Shelf Based Out-of-Stocks in the Context of Employee Density

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of employee density on shelf based out-of-stocks, i.e. situations when products are physically present at stores, but not on the marked sale positions. In addition, for the first time, these relations were analyzed among different retail formats. By using POS estimation method, shelf based out-of-stock rates were measured for 80 different FMCG products in 97 retail stores. For analyzing the impact of employee density on the average shelf based OOS rate in modern and traditional retail formats, curvilinear hierarchical regression and moderation analyses were used. The results showed that the relation between employee density and shelf based out-of-sock varied among different formats. While it was not significant in convenience stores, in modern formats it was quadratic (stores with too many or too few employees per square meter were related to higher levels of shelf based OOS). The obtained results suggest that store managers should be aware of the effects of employee organization on product availability. The attention was also dedicated to potential problems and managerial implications concerning the employees' number in retail stores, regarding traditional and modern trading formats

New Market Segmentation Knowledge in the Function of Bioeconomy Development in Serbia

Sustainability of companies in modern market conditions greately depends on the knowledge. In order to improve their business processes and satisfy the needs of their customers, managers have to rely on new marketing knowledge, especially in new sectors such as bioeconomy. The aim of this paper is to investigate potential added value to Serbian organic food market segmentation researches (belonging to preconditions of further bioeconomy development) when implementing new marketing knowledge – food-related lifestyle market segmentation and scales’ testings. The results point out to adventurous consumers as the most important current and future market for organic food. Besides being the most educated (what was already established for consumers accepting organic food well in previous domestic researches), it is the first time that consumers accepting organic food in larger extent are brought in connection to their inclusion of the whole family in the preparation of meals and acceptance of novelties in cooking. It is also the first time to identify that there is a segment in domestic conditions for which price is not the greatest obstacle for increasing organic food consumption. That can be of the great importance for all actors (both national and foreign) operating at domestic food market

Enhancing predictive accuracy of the cardiac risk score in open abdominal aortic surgery: the role of left ventricular wall motion abnormalities

BackgroundOpen abdominal aortic surgery carries many potential complications, with cardiac adverse events being the most significant concern. The Vascular Study Group Cardiac Risk Index (VSG-CRI) is a commonly used tool for predicting severe cardiac complications and guiding clinical decision-making. However, despite the potential prognostic significance of left ventricular wall motion abnormalities (LVWMAs) and reduced LV ejection fraction (LVEF) for adverse outcomes, the VSG-CRI model has not accounted for them. Hence, the main objective of this study was to analyze the added value of LV wall motion on the discriminatory power of the modified VSG-CRI in predicting major postoperative cardiac complications.MethodsA prospective study was conducted involving 271 patients who underwent elective abdominal aortic surgery between 2019 and 2021. VSG-CRI scores were calculated, and preoperative transthoracic echocardiography was conducted for all patients. Subsequently, a modified version of the VSG-CRI, accounting for reduced LVEF and LVWMAs, was developed and incorporated into the dataset. The postoperative incidence of the composite endpoint of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs), including myocardial infarction, clinically relevant arrhythmias treated with medicaments or by cardioversion, or congestive heart failure, was assessed at discharge from the index hospitalization, with adjudicators blinded to events. The predictive accuracy of both the original and modified VSG-CRI was assessed using C-Statistics.ResultsIn total, 61 patients (22.5%) experienced MACEs. Among these patients, a significantly higher proportion had preoperative LVWMAs compared to those without (62.3% vs. 32.9%, p < 0.001). Multivariable regression analysis revealed the VSG-CRI [odds ratio (OR) 1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.21–1.77; p < 0.001] and LVWMA (OR 2.76; 95% CI 1.46–5.23; p = 0.002) as independent predictors of MACEs. Additionally, the modified VSG-CRI model demonstrated superior predictability compared to the baseline VSG-CRI model, suggesting an improved predictive performance for anticipating MACEs following abdominal aortic surgery [area under the curve (AUC) 0.74; 95% CI 0.68–0.81 vs. AUC 0.70; 95% CI 0.63–0.77; respectively].ConclusionThe findings of this study suggest that incorporating preoperative echocardiography can enhance the predictive accuracy of the VSG-CRI for predicting MACEs after open abdominal aortic surgery. Before its implementation in clinical settings, external validation is necessary to confirm the generalizability of this newly developed predictive model across different populations

Social Marketing in Promoting Sustainable Healthy Lifestyle among Student Population

Although there are some differences in healthy lifestyle measurement, physical activity is an indispensable factor within that construct. By increasing the level of physical activity of the population, the contribution to social sustainability is provided. Social marketing can be considered as a manner to promote behavior change (including increase in physical activity level). It uses commercial marketing tools in delivering social goods. In that context can be explained previous uses of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in social marketing researches aiming at increasing the level of physical activity of the population. In this paper, the modified TPB model, extended with self-identity and motivation variable, is implemented within the student population of the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2019. The results show that intention to do regular physical activity in the week after the research was directly influenced by behavioral and normative beliefs and self-identity. It was influenced indirectly by students’ motivation. The motivation, however, directly affects students’ behavioral, normative and control beliefs. Nevertheless, the results differ among genders; although positive at both genders, the effects of normative beliefs and motivation on intention were significant only in female students (0.123 and 0.243, respectively). The authors also provide social marketing implications, i.e., potential activities within social marketing that could be performed in order to encourage students to be more physically active. In addition to belonging to relatively scarce similar researches in domestic context, the wider contribution of this paper can be identified from a methodological aspect, treating the behavioral, normative and control beliefs as formative constructs

Increasing Students’ Physical Activity in Function of Social Sustainability: Recommendations from a Social Marketing Perspective

The role of physical activity for social sustainability, as well as potential for social marketing to contribute to increasing the level of physical activity, are already documented in previous literature. Those considerations may gain additional importance in the context of student population, often confronted with the decrease of the level of physical activity, and in a country with scarce similar researches. The purpose of this study is to identify socio-demographic determinants of Serbian students’ physical activity. Physical activity was examined as an ordinal dependent variable (inactive, low-frequency activity, and recommended frequency activity) and an ordered logit model was implemented for examining its relations with students’ gender, age, household size, emotional status, accommodation, year of study, and living standard. The results show that 15.7% of students are inactive, 22.9% have low-frequency activity, while 61.3% met the recommended level of physical activity. The average probability of physical activity is larger for male students in comparison to female students. Students with better living standards are also more physically active. Finally, the average probability of physical activity decreases starting from students who live with their families, followed by those who live in a private accommodation, to students who live in a dormitory. Considering the obtained results, recommendations from a social marketing perspective are provided

Audit Service Quality Perceived by Customers: Formative Modelling Measurement Approach

The imperative to measure perceived service quality by a formative model in which it represents higher-order formative construct, consisting of reflective first-order constructs ((sub)dimensions), is defined in leading marketing literature in previous years. That approach is of special importance since model misspecifications were often occurring in perceived service quality measurement researches, which may lead to totally wrong conclusions. Furthermore, when it comes to the perceived audit service quality, according to the knowledge of the authors, this is the first implementation of the described approach. Besides the analysis of perceived quality dimensions (all of them originate from intensively used SERVQUAL instrument and are adopted to audit service quality: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy), the model included relations between quality and client’s satisfaction and loyalty. The results were obtained by processing 123 responses from Serbian companies. All dimensions of perceived quality influenced it positively and significantly (the strongest influence is related to assurance, followed by responsiveness; smaller coefficient with relatively similar value describes the influence of reliability; followed by empathy; the weakest is the impact of tangibles). Furthermore, research results pointed to the existence of positive relations between audit quality, satisfaction and loyalty. Hereby, satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between quality and loyalty