Digital marketing and the potential for financial growth of small and medium-sized businesses

The aim of this paper is to provide better understanding of the meaning and the importance of digital marketing. Considering that large organizations are usually of interest when it comes to developing and analyzing marketing theory, this paper focuses on the SMEs. Marketing practices differ between large and small companies, which is the reason why better understanding of marketing practices and marketing planning can help the SMEs in increasing their performance. Hence, small businesses usually lack financial and human resources, which is why digital marketing can help them in better satisfying the needs of the targeted market and to be more efficient than the competitors. Consequently, implementation of the adequate marketing techniques can enhance the success and financial growth of the SMEs

From Traditional to Online Methods for Generating Business Ideas

The traditional methods for generating venture ideas are in use for more than 70 years in the business, while the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) opened new opportunities for generating and harvesting business ideas, available to entrepreneurs of any kind. Our initial research discovered that there is a missing link in the academic literature between the traditional and the emerging online methods for generating business ideas and therefore, in this paper, we study the traditional and online sources and methods in parallel. The purpose of our study is to improve the venture idea creation process from an applicable perspective, and to add to the existing ideation literature by (1) identifying and classifying the sources of ideas to create the necessary link between the onsite and online access to idea sources; (2) explaining the traditional methods for generating business idea trough their dominant features in order to (3) further identify and elaborate the online sources and ideation methods trough these features and link them to the known traditional approaches. The sources, methods, and tools we examine and elaborate in this paper could be used for both, generating ideas for traditional and online business models. Hence, our findings have practical and applicable value for the first step in the entrepreneurial process. Additionally, our study could be used as a starting point for further research in the field of online ideation, a field that needs to be yet, more extensively, addressed by practitioners and research scholars

PODUZETNIČKE NAMJERE STUDENATA PRIVATNIH SVEUČILIŠTA U TRANZICIJSKIM ZEMLJAMA

This paper investigates the entrepreneurial potential among students at private universities in two transition countries through the analysis of students’ entrepreneurial intentions (EI). Empirical analysis is based on survey data we collected in 2017 and 2018 from over 400 students of economics and business at private universities in North Macedonia and Croatia. The theory of planned behaviour and a set of other antecedents are employed in order to examine the effect of both personal-level and contextual variables on entrepreneurial intentions. Assessing the students’ image of an entrepreneur and how they evaluate the entrepreneurs’ social and economic roles in society, as well as the prestige of an entrepreneur when compared to other professions, offer valuable inputs for policy makers aiming to improve the entrepreneurial potential and business climate in developing economies. This study provides empirical evidence of the positive effect of two variables from the theory of planned behaviour (personal attitude towards entrepreneurship and subjective norm) on entrepreneurial intent of business students at private universities in transition countries. The most striking result of the study is the positive effect of perceived barriers (as a contextual variable) on entrepreneurial intent, a finding that is contrary to past research and literature review.U radu se ispituje poduzetnički potencijal studenata privatnih sveučilišta u dvije tranzicijske zemlje analizom poduzetničkih namjera studenata. Empirijska analiza se temelji na anketnim podacima prikupljenima 2017. i 2018. godine na više od 400 studenata ekonomije i poslovne ekonomije na privatnim sveučilištima u Sjevernoj Makedoniji i Hrvatskoj. Koristi se teorija planiranog ponašanja i niz determinanti kako bi se istražio utjecaj individualnih i kontekstualnih varijabli na poduzetničke namjere. Sagledavanje slike o poduzetništvu koju studenti imaju i njihove ocjene socio-ekonomske uloge poduzetnika u društvu i prestižnosti u odnosu na druga zanimanja, daje vrijedne rezultate za nositelje politike koji žele unaprijediti poduzetnički potencijal i poslovnu klimu u manje razvijenim zemljama. Rad iznosi empirijske dokaze o pozitivnim učincima dvije varijable iz teorije planiranog ponašanja na poduzetničke namjere, a to su osobni stavovi studenata poslovne ekonomije na privatnim sveučilištima u tranzicijskim zemljama prema poduzetništvu i subjektivne norme. Najzanimljiviji je rezultat pozitivan učinak percipiranih prepreka kao kontekstualne varijable na poduzetničke namjere, što je u suprotnosti s dosadašnjim spoznajama

INTER-FUNCTIONAL COORDINATION: IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION IN MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPANIES IN A DEVELOPING ECONOMY

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of inter-functional coordination (IFC) for the financial performance of the entrepreneurial companies in a developing economy. The objectives are: 1. To measure the level of the variables explaining IFC (IFC 1: Current and future needs of consumers are discussed inall of the concerned departments; IFC 2: When a department discovers something important about the consumersor the competition, it quickly informs the other concerned departments; IFC 3: There is extensive communication between different departments in terms of consumer experience and market changes); 2. To determine the average level of IFC; 3. To confirm the effect IFC has on profitability. The methodology included both quantitative and qualitative methods and, the research was done in entrepreneurial companies from the food production industry in Macedonia, as a developing economy. This research is a part of an ongoing project entitled: “Strengthening the business capacity of women entrepreneurs in Republic of Macedonia, as a developing country”. Data was analyzed with IBM SPSS19. The results show that companies of varied sizes demonstrate diverse level of implementation of IFC i.e. medium and large-sized companies have higher average levels of IFC than small companies. The results also confirm the meaningful relationship as well as the direct influence of the level of IFC on business profitability. The main limitation of this study is the small sample size and the fact that it analyses a single industry. However, the paper has some practical implications: to achieve higher financial performance, companies must adopt and implement inter – functional coordination as a part of the market orientation process. The value of the paper derives from the verification of the significance of the relationship between IFC and profitability, in a different business sector, with a different research subject from those analysed hitherto by the literature

Cloud computing in logistic and Supply Chain Management environment

Today in the era of digitalization Cloud computing is the cornerstone of modern business models in every industry. Cloud computing is a high-tech platform that will facilitate companies or organizations to manage and host their services without worrying about the stability and security of information telecommunication. Rapid driving technological changes are unstopped process in this Industry 4.0. world. Cloud computing is a trend with enormous implications. Cloud computing provides access to large-scale remote resources in a very efficient and quick manner, with huge potential to adapted and dramatically changed business models in line with current needs and requirements. Despite all the benefits of digital technology, the loss of data and security is the primary concern for companies, which are boosting companies from moving to the cloud entirely. Cloud technologies allow companies to quickly adopt emerging technologies like augmented reality, stability, security, advanced mobile apps, and advanced analytics. Their application is becoming ubiquitous and standardized in the logistics and Supply chain management sector. The logistics industry is characterized by many parties collaboration, where actors that must be integrated and synchronized along the supply chain. Logistics companies get enormous benefits with saving costs, time, and efforts on establishing their own IT infrastructure by applying cloud computing in supply chain management. In this digital transformation, the cloud computing has a key role, it becomes the catalyst for this transformation. Cloud computing, as one of the forces for digitalization, can foster collaboration among the parties in a supply chain, can promote innovation and embed it into organizations, and enable new competitors to enter the market with innovative offers. This makes the usage of cloud computing a very promising issue in global market competitional condition

The Impact and the Potential Disruption of the Blockchain Technology on Marketing

The blockchain (a distributed ledger) is commonly known as the backbone of the emerging digital cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, and potentially disruptive technology for the monetary system and the financial industry. However, the impact of the blockchain technology goes beyond financial sector and could also influence supply chain management, commerce, health care, real estate, data storage, supercomputing power, decentralized notarization, marketing etc. In this paper we examine the potential of blockchain technology to influence and even disrupt marketing. The areas of influence of the blockchain on marketing include but are not limited to creation of new products and services, ensuring trust and transparency, disintermediation, privacy and data ownership, digital identity, customer relationship management, loyalty programs, advertising, fighting click fraud, supply chain management, etc. Since the application of the blockchain in marketing is novel, mostly conceptual, unmatured and still in development the influence and the potential disruption of this technology is envisioned for the years to come. Anyway, there are already promising projects that have potential to change the landscape in this industry and to provide first-movers advantage for the existing or the emerging brands. &nbsp

THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR: PERSONAL ATTITUDE AND PERCEIVED BEHAVIORAL CONTROL AS KEY DETERMINANTS IN CREATION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL SOCIETIES AND SOCIAL INCLUSION OF YOUNG PEOPLE

This paper examines the basic variables from the Theory of Planned Behavior in order to explain entrepreneurial intentions of 317 young people (students of economics and business) in a transitional economy, the Republic of North Macedonia (hereafter N. Macedonia). Confirmatory factor analysis for model fit and multiple regression analysis are used to test the hypotheses. The findings indicate that the young people’s personal attitude and perceived behavioral control are two variables that have significant positive association with their entrepreneurial intent (the intent to start their own business in future). However, even when young people have high positive perceptions and strong perceived behavioral control (self-confidence in their own capabilities), their intent is not very clear (high). In order to contribute to the development of entrepreneurial societies and increase youth social inclusion through self-employment, policymakers and the scientific community should search for further answers for the underlying factors that hinder the entrepreneurial intention in transitional economies. &nbsp