MOVING BEYOND THE LOCAL MARKETPLACE: DYNAMICS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A), as well as the corporate restructuring intercede a great part of the corporate financial world. The most distinguished, the fifth merger wave, found to be five times larger in real terms compared to its predecessor, has involved companies within the service sector, principally those coming from the OECD countries. Historical trends, however, suggest that nearly two-thirds of big M&A have lost the value on the stock market and merely 46% have not been disappointed on their own terms. Hence, this paper aims at assessing the effects, regional and sectorial patterns of M&A, as well as to address some related implications by means of detailed and comprehensive data set.mergers and acquisitions, sectorial break-down, regional divergence, efficiency gains, failure

Modeling the determinants of exports and imports: assessment of the Macedonian competitive performances

So far Macedonia has undergone an unsuccessful attempt to transition, distinguished by low growth rates, high unemployment, extensive poverty, balance of payments unfavorable position, technological lag etc. The external sector, as a core element to growth perspectives of a small open economy is critically dependant upon the export competitiveness. Consequently, this paper will address some critical points of the Macedonian economy, particularly the vulnerability of the external sector alongside with the price and trade liberalization. The set of analyses is to be carried out to explore the foreign trade structure, current account developments, as well as the major aspects of qualitative competitiveness. In addition, we have examined the impact of macroeconomic variables on exports and imports within the selected timeframe. We have therefore applied a comprehensive approach of dynamic modeling based upon a vector - autoregression model determined to control for endogeneity and set to estimate the long - run equilibrium relations, as well as the short-run dynamics of the key variables.exports, imports, competitiveness, vector - autoregression model

Estimating the FDI impact on economic growth and export performances of the european economies in transition

Within the last two decades, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been observed as one of the prime instruments in the process of restructuring the European economies in transition. Many scholars argue that FDI is expected to be a source of valuable technology transfer thus might certainly have positive effects on host country development efforts. Nonetheless, there are no clear-cut findings about the FDI genuine performances in supporting the economic growth, productivity and export improvements within the European transition countries. Using a large and comprehensive data set, we will therefore analyze the linkage between FDI and above mentioned variables, so as to recommend national policy appropriate measures aimed at averting negative and strengthening the positive FDI spillovers.FDI, economic growth, export performances, European economies in transition

IKT i inovacije za konkurentnost: Zapadni Balkan vis-à-vis Europske Unije

The aim of this paper is to evaluate how well-prepared the Western Balkans (Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) are to join the EU in terms of competitiveness and to clearly identify the set of EU countries that would represent a ‘real benchmark’ when trying to assess the region’s competitiveness. In 2010, the Europe 2020 strategy was proposed as a means of focusing the EU and its Member States on the main task of improving competitiveness and creating conditions for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. As candidate countries for EU membership, Western Balkans are expected to act in accordance with these goals. Hence, this paper implements the Global Competitiveness Index 2015-2016 and a set of supplemental data analysis tools to assess both the level of competitiveness and the region’s relative position vis-à-vis the EU member states. The results clearly show that the EU is far from a homogenous entity in terms of competitiveness, whilst the candidates expose a competitiveness profile similar to that of Central and Eastern Europe. Overall, the Western Balkans trail behind the EU-28 countries in building a knowledge-intensive economy and are significantly outdistanced in laying the foundations for ‘smart growth’, as the European economies press ahead.Cilj rada je ocijeniti koliko su zemlje Zapadnog Balkana (Albanija, Makedonija, Crna Gora i Srbija) dobro pripremljene za članstvo u EU u smislu konkurentnosti, te jasno identificirati skup zemalja EU-a koji bi predstavljao realni usporedni prag vrijednosti konkurentnosti regije. U 2010. godini, Strategija Europa 2020 predložena je kao sredstvo fokusiranja EU-a i njezinih država-članica na glavni zadatak poboljšanja konkurentnosti i stvaranja uvijeta za pametan, održiv i inkluzivan rast. Očekuje se da države Zapadnog Balkana kao kandidati za članstvo u EU djeluju u skladu s ovim ciljevima. Dakle, u radu se koristi Indeks globalne konkurentnosti (GCI) 2015-2016 i skup dodatnih alata za analizu podataka s ciljem procjenjivanja razine konkurentnosti, te relativne pozicije regije naspram zemаljа-članica EU-a. Rezultati jasno pokazuju da EU nije homogeni entitet u pogledu konkurentnosti, dok kandidati imaju profil konkurentnosti sličan zemljama Centralne i Istočne Europe. Općenito govoreći, zemlje Zapadnog Balkana zaostaju iza zemalja EU-28 u izgradnji gospodarstava zasnovanih na znanju, i značajno su distancirani u postavljanju temelja tzv. ‘pametnog rasta’, koncepta kojeg Europske ekonomije snažno zastupaj

On the Pulse of ICT Revolution, Productivity, and Growth: Macedonia versus European Union

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become more accessible, more powerful and more widespread. Yet, the use of ICTs is not an end in itself. The impact that such technologies have on the economy and society is what ultimately matters. Understanding the economics of ICTs requires a deep and thorough knowledge of how the new technology generates the economic impacts. The ICT revolution holds the transformative potentials, offering many promises and benefits, even while posing severe risks and challenges. Therefore, it is of great importance and still a challenge to measure the capacity of countries to leverage ICTs for increased competitiveness and wellbeing. Aimed at reaching such a complex task, this paper employs the extensive data compendium of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) 2015 and a set of supplemental data analysis tools (descriptive statistics, five-number summary statistics and a Box & Whisker plot, Euclidean and statistical distances, hierarchical cluster analysis and a corresponding dendrogram) to estimate both the performance of Macedonia in the NRI and the country’s relative position visà-vis the EU member states. Looking at the trends since 2012 reveals that Macedonia is one of the ten most improved countries in their overall NRI performance. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that the country is lagging behind the European average in most indicators. The EU member states with the shortest statistical distance from Macedonia are Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, Hungary and Slovenia. Quite the reverse, the Nordics (Finland, Sweden and Denmark) and Western Europe (Luxemburg, Netherlands and UK) are the most ‘distant’ countries from Macedonia. These latter findings confirm the results obtained by the five-number summary statistics and the hierarchical cluster analysis