The Impact of Quality Management Purchasing Practices on Purchasing Performance in Transitional Economies

This study examines the nature of relationships between quality management practices in purchasing and purchasing-related organisational performance within ISO 9001:2008 environment in transitional economies. The study was based on managers’ responses from 90 ISO 9001:2008 certified large organisations from Serbia. The findings show that quality management practices in purchasing positively affect purchasing performance. Further, purchasing performance is found to be a significant mediator between quality management practices and time-based performance. However, despite the overall good predictive model power, the explained variance on time-based performance is quite low. Thus, the effects on time-based performance are arguable. PLS-SEM Importance-performance analysis reveals that purchasing performance, cross-functional coordination and personnel management have relatively high performance, while benchmarking has the lowest value of the performance index. Consequently, the implementation of quality management practices in purchasing along with ISO 9001:2008 might be a part of a good strategic choice for transitional organisations to overcome troublesome transitional times. Still, the discrepancies between this study and the results from developed economies yield potential improvement areas on how organisations in transitional economies should manage purchasing practices

Model integrisane forenzičke istrage poslovnih prevara

Isticanje novog polja forenzike, forenzičkog računovodstva, je prouzrokovano brzim promjena u elektronskom poslovnom okruženju te naglim porastom broja poslovnih prevara. Iako prevare možemo naći u mnogim oblicima, najčešće se svode na krađu sredstava i informacija ili zloupotrebu nečije imovine u obliku informacija. U današnjem svijetu, računovođe mogu najviše pomoći u istrazi korporativnih, ili bolje rečeno finansijskih prevara, koje danas preovladavaju u digitalnom okruženju. U ovom radu, autori su predložili model integrisane forenzičke istrage poslovnih prevara koji predstavlja spoj računovodstvenog, revizorskog i digitalnog istražnog postupka. No, prije nego što ovaj pristup može biti propisno verifikovan, potrebno je izvršiti dodatna ispitivanja

The Research of Vehicle Acceleration at Signalized Intersections

Vehicle acceleration is an important parameter used in planning various road elements, traffic signalization, geometric elements of an intersection, signal plans of traffic lights, etc. The knowledge of vehicle acceleration values is also necessary in using simulation softwares for more accurate analysis of the total situation at an intersection, on a road section or in a traffic network. In a lot of earlier studies, acceleration values were analysed and defined, mostly in optimal conditions for traffic functioning. However, values of almost all traffic flow parameters have been changed over time, due to changes in driving-dynamic vehicle characteristics, pneumatic tyres, material used for building road surface, etc. Besides, local environment influence and changes in drivers’ behaviour also significantly affect values of this parameter. According to HCM, it is advisable to perform local research for all values of the parameters recommended within the framework of this handbook, and to adapt their values to local conditions as well. The results of measuring the values of vehicles acceleration at signalized intersections in Novi Sad, Serbia, have been shown in this paper, using the procedure based on video recording processing

Achieving Business Excellence by Optimizing Corporate Forensic Readiness

In order to improve their business excellence, all organizations, despite their size (small, medium or large one) should manage their risk of fraud. Fraud, in today’s world, is often committed by using computers and can only be revealed by digital forensic investigator. Not even small or medium-sized companies are secure from fraud. In the light of recent financial scandals that literary demolished not just economies of specific countries but entire world economy, we propose in this paper an optimal model of corporative computer incident digital forensic investigation (CCIDFI) by using adopted mathematic model of the greed MCDM – multi-criteria decision-making method and the Expert Choice software tool for multi-criteria optimization of the CCIDFI readiness. Proposed model can, first of all, help managers of small and medium-sized companies to justify their decisions to employ digital forensic investigators and include them in their information security teams in order to choose the optimal CCIDFI model and improve forensic readiness in the computer incident management process that will result with minimization of potential losses of company in the future and improve its business quality

Optimizacija zaštite turističkih agencija od kompjuterskog kriminala

Nauka i praksa bezbednosti informacija na Internetu ušla je u svoju zreliju fazu. Dostupni su brojne metodologije za procenu rizika (preko 200), standardi zaštite, katalozi ranjivosti, pretnji i mera (kontrola) zaštite. Metodologija za procenu rizika informacija (ISO/IEC 27005:2008) usvojena je i u finansijskom sektoru u sporazumu BASEL II za procenu operativnog rizika. Iako standardizacija značajno smanjuje kompleksnost uvođenja sistema zaštite, implementacija osnovnih mera zaštite za smanjenje rizika na prihvatljiv nivo, još uvek je složena, skupa i zahteva specifična znanja i iskustva. Problem online krađe ličnih podataka i brojeva platnih kartica odnosi se upravo na turističke agencije gde klijenti masovno plaćaju račune platnim karticama. U ovom radu autori sugerišu optimalan okvir za upravljanje zaštitom informacija u Internet okruženju u turističkim agencijama, sa ciljem da se smanji kompleksnost i da se iste ohrabre da organizovano uvode sistem i praksu zaštite informacija, prema svojim potrebama i resursima

Segmentirana zaštita korisničkih podataka u modernim poslovnim sistemima

U ovom radu analiziraju se postojeća i predlaže se novorešenje problema vezanog za zaštitu korisničkih podatakamodernih poslovnih sistema. Nova metoda se zasnovana naupotrebi složenih i slučajnih dodatnih vrednosti priindividualnom generisanju heš vrednosti za lozinku koju je uneokorisnik kao i upotreba segmentnog hešovanja za šifrovanjelozinke uz standardnu metodu hešovanja SHA512. Lozinka senakon šifrovanja deli u dva dela i delovi se čuvaju u dve zasebnebaze podataka koje se nalaze na različitim platformama

Reshaping big data management for servitization: a new framework for industrial companies

As a consequence of the exponential growth of the Industry 4.0 technologies, big data combined with increasing processing power, are leading to profound changes for industrial companies. As an example, the spreading of the Internet of Things (IoT), can facilitate to a large extent the servitization of manufacturing firms, i.e. the shift from selling products to offering product-service solutions, where data-driven services are tightly coupled to the product to increase the value potential of this new offering. Despite the acknowledged importance of adopting a specific “big data strategy” in order to exploit the opportunities arising from servitization, how this can be done in practice still remains poorly understood. In fact, few companies have today adopted a structured approach to reshape the way they collect and manage data in order to enable new service offerings and to react to fast changing customers' needs. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a hierarchical framework to describe and operationalize Big Data management to support servitization

EDX analyisis of metal-ceramic interfaces of recasted nickel-chromium dental alloys

This research was performed to establish recasting effects of nickel-chromium dental alloys on the composition of their metal-ceramic interface in making fixed partial dentures. The metal-ceramic interface determines denture functional integrity and prevents damages on ceramics during mastication. Recycling of nickel-chromium alloys is often a practice, without detailed knowledge about possible effects on the composition of the metal-ceramic interface. Investigation of metal-ceramic samples is intended to show if base metal alloys for metal-ceramics are successfully recycled without any composition change in the metal-ceramic interface. The research was performed as an experimental study in which six metal-ceramic samples of nickel-chromium alloy “Wiron 99” (Bego, Germany) were made. Alloy residues were recycled through twelve casting generations with the addition of 50 wt% of the new alloy on the occasion of every recasting. EDX analysis was performed by using the “Inca X Sight” apparatus (Oxford Instruments, UK) and a SEM device JSM 6460 LV (JEOL, Japan). This appliance was used in conjunction with the PC software for quantification of chemical elements in order to determine the composition of metal-ceramic interfaces. Results of this research revealed significant differences between compositions of metal-ceramic interfaces in every examined recycle generation. Recasting had a negative effect on alloy components, which concentration is decreasing in the metal-ceramic junction zone. The concentration of cerium in the intermediate phase decreased the most, followed by concentrations of niobium, molybdenum, nickel and chromium. Results showed a permanent reduction of metal components up to the 12th generation of recycling. Cerium concentration (wt%) decreased from 28 to 16.26 %, nickel concentration from 3.31 to 1.82 % and chromium concentration from 2.95 to 2.03 %. Similarly, the molybdenum content decreased from 8.71to 4.68 wt%, while that of niobium from 9.82 to 3.97 wt%. Therefore, recasting of nickel-chromium alloys is not recommended because of changed composition of the metal-ceramic interface of these alloys

Healthcare Service Quality from the Point of Healthcare Providers’ Perception at the Time of COVID-19

The pandemic of the Coronavirus 19 disease (COVID-19) has had significant impact on healthcare systems worldwide. The present study aims to investigate the service providers’ quality dimensions in public sector hospitals in the Republic of Serbia during the COVID-19 pandemic and to propose a sustainable model for healthcare improvement. The study was conducted from September 2021 to December 2021. A modified SERPERF quality measurement questionnaire was distributed to healthcare workers in nine secondary care public hospitals of the Serbian Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (APV). Six hundred one questionnaires were found to be complete in all aspects and compared to 528 questionnaires from the database of the Provincial Secretariat for Health Care obtained from healthcare workers before the COVID-19 outbreak. The present study suggests that supportive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic are effective and, from the providers’ perception, increase healthcare quality. Continual investment in healthcare would provide sustainable development of healthcare quality in the future, regardless of the pandemic conditions