Firm size related to export performance

Purpose: This paper provides an overview of exporting firms, as a special case SMEs of the Republic of Kosovo, that are exporters based on relevant academic literature. Empirical evidence reveals that most of the SMEs, have positive relations with some determinants as the number of employees. To verify whether exporting is the first step in the process of internationalization, the findings of this study are linked with related literature on exporting aspects. This also offers a more in-depth understanding of the relation between variables used in the study and export performance. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper used quantitative data and face to face interviews with respondents. The descriptive statistics were calculated to give an overview of the distribution, mean and the standard deviation of the dataset. Internal consistency and reliability analysis on a Likert scale was performed using Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. Findings: The firm size was shown to be highly statistically significant and positively related, indicating that the importance of economies of scale in the probability of being engaged in export is high. The obtained results from the conducted research on SMEs in Kosovo show that the dependency of managers’ education and training were corresponding with those attained when testing dependency of managers’ age and their international experience. Practical Implications: Development policy should be made towards the added value and growth of competitive competencies of SMEs in the domestic market and the external market, as well the process to take facilitating steps in exporting promotional activities. Agency for supporting SMEs should coordinate activities to improve the conditions for exporting enterprises by allowing access to public infrastructure. Originality/Value: This paper is summarized with some specific recommendations for the management of SMEs and for government institutions to improve export performance.peer-reviewe

Use of ICT and Develepoment of Tourism Sector in Albania

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is increasingly playing an important role in developing a competitive economy based on knowledge and innovation. Use of ICT enables the provision of a higher quality of citizen’s life; it helps ease and efficiency of business processes and increase the efficiency and transformation of management. The use of ICT in different sectors of the Albanian economy has begun to be realized rapidly, improving economic and financial performance and expanding the range of services that are offered to users. ICT has been used massively also a sector which in Albania brings an important impact on GDP it is the tourism sector, however, it is noted that the use of ICT in this sector is at levels lower than in other countries of Europe as well as the region. The use of ICT and the Internet in the tourism sector in the world but also in Albania has enabled the creation of a new business environment, the global distribution of information as a very important element for the tourism sector and the creation of new channels of distribution, transforming the tourism sector globally. The tourism sector in Albania, which is competing strongly from neighboring countries after the period of its establishment and strengthening, currently faces the challenge of the massive use of ICT in the provision of information and the enhancement of services for its clients. The purpose of this paper is to evidence the level of use of ICT in the tourism sector in Albania, and based on analysis of data collected, presents recommendations on the use of ICT in the sector, aimed at increasing performance, expanding services and improving the quality of services provided to customers

ICT USE IN UNIVERSITY OF ELBASAN AND ITS OBSTACLES

Information and Communication Technology is a major transforming force in today’s global society. The development and use of computers and ICT may have been the only important factor that has greatly changed the organisations and society in the last decades by revolutionizing the way of life. ICT has become an integral part of the daily life. Education is an important sector that has been affected by the use of ICT, which is being massively used in the auditoriums of the Albanian universities to improve and enhance the teaching and learning process. The functionality of ICT is contributing in the application of innovations in activities in and out of university auditoriums, thus considerably increasing the interaction between lecturers and students. The challenge in the use of ICT in education is to define how to better use ICT in improving the quality of teaching and learning, in sharing knowledge and information, thus better meeting the needs of society, lowering the education costs, and improving and increasing the efficiency of the education system. This study has been conducted during October 2014 - March 2015 at the “Aleksander Xhuvani” University of Elbasan, and aims to present a view of the level of ICT use in this university as an administrative means and as an auxiliary tool in the process of teaching and learning, and the obstacles in making the use of ICT massive. The collected data are used to draw conclusions and give recommendations to make the necessary changes to have a better use of ICT in the Albanian universities, and make it more efficient in serving teaching and the education system

Environmental Laws in Kosovo: Implementation of the SAA

Kosovo is in its early stages of meeting the required standards of the European Union (EU) acquis, in order to meet the integration process. The constant and rapid need of environmental laws in Europe has made the integration process even more demanding and challenging for Kosovo. This paper presents an analysis of the implementation of environmental legislation in Kosovo, based on EU standards. Through a comparative approach of some of the EU Commission reports of the recent years, national reports on the implementation of environmental provisions, such as the National Implementation Program of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, as well as reports of the Kosovo Environmental Protection Agency, this paper analyzes the progress that has been made. However, this paper also sheds light on the absence of implementation of EU standards in Kosovo, in order to fulfill the requirements of the last few years. Overall, findings show that the adaption of the environmental provisions based on EU standards has gradually made significant improvements in Kosovo’s journey to EU association. Yet, the partial implementation of EU standards into national environmental legislation highlights the necessary issues which need to be addressed, in order to meet the requirements based on the acquis within the given timeframes. This indicates that a lot remains far from being completed in regard to the approximation of Kosovo’s legislation with the EU acquis and reaching its implementation

The Property Rights of the Author according to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Kosovo

Copyright, for a long time has not been regulated or protected at the desired level. The right on intellectual property, as a right of a particular kind and as the right of non-material property, is of particular importance for the contemporary reality.The copyright, in its content, enjoys the rights of personal and property nature. The natural rights, for a long time, have been characterized as very personal rights that relate to the creator of the work itself. This has probably been because in the early times it was impossible the multiplication of the author's work because the handwriting of the work has been a rare process and difficult. Later, with the invention of the typing machine, it was noticed that the works can be easily multiplied, as such came the need to protect the authors and their rights by providing to the authors reward in the case when their work is violated.Property rights are inseparable rights for the authors, which often serve also as stimulus for the creation of new works, but also provide reward for the effort given on the creation of the work.Law on Copyright of theRepublicofKosovois in accordance with the rules of the European Union, but the judicial practice is not in accordance with the Law. This happens because in the reality, the property rights and the moral rights are subject to violations, and as a result is violated even one of the primary and contemporary goals: the law should serve as an incentive for the authors to write and on the other side to satisfy the public with the scientific works.As such, the research objective of this paper is to present the property rights of copyright, the basics of the transfer of these rights, studied also at the comparative aspect

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND THE IMPACT OF NOVEL READING AND MOVIE WATCHING IN ENGLISH AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

English language learning is considered as a language that must be learned as it is needed in everyday life in local and global context. In response to students need to learn English, it is obvious that modern technology, i.e. modern environment is ‘the’ environment suitable for students’ prosperity nowadays. However, the longer and more complex things are to learn, the more the need to emphasise the importance of evolution in teaching English. This is because our society may be characterised by its diversity, complexity and interconnectedness. The educational systems must embrace this fact and adjust the 21st century societal needs by using all teaching tools. Young Adults (YA) nowadays are keen on speaking and understanding English, which is spontaneously connected with reading and writing, such as texting, using social media, but when it comes to book/novel reading, there is a believe that they do not prefer real, hard copy books. Of course, they substitute books with technology as modern, cheaper, and faster tool for reading and getting the information. This study aims to compare and contrast reading novels’ strategy and /or watching movies.  It aims to find out the YA’s language learning based on books’ reading, and based on movie watching. The study reveals English language achievement in both cases, however with a kind of difference in English usage between groups.   Article visualizations

ICT USE IN UNIVERSITY OF ELBASAN AND ITS OBSTACLES

Information and Communication Technology is a major transforming force in today’s global society. The development and use of computers and ICT may have been the only important factor that has greatly changed the organisations and society in the last decades by revolutionizing the way of life. ICT has become an integral part of the daily life. Education is an important sector that has been affected by the use of ICT, which is being massively used in the auditoriums of the Albanian universities to improve and enhance the teaching and learning process. The functionality of ICT is contributing in the application of innovations in activities in and out of university auditoriums, thus considerably increasing the interaction between lecturers and students. The challenge in the use of ICT in education is to define how to better use ICT in improving the quality of teaching and learning, in sharing knowledge and information, thus better meeting the needs of society, lowering the education costs, and improving and increasing the efficiency of the education system. This study has been conducted during October 2014 - March 2015 at the “Aleksander Xhuvani” University of Elbasan, and aims to present a view of the level of ICT use in this university as an administrative means and as an auxiliary tool in the process of teaching and learning, and the obstacles in making the use of ICT massive. The collected data are used to draw conclusions and give recommendations to make the necessary changes to have a better use of ICT in the Albanian universities, and make it more efficient in serving teaching and the education system

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AND STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

The purpose of this research study was to identify the problems encountered by persons with physical disabilities to attend full-time studies at the University "Alexander Xhuvani" Elbasan. In addition, it serves to highlight the obstacles in the university environment and to provide adequate information for decision-makers at the university in order for them to be able to recognize such barriers and to carefully consider and plan the inclusion of individuals with physical disabilities in university. Subject for this study were a group of 22 students with physical disabilities, 14 (fourteen) of whom were male and 8 (eight) were female. All these students who were contacted directly have identified difficulties in benefiting applications in the information system of the university, elearning, web-site navigability, and downloading various documents from the system etc. This paper also gives some suggestions about improvements that should be made to the information system in the university, in order to be used efficiently by persons with disabilities, academically as well as administratively

Concentration on the banking system in North Macedonia

Business environment, competition, globalization and technology developments are the dominating factors that lead the banking system to drive the changes. In the period under analysis, the Macedonian banking sector was in a developing and evolutionary cycle, particularly after the 2008 crisis, by exhibiting and manifesting several changes over the last years. The present study examines the evaluation of the banking system concentration from 2015 until 2018. The study pyovides arguments to this approach by applying the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index and the concentration ratio of the CR3 and CR5 indicators by estimating and examining the concentration level on five variables or five largest banks operating in the Republic of North Macedonia. The study shows that increased levels of concentration are consistent with the increased operations of the banks. The banking system resulted highly concentrated on assets and indicated moderate level of concentration on loans and deposits, where the leading banks or institutions are dominating the banking industry

Concentration on the banking system in North Macedonia

Business environment, competition, globalization and technology developments are the dominating factors that lead the banking system to drive the changes. In the period under analysis, the Macedonian banking sector was in a developing and evolutionary cycle, particularly after the 2008 crisis, by exhibiting and manifesting several changes over the last years. The present study examines the evaluation of the banking system concentration from 2015 until 2018. The study pyovides arguments to this approach by applying the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index and the concentration ratio of the CR3 and CR5 indicators by estimating and examining the concentration level on five variables or five largest banks operating in the Republic of North Macedonia. The study shows that increased levels of concentration are consistent with the increased operations of the banks. The banking system resulted highly concentrated on assets and indicated moderate level of concentration on loans and deposits, where the leading banks or institutions are dominating the banking industry