and to clarify the basic approaches and strategies of circular fashion. The article uses mainly the description and comparison of theoretical knowledge and synthesis of analytical data from consulting companies and research agencies.

Consumer Behaviour and Attitudes by Purchasing of Selected Food Products

V In this report we are aimed at problems of consumers' behaviour and at factors that have an influence on it. We are focused on behaviour during purchase and consumption of bio products that belong to the actual trends. We explain understanding of healthy lifestyle and we also present abstract of its classifications. The report includes results of a research the goal of which was to find out preferences of consumers while making decisions when buying healthy food (farm and bio food). In conclusion we propose recommendations on possible ways of education and information of consumers on food and on support to consume products beneficial to our health.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for consumer disputes in the Slovak republic

This paper aims to analyse alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for consumer disputes in the Slovak Republic according to Act No. 391/2015 Coll. on consumer alternative dispute resolution as amended. Through this act Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2009/22/EC (Directive on consumer ADR) has been transposed into Slovak law. Author of the paper used scientific methods of analysis, comparison, deduction, induction and synthesis. She tried to evaluate the application of consumer ADR by Slovak ADR entities, development of ADR between 2016 and 2019, current situation, and to provide conclusions and suggest changes for future.

Microeconomic Aspects of Franchising

The present arrangement of franchising is a very popular business form. It is a very dynamic form of making business. The form is very modern and conservative at once. It′s modern enough and at the same time approved, to represent the possible visionary way of the entrepreneurship in the 21st century. Franchising has become a means of growth across many different industries, including business and financial services, beauty, health, sport, various services, food, medical, recreation and many others. Our effort might understand how the franchising performance drivers applied in the microeconomic parts work and how important it is for franchisor and the franchisee, as well.

Influence of Strategic Factors on Early Internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria

The study on strategic factors and internationalization of small medium enterprises (SMEs) has continued to gain attention across the globe as most indigenous organization desire to take their products and services to international markets. As such, this study tried to ascertain the influence of the strategic factors element of the early internationalization process and tendencies of firms going to foreign market within the period of one to five years which signifies early internationalization. Two different objectives emanated from that main goal: The first is to investigate the influence of firm orientation on early internationalization mode, and the second is to assess the relationship between early internationalization strategies and success of SMEs. Two hypotheses were tested in line with the objectives through the data collected from purposively selected twenty companies in various industries through standardized questionnaires. Both descriptive and inferential statistics was explored to evaluate the hypotheses and variable relationships. The findings reveal that strategic factors significantly affect internationalization of firms when organization put into consideration both external and internal factors towards internationalization, it further shows relationship exist between the factors and what affects SMEs from going global. The study finally recommends that SMEs should consider strategic factors as it will help them to avoid pitfalls while going international.

Employee Fidelity and the Survival of Micro and Small Scale Businesses in Nigeria

This research examines the impact of employee fidelity on the survival of micro and small scale enterprises in Nigeria. The mortality rate of small businesses in Nigeria is alarming. Most previous studies tend to concentrate on the managerial, technical, educational and even capital deficiencies of the entrepreneurs but this study focuses on the employees. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to identify suitable candidates for the study and discriminant function analysis was used for data analysis. Findings reveal that capital inadequacy and employee theft account for the failure small businesses in Nigeria. The study is significant to entrepreneurs to avert failure and for further research by academics.