ILIRIA International Review
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Why hasn’t Macedonia succeeded for a long time in absorbing Foreign Direct Investment
Get PDFRecently almost all countries of the world without exception developed countries or the developing countries are attracting foreign direct investments. The reason is that there is no dilemma that benefits of foreign direct investments in the host countries as well as domestic countries are greater than the damage that can have.Western Balkan countries also follow this trend for attracting foreign direct investment. Some of them have achieved notable successes, while the others have achieved less success. Macedonia is a country that during the last two decades ranks among the countries with smaller foreign direct investments.In the paper which I have chosen to analyze, in the start I gave a general overview of the meaning, role and importance of foreign direct investments for economic development of a country. Later I have analyzed the trend of foreign direct investments in the region, and especially in Macedonia. At the end sought and given reasons of locking foreign direct investment in Macedonia and recommendations to overcome such a situation
Rational Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia - Way Toward Reconciliation
Get PDFWithin a decade, Kosovo has compromised twice: accepting the process of decentralization in order to achieve independence and international recognition, through the President Martti Ahtisaari’s Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement (2 February 2007), and finally, by approving to offer autonomy for Kosovo Serbs for the sovereignty, but still within the limits of the Ahtisaari Plan.Coincidentally, the same Serbian political parties which had fought three wars, resulting in dissolution of the state (Former Yugoslavia) at that time (the Socialist Party and the Serbian Radical Party), now are in power in the Republic of Serbia, and have the possibility to finally solve the Kosovo case, and to open the perspective for this part, Europe’s black hole, to be engaged in global integration. Statements by senior Serbian politicians are positively shifting, compared to the radicalization of the relations between Albanians and Serbs three decades ago and it is believed that the developments will evolve towards rational choice and acceptance by the parties. Being under pressure by difficult socio-economic situation and need for integration processes, both sides undertake risky and unpopular steps by signing unclear political and verbal agreements on normalization of relations, which may produce difficult solving externalities in the future. The risk lies in the possibility of further damaging the Kosovo’s “piece of the cake”, after every refusal step by the Serbian side, which will damage the interest of Kosovo side according to the “zero sum” game. Analyses of the dialogue process between Kosovo and Serbia reflect the mixed benefits to the parties, resulting in not very soon European integration, and with hope on difficult but necessary reconciliation between Albanians and Serbs in the region. The broken, after the war established, status quo is better than entering into a protracted conflict in the middle of Europe.
Efficiency Improvement and Quality Initiatives Application in Financial Institutions
Get PDFFinancial institutions in today’s economy have no longer the luxury to improve profit simply by increasing revenue. These firms, due to the significant measuring reductions in the financial services industry needed to improve operational efficiencies and merely support existing processes with fewer resources. This paper explains the benefits of Lean, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management and Lean Six Sigma that have improved organization's performance, by cutting costs and waste, improving their products or services, increasing profitability as well as enhancing customer satisfaction. The applicability of quality management practices in financial institutions in Kosovo is presented and also their efficiency and effectiveness. By analyzing data from Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo, this paper highlights the benefits of Individual and Micro companies customer segment as the result of organizational change and successful application of quality initiatives from financial institutions in Kosovo
Privatisation Process in Kosovo
No full textThis paper aims at analysing activities of the privatisation process in Kosovo, seeing that privatisation is treated as a fundamental factor of overall transformation of the whole society.It may be established that the primary aim of privatisation process is increasing economic efficiency, reflection of the current state and directions of development in general. Privatisation as a process has as primary aim of opening new areas of freedom, economic efficiency and individualism.Key aim of privatisation process in Kosovo must be increase of economic efficiency, preservation of the healthy economic potential created up to date, and ensuring of the long term concept, which enables growth and macroeconomic stability. The policy of privatisation should give a response related to strategic aspects of privatisation of these sectors: of models, procedures, potential investors, technological modernisation and overtaking of social barriers.Process of privatisation and transition which has now covered countries of the Eastern and Central Europe, aims at profound economic and political transformation of these countries. To achieve this, it is necessarily required to have some basic preconditions, which are related to incitement of general efficiency of the enterprises, expansion of the capital market, introduction of competition, development of business culture in private property and freedom of entrepreneurship. Impacts of privatisation in economic development of Kosovo take a considerable place compared to other countries, therefore our aim is that through this paper we analyse factors and methods of implementation in this process
Emotional Intelligence and its Relation to Job Success
Get PDFUntil three decades ago the importance of Emotional Intelligence, now on referred as EI, was not very well known. Existing as a concept EI was not unanimously defined, not in its merited place in science and not well known in society opinion. The concept of EI for the first time arose in 1990 by Peter Salovey and John Mayer. It evolved later and achieved its peak with the work of Daniel Goldman in 1995, where his book on EI named: “EI, why it Matters” sold millions of copies. Nowadays after many researches done in EI field, EI with its main components has been rightly acknowledged as an engine of a human body toward achieving one’s self-satisfaction and success. However this still has not happened in Kosova. This is one of the first articles written in Kosova about EI, the new concept of Intelligence.The paper will try to give the contribution on the field of bringing EI in its merited place in Kosova society, and so will positively affect the investment of individuals into their EI, being one of the main factors that bring you towards success and overall wellbeing
“The Soft Power” of Small Countries: Kosovo Challenges and Potentials based on the Experience of Switzerland and Slovenia
Get PDFIn the period of globalization when a big number of actors are involved in international relations, there is a need for smaller countries to be focused in a specific field in order to be successful in their foreign politics. The soft power with its increased importance is attracting academic circuits and those directly involved in foreign politics of different countries. The aim of this paper is to raise awareness among compilers and executers of foreign politics in Kosovo on the capacities that Kosovo has to achieve a success in foreign politics by the soft power. The goal can be achieved by the use of many scientific methods like: analytical – interpretive method, hermeneutic one, comparative method all of them having a holist approach to the topic. To have a better and more understandable output the study is focused in concrete examples of Switzerland and Slovenia as a potential topic to be elaborated due to the fact that in the past the states of Western Balkan didn’t pay that much attention the use of soft power in foreign politics. Instead they used the forms of classical diplomacy that resulted with not that good image of the region. Achievements of Switzerland and Slovenia by using an efficient soft power, could be a good example for Kosovo. In this case, being a crucial need, Kosovo can benefit by applying the soft power in the foreign policy
Specific Business and Management Challenges in Globalised World: Opportunities and Recommendations
Get PDFGlobalisation is continually shaping the way we live, we travel and also the way and structure we work. It is generally acknowledged that there are a number of fundamental factors that play a crucial role in the business life cycle. Management is one of the main pillars of the organization because it provides direction, implementation, and coordination, so that organizations can attain their goals. An organisation’s life depends heavily on the quality of management. If there is any lack within the management element, it may severely limit an organisation’s existence. It is thus imperative to put all the elements in the right shape and place. Yet still this may be insufficient, due to ever growing competitiveness. Vision, strategy and innovation are fundamental in business enterprises but there are other issues related that have an effect to the management and need careful consideration. This study lists a number of specific challenges (namely leadership, innovation and human resources) that businesses and management is encountering and ought to be facing in several decades to come, and offers recommendation to the topics brought forwar
Consumer Information and Willingness to Pay an Additional Price for Food Safety of Dairy Products
Get PDFDue to food safety incidents around the world, a number of research projects have found growing willingness to pay (WTP) premium price for additional safety of food products. However, this depends on the amount of information consumers have regarding food safety. The objective of this paper is to assess the level of information consumers have on the safety of dairy products in Kosovo and the impact of information on the consumers’ willingness to pay premium price for dairy products if they are certified with food safety standards.The results come from a survey conducted with 303 customers of Viva Fresh supermarket chain store, who were interviewed at the time of purchase in the supermarket. Descriptive statistics shows lack of knowledge of food safety; only 15% of respondents are aware of ISO9001 standard, 7% are aware of HACCP and only 10.2% of respondents can make a difference between the concepts of food quality and safety. With regard to information 66.3% of respondents have heard of food safety problems while 47.33% have heard through the media.Using a logistic regression model, the research found that consumers who have heard about the problems of food safety (p = 0.049) and those who are aware of the ISO 9001 (p = 0.002) are more likely to have a positive attitude towards WTP
The Rights of Intersex Persons to Establish a Family under Albanian Law. Practice of the ECHR
Get PDFidentity is the way in which a person is self-identified with a gender category, as for example to be female or male, or in some cases intersex, which is none of the distinguishable biological sexes. In principal, intersex persons are part of the society with their rights and obligations, which are not the same with those of the other members of society, in special areas of life.This paper aims to treat the right of intersex persons to marriage and to establish a family. The paper begins with an overview of definition of intersex persons, their rights, and focuses primarily on the right to establish a family.The right for a family life has found protection in the Albanian national legislation. The Constitution of theRepublicofAlbaniaof 1998 in its Article 53 stipulates that "everyone has the right to marry and have a family" establishing the principle of equality before the law, closely linked to the principle of non-discrimination. The legal provisions set a controversial position on the right to get married and to establish family relationships of the intersex persons, which is based on different arguments.For the purposes of the research, we aim also to compare the national legislation with the European principles and practice of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred as ECHR). The paper also includes the opinions and recommendations of Albanian institutions, as well as those of foreign ones, mainly European, in the area of human rights protection, and especially regarding the rights of the intersex persons
The Principle of Will Autonomy in the Obligatory Law
Get PDFThe principle of autonomy of will is legislated with the Article 2 of the Law no. 04/L–077 on Obligational Relationships1, thereby providing the legal grounds for the regulation of legal relations between parties in obligational relationship.This study aims to provide a contribution to the theory and practice, and also aims at providing a modest contribution to the obligational law doctrine in Kosovo. The purpose of the paper is to explore the gaps and weaknesses in practical implementation of the principle, which represents the main pillar of obligational law. In this paper, combined methods were used, including research and descriptive methods, analysis and synthesis, comparative and normative methods.The exploration method was used throughout the paper, and entails the collection of hard-copy and electronic materials. The descriptive method implies a description of concepts, important thoughts of legal science, and in this case, on the principle of autonomy of will, thereby using literature of various authors. The analytical and synthetic methodology is aimed at achieving the study objectives, the recognition of the principle of autonomy of will, practical implementation thereof, and conclusions.The comparative method was applied in comparing the implementation of the principle in the Law on Obligational Relationships of Kosovo and the Law on Obligational Relationships of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Kosovo, and the Civil Code of the Republic of Albania. The normative method was necessary, since the topic of the study is about legal norms