OJS (University St. Kliment Ohridski)
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ÉCLAIRS AS TOP PASTRY DELICACIES AND THEIR COMPREHENSION BY THE MACEDONIAN GASTRONOMIC AUDIENCE
Full text linkThe so called Éclair paste or Choux paste or Pâte à choux in French or Brandteig in German (Contemporary Cook, 1965) is an essential dough for the realization of different pastry and confectionery products such as the Éclairs, Paris-Brest, Cream puffs, choux pastry lattice, choux pastry pralines, mini cream puffs, mini eclairs, croquembouches, batons de Jacob, cygnes, religieuses, arlequins, couronnes, chouquettes, and choux florentines. This kind of dough is also used for certain oriental sweets like tulumba and some Spanish-Portuguese specialty churros. The Pâte à choux, is consisted of water or milk, butter, flour, salt, and eggs. Even though this kind of pastry seems very simple to be realized, there are certain rules that need to be strictly followed. The final intention of this paper is to check if the Macedonian gastronomic audience has a real knowledge about éclairs
CIRCULAR ECONOMY – BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES
Full text linkThe circular economy (CE) today has a growing importance for businesses, consumers and the environment in general. The CE is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended. Namely, moving towards a more circular economy could deliver benefits such as reducing pressure on the environment, improving the security of the supply of raw materials, increasing competitiveness, stimulating innovation, boosting economic growth and creating jobs. Consumers will also be provided with more durable and innovative products that will increase the quality of life and save them money in the long term.The main purpose of the paper is to examine the awareness for CE concept and the need for applying CE principles in a way to ensure a better environment and life quality. To achieve the aim, a survey was conducted and conclusions and recommendations will be presented based on data processing
IDENTIFYING CUSTOMERS VALUE IN CHAIN HYPERMARKETS: SMART MARKETS
Full text linkAll businesses want to use information about their customers to make smarter decisions. First of all, the marketer should know the individual identities of their customers. Then, in order to create better experiences in the market and to increase customer value, the company takes different marketing, sales, distribution and production decisions related to different customers. Smart Markets works with every level and every unit to provide a unique experience in the markets. The advantages of trading can be discovered by taking control of the strategy and through a boutique firm that delivers what is needed with maximum results. The essence of managing customer relationships is to treat different customers differently: The first requirement for any business to enter into such competition is that it recognizes a customer in a way that distinguishes it from the other. The main purpose of the modern-day marketing program should be to accumulate customer information by encouraging shoppers to introduce themselves. The main purpose of collecting customer information is, of course, the development of closer and more lucrative relations with individual customers. In order for these to happen, it is essential that the entity makes a reliable relationship with the customer and enables them to share their information easily. The purpose of this study is to reveal the role of intelligent markets in managing the relations with customers in chain hypermarkets. In this study, which is planned in this way, the road map which the enterprises will follow in order to have the ability to collect, edit, merge, integrate and distribute the customer information in real time to any individual or group within the scope of the operation is shown with examples. As a result, Chain Hypermarkets closely monitor their customers\u27 every move, no matter if they pay by card or cash to be part of a loyalty plan
RISING INTEREST RATES REDUCE INFLATION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY FOR THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA
Full text linkWhile different countries have different economic climate, a number of common factors have contributed to the increase in inflation: rising prices of energy, raw materials and food, the war in Ukraine, rising fuel prices. The rate of inflation in North Macedonia is at its highest level in recent history. This article aims to help us understand what rising inflation will mean in this low interest rate environment. This paper analyzes the current developments with growing inflation and makes a theoretical and empirical analysis of the interactions between interest rates and inflation in North Macedonia. In the theoretical part, the review of the literature revealed that some of the researchers established a unidirectional relationship between the inflation and the interest rate, and some a bidirectional relationship. In the empirical analysis, the daily data of the Central Bank od the Republic of North Macedonia for inflation and interest rates for the period 2006:01 – 2022:06 were used. Granger Causality Test was used to determine the relationship and its direction in the short term through VECM. As a result of the analysis, bilateral causality among variables was determined in the short term. In other words, inflation is a cause of interest rate and interest rate is a cause of inflation. An increase in interest rates reduces inflation. But, the main problem with using interest rates to control inflation are lags, because take time to affect inflation trends. Yet the NBRSM\u27s adherence to its inflation target can only be gauged with backward-looking inflation statistics. But, at this point, no one really knows how high interest rates might need to climb in order to get inflation back down without creating too much additional unemployment. The findings have practical policy implications for decision makers in the area of macroeconomic planning, particularly in North Macedonia
ANALYSIS OF DIGITALIZATION INDICATORS IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA
Full text linkDigitalization and digital transformation have a major impact on the sustainability and development of the economy and society. Digital technology is a fundamental force for change in this century, reshaping economies, government and civil society. It affects every aspect of the development of society. The need for digitalization became even more evident due to the KOVID-19 pandemic, because it pointed to the urgent need for mechanisms, tools and adapted regulation for a better organization and a fully functioning society. Different techniques are used to measure the level of digitalization: Digital Evolution Index (DEI), Networked ReadinessIndex (NRI), Digitization Index (DiGiX), Digital Intensity index (DII), Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), ICT Development Index (IDI), IMD World Competitiveness etc. Each of these indexes has different methodological approaches and contains different dimensions, indicators and sub indicators for measuring the level of digitalization. The main aim of this paper is to see if the digitalization index in Republic of North Macedonia can be measured and for which index. In this context, and based on existing data, digital indexes or individual indicators will be compared with some countries, as well as with some EU member states
DESIGN OF A FINANCIAL DATABASE FOR STORING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS’ DATA
Full text linkIn today’s highly competitive world, the pursuit of accurate, on-time, up-todate, and complete information has become a cornerstone of the business\u27s success. By gathering and organizing structured and relevant data, different by their nature, origin, volume, and scope, databases remain to be a valuable and trustworthy source of information in many areas. In the sphere of financial management, financial databases play a key role not only in evaluating the financial health of a business and in analyzing a business’s performance but also in research and financial modeling. The paper aims to propose a generic relational database design suitable for the acquisition of relevant data about financial statements of business subjects based on therelational data model and using the methodology of designing relational databases, including the first two phases: the conceptual and the logical design. The resulting relational database schema can be easily implemented in any relational database management system, whilst the physically implemented database can provide a solid platform for organizing, storing, processing, and retrieving valuable financial information using SQL scripts
BANKS’ BUSINESS MODEL AND THEIR PROFITABILITY. THE CASE OF THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA
Full text linkIn conditions of significant change in the financial markets and the environment, the analysis of banks business models is an important tool for better understanding of the risks to which banks are exposed in their operations. The comprehensive analysis of the business model shows how and in what way the bank operates, i.e. makes a profit in the short term.Also, this analysis gives a complete picture of how the bank will operate in the future under the influence of long-term strategic decisions of the bank and changes in the business environment. It is an indisputable fact that Macedonian banks apply traditional banking, with dominance of lending activity. With application of cluster analysis were identified two groups of banks with different strategies for business activities: banks that are more focused on corporate lending and banks that are more focused on household lending. Thereby, were used data for the period from 2010 to 2019 and on that basis was performed a comparative analysis of the performance. The analysis confirmed that banks that are more focused on household lending show better performance and lower risk. The analysis unequivocally showed that in addition to the traditional performance indicators (ROA and ROE, banks should increasingly use the RWA (Risk Weighted Assets) and RoRWA (Return on Risk Weighted Assets) indicators which incorporate the risk element, enabling more accurate measurement of their profitability. Significant changes in the business models of banks can be expected in the future, primarily due to the health crisis, which, among other things, accelerated the changes in digitalization initiated by the fintech industry
MACROECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF NONPERFORMING LOANS IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA
Full text linkOne of the main indicators of the banks’ financial performance is nonperforming loans. The level and dynamics of the non-performing loans mean facing the direct consequences of credit risk. Namely, the problem with the non-performing loans leads to greater restriction of the banks’ performance on the credit market, thus limiting investments and consumption, and threatening economic growth and even financial stability. Accordingly, to manage non-performing loans efficiently, it is crucial to analyze their determinants. The main objective of the study is to examine the macroeconomic determinants of non-performing loans in the Republic of North Macedonia for the period from 2006 to 2021. The study is based on a time series analysis of secondary data obtained from reports issued by relevant institutions, through the development of an Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, to investigate the dependence of non-performing loans to total loans ratio as a target variable on several macroeconomic variables/regressors such as GDP growth rate, inflation rate, unemployment rate, loans interest rate, exchange rate, and gross loans to GDP ratio. The results show that, in a long run, all the regressors have a statistically insignificant impact on the target variable; only the exchange rate negatively affects the target variable, whilst all other regressors have a positive impact on it
STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF E-COMMERCE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA
Full text linkIn the current study, we conduct a comparative analysis of the European Union countries and the Republic of North Macedonia in terms of the ecommerce development in the period 2010-2021. We identify the place of ecommerce as a key element of business digitalisation. We present the information sources of the indicators for characterising e-commerce and classify them as direct and indirect indicators based on their relation with the e-commerce development. We analyse and compare the dynamics of the indicators for the EU countries and theRepublic of North Macedonia by growth rates and their ratios. We apply an approach where, based on the level of the indicators in 2010 and the change over the period 2010-2021, the countries are classified into four groups – running ahead, lagging ahead, catching up and falling behind. We thus position countries in terms of their prospects for e-commerce development
THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON THE RETAIL FOOD BUSINESS
Full text linkAccelerated evolution and continuous improvement of digital technologies challenge retail companies to change and restructure their business models. Digitalization becomes a concept which transforms societies, economies and ways of doing business, including the retail food business. The research on transformation of retail companies due to the impact of digitalization is a relatively new issue. More and more retail companies are looking for ways to understand and use the opportunities of digital transformation. Despite the potential of digital transformation to generate significant economic benefits, many businesses do not undergo successful digital transformation. The main goal of the study is to interpret the impact of the digital transformation on the retail food business, considering the change in consumer behavior, and on this basis to derive the emerging dependencies. The method of single linear regression and correlation is used to measure the manifested dependencies. The highlighted method is applied using IBM SPSS Statistics (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Respondents in the survey are individuals from the 27 Member States of the European Union. The data for their budgets refers to the period 2016-2021. Eurostat is used as the main information source of data as a statistical service of the European Union. The obtained results allow revealing the impact of the digital transformation on the business models of food retailers, as well as on the change of consumer behavior in the process of ordering and buying food. In the study, the approach of focusing on the costs of individuals for online food purchases is of particular importance. It is this approach that determines the relevance of the study