In recent years, the information and communication technology (ICT) sector has recorded rapid growth and development and is the driving force of the Croatian economy. At the same time, this sector is characterized by fast and dynamic changes which in the demanding business environment requires an immediate and adequate response, so the question of how organizational changes affect change management in ICT sector in the Republic of Croatia arises. To answer this question, empirical research was conducted. The research sample is structured according to data collected from 103 experts in Croatian ICT sector. It offers sufficient elements to establish a quality methodological framework to monitor the impact of organizational change on change management in this sector. This empirical research offered evidence on the possibility of using the ADKAR model of change management in analysis of need for change, implementation, and monitoring of the course of change in ICT organizations. The research results point to the conclusion that organizational change presented through ADKAR model has an impact on change management and is of key importance for ICT organizations. This paper contributes to a better understanding of organizational change and its significance for change management in Croatian ICT organizations.

In the era of the digital revolution, organizations are surrounded by disruptive technologies and find themselves constantly in the middle of change processes. In recent years, blockchain technology has evolved tremendously, and in the future, it may fundamentally influence and change the finance and accounting domain of the early 21^st century. Originally the blockchain technology was created only as technology to introduce the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, however by now the blockchain is considered by experts as a major innovation beyond its initial scope. In light of these changing circumstances, innovative opportunities, as well as new challenges, arise. This creates many questions and academic debates among researchers all over the globe as to which business models and functions in the financial sector may become obsolete or where to streamline and enhance processes through blockchain applications. The paper addresses the research question to what extent the blockchain technology is capable of changing well-known business processes and finance functions within companies. In doing so, it shows the opportunities and challenges, which are based on an extensive literature-review by the authors. The paper presents current use cases on market and finishes with an outlook on the future potential of blockchain.

Total cost of sourcing is receiving significant attention from firms in general and purchasing managers in particular. Academic research on lean and six sigma programs has evolved rapidly in the last decade. This study focuses on uncovering most effective sourcing initiatives, which aim to decrease total costs addressing quality issues and Supplier Costs of Poor Quality (SCOPQ). This research aims to update the literature on supply chain management by analysing and verifying the proposed Six Sigma framework through a case study. A case study focused on a set of interviews with practitioners based on a firm located in Germany was used that generates uncaptured insights in previous research of this area. The results of the paper highlight the relevance of building cross-functional teams for achieving continuous improvement and implementing suitable, proven, and appropriated tools. Whereas lean is preferred for scopes as part of processes with few interfaces and medium grade of difficulty, Six Sigma is the most suitable methodology for scopes with a high grade of difficulty or problems involving cross-functional processes. SCOPQ is defined as the costs associated with defects and deficiencies originated by suppliers. For instance, they could include the costs for supplier-related incidents like shortages or failure-related costs, production stop costs, rework costs, complaints, etc. This research not only validates the proposed framework through an in-firm case study, but also confirms the relevance of mitigating and avoiding biases, recommends standardizing processes and texts templates, and the regularly training of the employees involved. Besides of the main goal of investigating Six Sigma's role in reducing quality costs, research results demonstrate the advantage of standardized multilingual texts for the complaint process of global players. The study indentified the influence of English collocations into the complaint process because of the majority of the specialized literature is written in English.

This study aims to prove the effect of inflation and corporate social responsibility on stock returns with profitability as an intervening variable in mining listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The population of this study is 47 mining sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI). The sampling technique uses a purposive sampling method which has certain criteria in taking samples that have an annual financial report 2017-2019, in order to obtain 22 companies. mining sector is listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). The method of this research uses analysis of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on variance, namely Partial Least Square (PLS). SEM with variance-based PLS so that it can handle two conditions, namely conditions with undetermined factors and conditions where the solution cannot be accepted. This study uses a computer program from smart PLS 3.2 which is to determine which variables are significant to stock returns in mining listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2017-2019 period. The results of this research show that: (1) inflation has a significant effect to stock returns; (2) inflation has a significant impact on profitability; (3) corporate social responsibility has a major impact on stock returns; (4) corporate social responsibility has a significant impact on profitability; (5) profitability has a significant impact on stock returns.

The study was carried out to examine the level of awareness on financial instruments and familiarization with any other financial instruments apart from the Letter of Credit (L/C) and Bank Guarantee (BG). Furthermore, it examined the impacts of COVID-19 on business working capital and the level of readiness of the business to take advantage of financial instruments when fully innovated and globally acceptable. The study used primary data obtained through experience, observation, and opinion sampling from thirty businesses in Nigeria with a digital market presence. Data were analyzed using a descriptive statistical method of measures of frequency. From the study, an average respondent is aware of financial instruments application for financing their business working capital. However, very few are familiar with other financial instruments apart from L/C and BG. Unarguably, COVID-19 has impacted business working capital and many respondents are willing to take advantage of financial instruments when fully innovated and globally acceptable based on the principle of good faith amongst all actors in the GVCs trades. The recommendations include the need to embrace the Global Registry of Financial Instruments (GRoFI) and encourage in-country and regional domestication by the Central Banks and Multilateral Development Banks. Furthermore, the global and national leaders may embrace the Multilateral Committee on Financial Instruments (MultiCoFI) to work out the fine details to innovate financial instruments facilitating trade for development.

The stakeholder pressure is one of the institutional pressures, in this regard, organizations have their internal characteristics to match the expectations of key stakeholders in the environment. In the present study, the effect of stakeholder’s pressure on firm performance was examined considering the moderating role of the perceived economic crisis. To investigate relationships, 208 questionnaires were collected from firms listed in the Tehran stock exchange. Structural equation modeling and PLS software were used to investigate the relationships. The results of this study showed that stakeholder’s pressure has a positive effect on firm performance, and perceived economic crisis reduces firm performance, and when firms believe to more likely to be in crisis, the positive effect of stakeholder’s pressure on firm performance was decreased.

Board of directors are considered as an important proxy of corporate governance mechanism. Corporate governance plays a significant role in the development structure of stock market and businesses growth. In Gulf Cooperation Council region Oman is the first country to developed and adopt corporate governance mechanism. Oman holds a prominent position in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Omani economy basically depends on oil, gas and services sector. Due to oil crisis from 2015, Oman economy witnessed many challenges like rise in oil prices, unemployment and unfavorable balance of payment. On the other hand, the country encountered unfavorable debt level of the companies that made business companies unable to repay their loans. Therefore, this study proposes to explore conceptual model on the effect of board size, board composition and board tenure toward companies leverage. Though corporate governance mechanism is strong in developed countries, but the concept is still developing and progressing in Oman. Due to the current situation of Oman this study incorporates important proxies of corporate governance namely board structure, board composition and board tenure. Since the extensive research on corporate governance has been conducted but this relationship still not clearly established in developing countries specifically in context of Oman. Thus, this study provides a better and clear understanding on how the board size, board composition and board tenure impact and change capital leverage. In order to carry out this research, this study intended to collect secondary data from annual reports of listed companies at Muscat Securities Market. The discussions suggest the government and regulatory bodies’ that have strong corporate governance implication and practices may reduce the debt burden of the companies. The high proportion of leverage in capital structure may threaten the companies to bankruptcy or create negative image of firm in the financial market.

Financial innovations are an invaluable element in the framework of knowledge economy. FinTech has already become a must-have for most countries in the world. These innovations represent a reformative element of the current banking activity, as well as a new innovative business model. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development level of these innovations on the market in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. This study attempts to appreciation to which extent the economies of these countries are ready to face the challenges, which the tendencies and opportunities of the banks are in order to embrace the latest technologies and to evaluate the impact of the latest financial technologies on the banking sector in the Republic of Moldova.

The supplier selection process has become an important area of research and professional activity, and it is fundamental to understand the types and trends of research in this field. The appropriate supplier selection decision is a fundamental strategic process and plays an important role in supply chain management. In the last decade, academic research on sustainability has evolved rapidly in the supply chain literature. However, there has been scant opportunity for the research community to complete a global assessment of sustainable supplier selection activities to date. This paper seeks to address this need by exploring sustainability in supply chain management, developing a sustainable supplier selection framework with a tool for its operationalization to help managers evaluate supplier selection decisions. Our proposed model is based on the TOPSIS concept as a multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) model and is validated through a case study. This research work follows the best-in-class approach to comply with all applicable environmental regulations and laws in the supplier selection process.

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the impact of technological, economic and social indicators on productivity and competitiveness through the HARD Matrix method, proposed by the European Commission. The level of economic development of different countries, as well as the degree of diversification and specialization of their world production, determines the degree of integration of national economies in the world economy that differs considerably by country and group of countries. The expansion and amplification of the internationalization process have substantially changed the place and role of each state in the world economy. Due to this process, today's world economy is no longer a simple sum of economies put in contact, but a global-universal system, unitary through the interrelationships between the component subsystems and its extremely heterogeneous structure. In the twenty first-century, the process of amplifying innovation, the net economy, and the Covid 19 pandemic have shaped new trends in the world countries and determined the balance of power between the three great empires of the world – the United States, the European Union, and China. At the same time, there are no similar links between the United States, the European Union and China, they do not share the same culture, do not share the same geographic space, and do not use the same models of economic development, but all of them consider innovation, sophisticated business, technology, safe tools in promoting economic growth and competitiveness.