INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP DECISION MAKING IN MACEDONIAN SMES

Management is principally a bundle of decision-making processes. Decision-making is the process of selecting the best alternative among various available courses of action. The managers of any organization are responsible for achieving the vision, mission and operational and financial goals in particular. All the functions like planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling are dependent on the quality of the decisions made. In companies, no matter of their size, decisions are made on all hierarchical levels. Structured decision-making process is important for large corporations, but not less important for small and medium enterprises. The innovation capacity that enables the competitive points of difference, utilization of market opportunities and potentials depend on the accuracy and timing of the decisions. This paper discusses the different methods used in individual and group decision-making processes and their application in the small and medium enterprises in North Macedonia. We conducted a research on a sample of SMEs from North Macedonia and analyzed the different decision-making methods applied and the role of individual and group decision-making methods from the perspective of managers (entrepreneurs) and employees including their roles and involvement

SYNERGY EFFECT: HOW TO CAPTURE VALUE IN THE BUSINESS STRATEGY? A CASE OF IT BUSINESSES IN NORTH MACEDONIA

Nowadays, businesses are required to create added value and difference. In recent years, the synergy perspective grew into one of the main concerns of corporate and strategic management. It creates a new path for change in the way of designing the business strategy, characterized by the collaboration mindset embedded in the overall strategic thinking context. This paper investigates the perceptions and practices of the IT managers with regards to the potential of synergy strategies. It aims to explore the growing importance of synergies between all elements, stakeholders, and processes in the organization, with a particular emphasis on the connections which include cooperation, interaction and working together to realize accepted purposes and strategic goals. The primary data were obtained through a survey carried out in the IT businesses in North Macedonia and evaluated by using the descriptive statistics. The key findings indicate that synergy strategies can create added value on the company’s sustained competitive advantage. The results showed that the synergy strategy appears to be a good managerial practice to be fostered on the organizational level to produce greater results. As the synergy effects seem to be a widespread practice, but rarely discussed topic within the IT sector in North Macedonia, the research will attempt to provide a theoretical contribution to the academic community, but also to help local managers to identify and coordinate opportunities for integrating the sinergy in their business strategy. Apart from the main research focus, our aim expands further to making a broader contribution to the theories of strategy and organization. JEL codes: L19, M1

STRATEGIC THINKING IN MACEDONIAN FAMILY BUSINESSES: PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES

Over the last decades, an increased interest in strategic thinking of family businesses and its influence on the performance has taken place both for practitioners and academics. Strategic thinking as one of the ways of thinking has a crucial place in the modern world and plays essential role in major issues at different organizational levels including individual decision-making and planning. The main purpose of this paper is to examine family businesses from this perspective foremost, but also to provide some insights whether and how strategic planning is conducted and exercised. Specifically, it will focus on the issue of strategic planning practices from a family business perspective, as well as the extent to which family businesses engage in strategic thinking. It will also examine the sources of knowledge used by family businesses in making strategic decisions, the extent of involvement by stakeholders and the aspects such as trust and values. The results obtained from the paper show that strategic thinking had an acceptable level of family businesses and most of the companies have the key element for one business to sustain, because they have developed strategic plan together with the clear mission and vision statement. Furthermore, this paper can be used to expand insights and learn more about specifics of family businesses, from the perspective of strengthening their strategic thinking and planning for a better performance and growth

The Ninth Dimension of National Culture: Unpacking Cross-Cultural Communication Styles

This article aims to study the communication styles among different national cultures, that is, we examine the relationship between national culture, based on Hofstede model, and communication styles. In order to investigate the role of national culture, it is fundamental to first analyse the communication styles and then identify how these are related to each other. With a purpose to identify differences (or similarities) in communication styles across selected countries, a factor analysis was conducted, combined with an ANOVA test. Based on a sample from 10 different cultures: Germany, Sweden, Japan, China, Russia, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Serbia and North Macedonia, and using communication assessment instrument as well as the data on Hofstede’s six dimensions of national culture model, the findings show that different national cultures practise different communication styles. When Professional-Casual communication style is concerned, Germany is the most professional, while Japan is the most casual; that is, the least professional of all, while the analysis of the Cold-Warm communication styles leads us to the fact that Sweden is the coldest, and the US is the warmest country. The study’s significance is hopefully fundamental since it proposes an additional dimension, which is as frequent among cultures as it is rooted deeply in each culture. In this way, the article recommends that the countries ought to both comprehend their national culture and utilise it as a “tool” for understanding other cultures as well

The Ninth Dimension of National Culture: Unpacking Cross-Cultural Communication Styles

This article aims to study the communication styles among different national cultures, that is, we examine the relationship between national culture, based on Hofstede model, and communication styles. In order to investigate the role of national culture, it is fundamental to first analyse the communication styles and then identify how these are related to each other. With a purpose to identify differences (or similarities) in communication styles across selected countries, a factor analysis was conducted, combined with an ANOVA test. Based on a sample from 10 different cultures: Germany, Sweden, Japan, China, Russia, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Serbia and North Macedonia, and using communication assessment instrument as well as the data on Hofstede’s six dimensions of national culture model, the findings show that different national cultures practise different communication styles. When Professional-Casual communication style is concerned, Germany is the most professional, while Japan is the most casual; that is, the least professional of all, while the analysis of the Cold-Warm communication styles leads us to the fact that Sweden is the coldest, and the US is the warmest country. The study’s significance is hopefully fundamental since it proposes an additional dimension, which is as frequent among cultures as it is rooted deeply in each culture. In this way, the article recommends that the countries ought to both comprehend their national culture and utilise it as a “tool” for understanding other cultures as well

Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia in Immunosuppressed Patients

Introduction: Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) is an opportunistic infection that occurs in immunosuppressed patients. Fever is a main symptom of PCP, along with a dry cough that doesn`t produce any sputum. Other chief symptoms include chest tightness and difficulty breathing as well as fatigue and night sweats. There is no blood test to determine if PCP is present in the body. The diagnostic methods of choice  include sputum induction and bronchoalveolar lavage. According to recent research 5-25% of transplant patient are affected by PCP.Materials and Methods: The case report centers on the medical history of a man aged 28 years at the time of the diagnosis. Eight years prior to this, he underwent kidney transplantation, and from then on he was on an immunosuppressive therapy. The patient presented with progressive shortness of breath and fever. On hospitalization his general condition was impaired. At the time he was tachypnoic and the following lab results revealed hypocapnia and hypoxemia.Results: Overview x-ray examination showed rough reticular pattern of the lungs. Three consecutive CT-scans provided the following information: CT on July 01, 2013 - bilateral pleural effusions; CT on August 02, 2013 - areas of consolidation ground glass opacities; CT on August 21, 2013 - resolution of infiltrative and cystic changes. There was a presence of fibrotic changes. The patient was immediately placed on non-invasive ventilation  in a pressure support system, which allowed him to maintain saturation above 90%. The removal of the mask caused severe problems, which prompted the need of a week-long intubation. Antimicrobial and nonspecific antibiotic treatment was conducted. As a result, the patient`s condition improved.Conclusion: Although advances in the care of immunosuppressed patients have dramatically lowered its incidence, PCP remains a challenging clinical problem