Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting enforced national lockdowns, universities have had to replace in-person teaching with online alternatives. With the ongoing marketization of Higher Education, it is important to understand how this change in delivery may have impacted upon student learning. To assess student learning, this paper used a model for evaluating learning gain, which considered student learning in the form of explicit knowledge gained (distance travelled), which relates to codifiable models and theories, and tacit understanding (journey travelled), which relates to practical skills and know-how. Self-reflective surveys were used to collect learning gain data from final year students studying an organisational leadership module as part of an undergraduate business studies degree course at a UK university. The research collected data in 2019 (before the Covid-19 pandemic) for a cohort of students, and again in 2021 (during the Covid-19 pandemic) for the subsequent cohort of students. Through an analysis of both sets of data, a comparison has been possible between how students perceived their learning to have changed due to the alternative online educational delivery method being offered. Whereas a decrease in reported learning was expected from the online teaching, this was not always the case, and predominantly females appear to have particularly valued the educational experience offered by the online learning delivery.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced authorities to take unprecedented measures, including the temporary closure of business and the instauration of national and regional lockdowns. The educational system, one of the key components of the society, has also been disrupted, as many schools and universities have moved their courses online for prolonged periods. With the introduction of the first vaccine on December 8, 2020, social media users have reacted by posting messages supporting or rejecting the vaccination process. In this context, the present paper aims to analyze the opinions regarding COVID-19 vaccination in education-related tweets. A dataset containing 102,805 English tweets published in the month following the beginning of the vaccination process has been collected. Several classical machine learning and deep learning algorithms have been compared and the best-performing classifier, RoBERTa, has been selected and applied for determining the stance of the collected tweets, as in favor, against or neutral. The evolution of the opinions has been put in correspondence with the main events that have occurred during the analyzed period, while the main discussion topics have been outlined using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation and n-gram analysis. The obtained results can be useful for authorities looking to better understand the opinions of the parents, students, teachers, and general public.

The substantiation of the price decision is an interactive and complex decision-making process that involves rational choices resulting in the positioning of a firm on the market. This paper addresses static Bayesian games to highlight the behavior of firms in conditions of a duopoly market in asymmetric information. Based on hypothetical data, we define a multi-linear demand function and the optimization program at the level of each firm in order to determine the Bayesian equilibrium of the game. The strategy space is defined by the prices set by the firms, while the type of firms is given by the level of different demand for each type of company. Since the demand requested on the market is indeterminate, one firm makes assumptions regarding the level of the opponent’s demand, thus outlining the player’s beliefs. We observed that equilibrium prices depend on the following exogenous factors: the demand parameters, the marginal cost of each type of company and the probability with which a firm makes assumptions regarding the opponent’s demand function. We find that a firm can set a higher price than its opponent under the assumption of a probability that tends to 0. If the probability to face a specific type of company is zero or one, we obtain solutions of a model in complete information.

The recent pandemic has highlighted the weaknesses and the strengths of the Italian Healthcare System, revealing the importance of a cooperative behavior among involved actors. The paper shows how Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) may contribute to pursue the strategic objectives aimed at correctly replying to the healthcare needs. In more details, the paper highlights the role of PPPs in valorizing the interdependencies existing among actors and reveals the possibility of adopting PPPs as effective tools to manage appropriate and effective healthcare services. At this aim the paper shortly analyzes the reply of the Italian Healthcare System to the pandemic and summarizes its political-institutional assets and its composition and articulation in several levels of responsibilities and various types of Organizations. Then it focuses on the activities conducted by the Scientific Research, Hospitalization and Healthcare Institute (so-called IRCCS) to face the COVID-19 pandemic. IRCCS are Healthcare Organizations which operate in the business of translational research and healthcare excellence services. The paper highlights the capacity of IRCCS of exploiting relationships and building PPPs. The analysis of the case study of Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori better elucidates the possibility of value creation through PPPs in the Healthcare Sector.

Internal corporate communication is an inseparable part of public relations. Addressing target groups is becoming more complex due to cultural diversity among customers and employees. Internal corporate communication is undergoing fundamental change. In addition to customers, employees are also among those stakeholders strategically decisive to any company. The members of Generations Y and Z, who have newly established themselves on the labor market in recent years, pose challenges to traditional forms of communicating corporate cultural values with their generation-specific value patterns. In this paper, these challenges are seen as positive opportunities to cast a new cultural perspective on the corporate culture of globally active companies. It is no longer about standardization or localization in the relationship between parent company and subsidiaries or about dominance or competition of divergent national cultural imprints of corporate culture. Instead, it is proposed to take the generational cultural characteristics of Y and Z as an opportunity to adapt the new orientation of the corporate culture accordingly. The advantage lies in the fact that both corporate culture and internal corporate communication can free themselves from the ethical and practical dilemma of cultural differences. Culturally consistent corporate communication with all (including internal) target groups is, therefore, important.

Though SMEs are essential to Europe’s economic structure, their digitalization level is lagged. Lack of skills, financial resources, and benefits information are the main barriers. Those barriers for SMEs show most representatively in the construction industry. As most of the construction companies are SMEs, they have only limited resources to improve their digitalization level. Meanwhile, the implementation procedure includes cost-intensive and time-consuming stages. Furthermore, most of the fully developed software would not fit the special requirements of the construction industry entirely. In order to help SMEs overcome the barriers of digitalization, solutions are proposed from government, academic, and industry perspectives. Even though many solutions are proposed, the implementation is still low. There are various methods and technologies for digitalization in the literature and in practice. In order to obtain the most suitable solution for digitalization, an AHP-PROMETHEE approach is proposed in this chapter. A German construction SME has collaborated in this chapter and provided a business process as use case for digitalization. Through this case study, the approach was demonstrated, and the recommended solutions were listed. In this way, it is proven that the AHP-PROMETHEE approach is not limited to assisting construction SMEs selecting the digitalization method; it can be applied in a broader perspective.

With a rising awareness for the stakeholder view, integrating stakeholder issues has become a major challenge for organizations. With our study, we aim to contribute to a line of research on the role of democratic thinking for stakeholder integration. Additionally, our study sheds light on the role of intermediaries and the capabilities needed to shape the relationships with indirect stakeholders. Data from a qualitative study with 24 semi-structured expert interviews from four intermediary groups were analyzed in MAXQDA following the principles for a qualitative content analysis. Six higher-order categories emerge, which serve as a basis for a process model for the management of stakeholder relations. We find that the actors managing stakeholder relations understand the strategic dimension of their roles as intermediaries and appreciate the support through organizational capabilities such as guidelines and structural tools. We identify that besides their personal and professional competences, intermediaries use their procedural competences, such as the suitable application of communication instruments and their access to contacts, to manage stakeholder relationships. Finally, our process model classifies different measures for stakeholder integration and discusses implications for stakeholder theory and practitioners.

Time is crucial in public buildings evacuation during an emergency as it can have a direct impact on the number of people injured, or on the gravity of the injuries. Designing emergency evacuation plans or proposing various alternatives to public buildings’ design, by considering the dynamic behavior of pedestrians, has the potential to reduce the congestion during the evacuation process, diminishing both the risk of injuries caused by the crowd dynamics and the evacuation time. Since public buildings are often crowded places, more attention should be given to the process of evacuation from these buildings and to their associated risks. The chapter addresses the highly complex problem of the evacuation from a public space by proposing an agent-based model in which elements related to both individual characteristics and risk evaluation are included. In the model, besides the elements related to crowd movement, different risks are analyzed and evaluated in real time. The values for these risks are available to the user through the model’s interface, which facilitates a real-time evaluation. Different scenarios are envisioned, simulated, and discussed in relation to the values of the calculated risks. Having this risk assessment option included in the agent-based model will help the decision-makers in better evaluating and comparing the simulated situations.

Influencer marketing is on the rise and more and more brands try to establish cooperation with influencers in order to achieve some business goals in the e-commerce sector. In this study, we analyze influencer marketing in terms of its effectiveness as a marketing channel supporting e-business goals. Moreover, we identified differences in terms of gender and age. The aim of this chapter is to point out the most suitable segments for employing influencer marketing. Our study is of a quantitative nature and works with a base of 709 respondents from selected regions of Central and Eastern Europe. In the analysis, we used the Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon W test, and Chi-squared test. Data were collected using an online questionnaire during the second quarter of 2020. The results pointed to the existence of statistically significant differences both in the case of gender and age of the respondents. Furthermore, we identified the most appropriate segment for employing influencer marketing and compared our findings with selected existing studies in the field. In the end, we also pointed out the limitations of the study and its potential future direction. The study’s practical implications lie in better-informed marketing managers who decide on marketing strategies. Based on the results, managers will be able to decide whether it is beneficial for them to allocate human and financial resources and time for this purpose.

This chapter examines market concentration of audit services in the Czech Republic derived exclusively from audit fees for public-interest entities audits. The opportunity to analyze the audit market while taking into account solely public-interest entities came up with Regulation (EU) No 537/2014. The analysis is based on transparency reports for the years 2017–2020 and comprises 93 auditor-year entries. The analytical tools used include concentration ratio and Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI). The data show that Big4, albeit providing audit services to only 64% of public-interest entities, obtained a total of 96% audit fees. HHI values ranged from 2389 to 2570. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) can be perceived as the current market leader, having obtained 32% of audit fees in the year 2020. Throughout the period under investigation, the number of audit firms which provided audit services to at least one public-interest entity dropped from 28 to 18 firms. The data also show that the Czech audit market has not undergone any significant changes throughout the last 10 years and therefore remains highly concentrated. Finally, it was found that Czech, German, and Swiss audit markets are very similar in terms of market concentration levels and the impact of Big4.

This paper aims to systematically review the relationship between corporate taxation and intangible assets. The author searched the Scopus database for relevant scholarly work published over the period 2010–2020. Articles were screened based on their relation to the study’s objectives, resulting in a selection of 67 articles. A final sample of 15 articles were selected for inclusion in the systematic review. The analysis indicates that the studies primarily explain the role of multinational transfer price aggressiveness, intragroup transfer price, and arm’s length principles in investigating the relationship between corporate taxation and intangible assets. The findings suggest that the previous studies should consider the benefits associated with firms’ profit shifting behavior rather than explaining the negative implications that could be mitigated by ensuring transparency in the taxation system. The findings would aid in the development of effective global tax administration to investigate this topic in the context of developing and emerging economies. This paper includes a review of the available literature in order to give researchers and practitioners with useful recommendations and insights, as well as to identify certain research gaps that need to be investigated.

The aim of the paper is to analyze the audit market concentration in Visegrad 4 countries during the period 2017–2020. The analysis is based on main stock markets in these Visegrad 4 countries—the Czech Republic is represented by Prague Stock Exchange (PSE), the Slovak Republic is represented by Bratislava Stock Exchange (BSSE), the Hungary is represented by Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE), and the Republic of Poland is represented by Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW). The analysis is based on domestic shares listed on these stock exchanges. A total of 43 companies listed on PSE, 95 companies listed on BSSE, 107 companies listed on BSE, and 1432 companies listed on GPW were analyzed during the whole period. The traditional market concentration indicators—the Herfindahl–Hirschman index and Concentration ratios—are used for this analysis. The data show a very high market concentration on PSE and BSE. At these stock markets, the concentration ratio for four companies is over 95% in the area of audit fees. The high market concentration is also confirmed by the Herfindahl–Hirschman index. On GPW the Big4 firms control around 80% of audit fees and their influence has been gradually declining in recent years. A more detailed analysis shows that only 30% of auditors operating at BSSE and BSE provide non-audit services permitted by European legislation.

Currently, people with disabilities of working age are employed in a much smaller proportion than the population without disabilities. Most studies have focused primarily on company practices to accommodate disabled staff to meet a mandatory quota, but with limited knowledge of the factors that affect the integration of these people in the workplace. Aware of the situation of disadvantage faced by this group and of the various obstacles that must be overcome in the process of occupational inclusion, this study proposes a new Design of Work Analysis, explicitly serving to state the different types and degrees of disability that are acceptable for the performance of the position, without requiring any modification in the job position. The purpose of this redesign is to provide an instrument that offers information to recruiters/selectors, allowing them to overcome possible barriers that, although they do not really exist, are potentially perceived with respect to a candidate with some type of disability who has applied for a standard job together with other candidates without disabilities. To achieve this objective, the study includes a brief review of the literature on the integration of people with disabilities in the world of work, and finally, a redesign of the current “Job Analysis” is proposed with two practical examples to observe its applicability.

Members of socially vulnerable groups are in danger of social exclusion if attention, concerning their professional and social integration, is not provided, this is why the career counseling programs involving these individuals should correspond to their special needs. Epikendro of ActionAid Greece is a non-profit organization which helps individuals, members of socially vulnerable groups, by providing among others counseling services for employment placement. The present study which was actualized in collaboration with ActionAid Greece, focused on examining the strategies and means used by the professional counselors from Epikendro of ActionAid Greece in order to satisfy the needs of the individuals who benefit from this service. The survey methodology involves a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews in which all the participants are the career counselors who work in the aforementioned organization. The results of the survey present the needs and demands of the individuals who benefit from this service as well as the means used by this organization in order to accomplish effectively its targets. Finally, there is a reference to the benefits gained by the individuals involved, after the completion of the whole process, always according to the opinion of the participants in the survey.

In July 2021, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the results of its Monetary Policy Strategy Review. Among the most important changes to its policy strategy were the symmetric alignment of the inflation target to 2% and an adjustment of the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for owner-occupied housing, which should come into effect in the near future. This paper critically reflects on the adjustment of the ECB’s strategy in the light of inflation perceptions and expectations. Data from the EU Commission’s consumer survey were used for this purpose. It is examined to what extent inflation perception and inflation expectations in the past corresponded to the inflation rates actually measured at that time. This analysis is carried out at the level of the major euro area countries in order to identify any country-specific differences. Between inflation perception and actual inflation, the correlation analyses revealed a significant though only slight correlation. To test the accuracy of inflation expectations, a Granger causality test was conducted: As a result, inflation expectations could hardly predict actual inflation. On the contrary, actual inflation rates seemed to play a major role in determining expectations. Against the background of these findings, greater attention by the ECB to better managing expectations seems entirely appropriate.

The research productivity of a country is positively associated with the development of its scientific capacity, which, in turn, contributes to the nation’s economic growth. In this paper, we explore the research productivity of Kazakhstan in economics and business disciplines and reveal its specific characteristics. Our methodology followed two steps. First, applying scientometric (descriptive statistics and network analysis) methods, we analyzed 3225 articles from Kazakhstan and published in international journals during 1991–2020. We focus on three subject areas in Scopus: Business, management, and accounting; Decision sciences; and Economics, econometrics, and finance. Second, we conduct comprehensive interviews with four experts representing the science sector and government. The study found that research in economics and business disciplines was growing, emphasizing agriculture, agro-industrial complex, cluster development, entrepreneurship, innovative development, investments, and sustainable development areas. The interviews reveal the issues of doing research in higher education institutions (from the bottom-up) and improving the government’s science sector (from the top-down). Among others, these challenges are related to developing critical research areas, science funding, and their impact on economic growth. Our findings may serve as exemplary for other emerging economies that face similar challenges in developing their global research profile.

The present study examines the short-run and long-run relationship between international remittances and technology spillovers. The study uses the fixed effects method for short-run analysis and the panel ARDL method for long-run analysis using the data for 27 developed and developing countries. The study’s unique contribution to literature is its perspective on technology spillovers through remittance investments in human capital and complementary assets. The short-run results reveal that remittance investments in human capital follow an inverted U-shaped relationship, and that remittance investments in complementary assets follow a U-shaped relationship, with technology spillovers. The analysis for the long run reveals a positive relationship between remittance investments in human capital and technology spillovers. Additionally, we find that there is a substitutionary relationship between remittances and human capital, and a complementary relationship between remittances and complementary assets. The study evidences that through the spillover generation, remittances indirectly have positive growth effects. Therefore, from a policy perspective, it is strongly recommended that the investment potential of remittances be increased in high-skilled human capital in terms of skill acquisition, and in complementary assets in terms of investment in more technology-oriented investments.

Given the underrepresentation of the information on the size and composition of personal carbon footprints, this paper explores the relationship between the students’ socio-demographic characteristics such as education, gender, age, and place of residence or income level related to their carbon footprint. In addition, the paper also addresses the effect of barriers and incentives to reduce carbon footprints. The analysis is based on a convenient sample using data collected through a self-administered online questionnaire completed by 182 students from Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia, in 2021. The results of the multiple linear regression method, which was applied to assess the influence of explanatory variables, show a significant effect of disposable income and a place of residence on the students’ carbon footprints. In addition, among various examined barriers and internal incentives aimed at low-carbon behaviour, the lack of knowledge and financial savings has a favourable effect on personal carbon footprints. The study contributes to empirical evidence on the personal or system-level hotspots that influence carbon footprint reduction in the context of higher education. Consequently, raising students’ carbon footprint awareness can have a multiplicative effect on carbon emissions in the future.

From traditional biobased sectors to the promising results of biotechnology and life sciences, combined with the integration of a new framework for the circular economy, the bioeconomy has attracted great interest from researchers and international organizations. However, the lack of consensus among decision-makers and the rapid changes in economic processes have created discrepancies between countries and regions in terms of strategic approach, forcing them to develop at different speeds. The present paper focuses on assessing the development trends of relevant actors based on the pillars of the bioeconomy and presents a comparison between member states of the European Union. To understand how far countries have developed and what transformative direction they have taken, we have analyzed their traditional and innovative bioeconomy industries using classification methods at different times. The results show the differences between regions and countries, with the most innovative countries taking the path toward a sustainable bioeconomy and achieving the climate-neutral goal. Therefore, our findings reveal possible solutions to important challenges in the strategic planning and guidance of countries toward high-tech approaches in the sector.

Croatia has lagged in terms of productivity behind most of its European peers. A continuous care about it is a necessary precondition for a country to develop its competitive advantages and growth in economic terms. However, productivity should be simultaneously environmentally sensitive to have a favorable effect on the environment and lead to sustainable growth and development. This paper, which calculates first the environmentally adjusted efficiency scores by using the data envelopment analysis, revealed the downward trend in efficiency in the European Union and Croatia in particular over the period 2000–2018. The paper then estimates the environmentally adjusted productivity scores for each EU Member States by applying the Malmquist index approach across the same period. The analyses show that environmentally adjusted productivity mildly improved in the EU over the period considered. This also holds for Croatia, although the improvement took place at a slower peace. Given that the productivity is a product of two effects, the technological effect and catching-up effect, the analysis shows that the improvement in the environmentally adjusted productivity is provoked by innovation activities. Compared to other EU Member States, Croatia has positioned itself in the group of countries with the lowest environmentally adjusted efficiency and productivity.