Pre and Post Crisis Performance Measurement of Croatian Stock Market

Performance evaluation of the stock market has been in investors’ focus for many decades. There exist a lot of models, methods and theories that try to provide answers to investors’ questions about securities, portfolio and risk management, etc. When making decisions on these topics, investors take into account different micro and macro aspects, which contribute to the stock market movements. Croatian capital market has undergone different phases of its development in the past decade. The fi nancial crisis affected the Zagreb Stock Exchange as well as it did other markets. Since then, investors are even more careful when handling and employing their resources. There has been a lack of domestic papers that deal with different aspects of performance measurement on the Croatian stock market. Thus, the aim of this paper is to perform measures of stock market development, liquidity, MPT (Modern Portfolio Theory) performance measurements and volatility in order to quantify the stock market performance in the period before and after the fi nancial crisis. In this way conclusions can be made based on the results in order to identify opportunities and threats on the Zagreb Stock Exchange

Adoption of digital and ICT technologies and firms’ productivity

This paper has two main goals. First, it aims to answer the question on how the usage of ICT and digital technologies affects firm productivity. Second, it aims to analyze how change in the share of the manufacturing sector and/or the service sector in a given region direct changes in firm productivity. The analysis was carried out using a financial dataset of Croatian enterprises in the period from 2009 to 2019 and Eurostats’ Digital Economy and Society data, based on “Community survey on ICT usage and ecommerce in enterprises”. The data were analyzed using principal component analysis and panel data methods. The results indicate a positive relationship between adoption of ICT technologies and firm productivity, and a negative correlation between adoption of digital technologies and firm productivity. Furthermore, the results show a high degree of deindustrialization of certain regions and a positive correlation between industry intensity in certain regions and firm productivity. Finally, there seems to be a positive premium on productivity for larger-sized firms, firms participating in international trade, companies situated near to key international markets (i.e., located in counties bordering with the City of Zagreb)

Adoption of digital and ICT technologies and firms’ productivity

This paper has two main goals. First, it aims to answer the question on how the usage of ICT and digital technologies affects firm productivity. Second, it aims to analyze how change in the share of the manufacturing sector and/or the service sector in a given region direct changes in firm productivity. The analysis was carried out using a financial dataset of Croatian enterprises in the period from 2009 to 2019 and Eurostats’ Digital Economy and Society data, based on “Community survey on ICT usage and ecommerce in enterprises”. The data were analyzed using principal component analysis and panel data methods. The results indicate a positive relationship between adoption of ICT technologies and firm productivity, and a negative correlation between adoption of digital technologies and firm productivity. Furthermore, the results show a high degree of deindustrialization of certain regions and a positive correlation between industry intensity in certain regions and firm productivity. Finally, there seems to be a positive premium on productivity for larger-sized firms, firms participating in international trade, companies situated near to key international markets (i.e., located in counties bordering with the City of Zagreb)

Girl Power: Creating More with Less

Studies show that women are very productive employees, but that as business owners, compared to their male counterparts, they run companies that earn less, grow at a lesser rate, and employ a smaller number of employees. One of the explanations for this discrepancy argues that indicators such as sales, turnover or profit do not measure performance adequately because they are dependent on the size of the firm. Since women often make a conscious decision to keep their companies small, these performance measures may not adequately represent women-owned businesses. We study a panel of micro firms across all industries, from three EU countries of comparable size (Croatia, Slovenia, and Slovakia) in the period 2010 – 2019. Results indicate that female-owned firms have higher values of both turnover per asset and value added per asset. Additionally, results suggest that during recession years, female-led firms show a degree of resilience to these adverse effects, and they manage to increase their turnover per asset by 3 to 4 percent on average, compared to male-led firms. We conclude that although women-owned micro firms tend to have less resources compared to men’s, women can create larger output per asset, suggesting capability to combine those resources in a very effective way

Girl Power: Creating More with Less

Studies show that women are very productive employees, but that as business owners, compared to their male counterparts, they run companies that earn less, grow at a lesser rate, and employ a smaller number of employees. One of the explanations for this discrepancy argues that indicators such as sales, turnover or profit do not measure performance adequately because they are dependent on the size of the firm. Since women often make a conscious decision to keep their companies small, these performance measures may not adequately represent women-owned businesses. We study a panel of micro firms across all industries, from three EU countries of comparable size (Croatia, Slovenia, and Slovakia) in the period 2010 – 2019. Results indicate that female-owned firms have higher values of both turnover per asset and value added per asset. Additionally, results suggest that during recession years, female-led firms show a degree of resilience to these adverse effects, and they manage to increase their turnover per asset by 3 to 4 percent on average, compared to male-led firms. We conclude that although women-owned micro firms tend to have less resources compared to men’s, women can create larger output per asset, suggesting capability to combine those resources in a very effective way

Percepcije utjecaja regulative na smanjenje zabrinutosti za privatnost u online okruženju

This paper examines the impact of regulation as an antecedent of online privacy concern. The aim is to investigate if and how perceived effectiveness of government regulation affects internet users’ concern for their privacy in the online environment. Existing research shows that perceived effectiveness and enforcement of regulatory policies reduce online privacy concern; however, it does not explain what factors influence this relationship. This research fills the gap by analyzing different perceptions of the existing country legislation and government effort to protect online privacy in the context of socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, computer anxiety, individual desire to maintain control of personal information, as well as intensity and diversity of online activities. The empirical analysis is conducted on a large sample of internet users in Croatia. The dependent variable in the regression model is online privacy concern and the model is tested with OLS and ordered probit estimation. The results confirm that perceived effectiveness of government regulation reduces online privacy concern whereas computer anxiety has a major positive impact on online privacy concern. These findings might be useful for national policy-makers and for business strategies in the context of the GDPR regulation coming in force in 2018.U radu se ispituje utjecaj regulative na zabrinutost korisnika interneta za privatnost u online okruženju. Dosadašnja su istraživanja pokazala da percipirana provedba i djelotvornost regulatornih politika smanjuju razinu zabrinutosti za online privatnost. Međutim, ta istraživanja ne preispituju temeljem čega se formiraju percepcije korisnika interneta. Cilj rada je istražiti kako percipirana djelotvornost regulative utječe na zabrinutost korisnika interneta za njihovu privatnost u online okruženju uzimajući u obzir njihova sociodemografska obilježja, želju pojedinca da zadrži kontrolu nad osobnim podacima, individualni strah od računala, te učestalost i raznolikost aktivnosti koje pojedinac obavlja online. Empirijska je analiza provedena na velikom uzorku internetskih korisnika u Hrvatskoj. Zavisna varijabla u regresijskom modelu je zabrinutost za privatnost u online okruženju, a model se testira običnom metodom najmanjih kvadrata i procjenom ordinalnog probit modela. Rezultati potvrđuju da percipirana djelotvornost regulative smanjuje, a strah od računala znatno povećava zabrinutost za privatnost u online okruženju. Ove spoznaje mogu biti korisne nositeljima politike i kreatorima poslovnih strategija, posebno u svjetlu nadolazeće primjene europske Opće uredbe o zaštiti osobnih podataka (GDPR)

Gender differences in management styles during crisis and the effect on firm performance

This paper aims to shed light on gender differences in firm performance in a period that entails an unprecedented crisis with specific effects on gender roles, i.e., COVID-19. The analysis focuses on Croatian high-tech manufacturing and knowledge-intensive service sector SMEs. Previous literature indicates that the obstacles the SMEs face may be even more significant for women-owned firms. Specifically, women entrepreneurs find it more challenging to secure social and financial capital. Women often face restrictions on their working hours due to societal pressure and family obligations, and they are rarely well-connected because they are often not members of influential business networks. Literature also suggests that the usual pressures on female working hours have disproportionally increased during the COVID-19 imposed lockdowns, so the general expectation is that women entrepreneurs were not able to cope equally with the changed market circumstances. In this study, we consider a causationeffectuation management framework to investigate how women- and men-owned SMEs used these management styles to address the business challenges in the COVID-19 crisis. Our contribution aims explicitly to answer the invitation made in recent literature to explore how gender influences the effects of the four dimensions of effectuation on firm performance

Percepcije utjecaja regulative na smanjenje zabrinutosti za privatnost u online okruženju

This paper examines the impact of regulation as an antecedent of online privacy concern. The aim is to investigate if and how perceived effectiveness of government regulation affects internet users’ concern for their privacy in the online environment. Existing research shows that perceived effectiveness and enforcement of regulatory policies reduce online privacy concern; however, it does not explain what factors influence this relationship. This research fills the gap by analyzing different perceptions of the existing country legislation and government effort to protect online privacy in the context of socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, computer anxiety, individual desire to maintain control of personal information, as well as intensity and diversity of online activities. The empirical analysis is conducted on a large sample of internet users in Croatia. The dependent variable in the regression model is online privacy concern and the model is tested with OLS and ordered probit estimation. The results confirm that perceived effectiveness of government regulation reduces online privacy concern whereas computer anxiety has a major positive impact on online privacy concern. These findings might be useful for national policy-makers and for business strategies in the context of the GDPR regulation coming in force in 2018.U radu se ispituje utjecaj regulative na zabrinutost korisnika interneta za privatnost u online okruženju. Dosadašnja su istraživanja pokazala da percipirana provedba i djelotvornost regulatornih politika smanjuju razinu zabrinutosti za online privatnost. Međutim, ta istraživanja ne preispituju temeljem čega se formiraju percepcije korisnika interneta. Cilj rada je istražiti kako percipirana djelotvornost regulative utječe na zabrinutost korisnika interneta za njihovu privatnost u online okruženju uzimajući u obzir njihova sociodemografska obilježja, želju pojedinca da zadrži kontrolu nad osobnim podacima, individualni strah od računala, te učestalost i raznolikost aktivnosti koje pojedinac obavlja online. Empirijska je analiza provedena na velikom uzorku internetskih korisnika u Hrvatskoj. Zavisna varijabla u regresijskom modelu je zabrinutost za privatnost u online okruženju, a model se testira običnom metodom najmanjih kvadrata i procjenom ordinalnog probit modela. Rezultati potvrđuju da percipirana djelotvornost regulative smanjuje, a strah od računala znatno povećava zabrinutost za privatnost u online okruženju. Ove spoznaje mogu biti korisne nositeljima politike i kreatorima poslovnih strategija, posebno u svjetlu nadolazeće primjene europske Opće uredbe o zaštiti osobnih podataka (GDPR)