One of the most important questions faced by business leaders in the strategic management process is a choice of timing to launch new product/technologies and enter new markets. There are two options: to be a pioneer or to be a follower. Both have advantages and risks. Pioneers often have higher profitability, greater market share, and a longer business life, but the relative success of each strategy depends on several factors, both internal and external (pace of evolution of technology and markets)

The aims of this study are to determine which variables are common as brand management practices, how these variables affect a company's business performance, and whether there are statistically significant differences between companies in the sample in terms of individual elements of the Brand Management Practice (BMP) model. The research took place in Serbia, and comprised 118 managers and specialists involved in marketing and brand management. After validating the proposed BMP model, we found a link between certain variables of the model and companies' business performance. There are statistically significant differences between companies in terms of individual elements of brand management practice, and we identify three clusters: brand-guided companies, emerging brand companies, and brand-agnostic companies. They differ from each other in terms of: brand-oriented approach, innovativeness, brand support activities, unique marketing offers, marketing channel relationships, brand performance measurement, brand barriers, company size, and specific business area of a key-brand. They also differ according to estimated and actual business and financial performance. The results are valuable for explaining the main drivers of good brand management practice and their effects on business performance in different industry sectors. The implications for managers of domestic companies are also discussed.

Activity-based costing (ABC) provides an information basis for monitoring and controlling one of two possible sources of competitive advantage, low-cost production and lowcost distribution. On the basis of cost information about particular processes and activities, management may determine their contribution to the success of a company, and may decide to transfer certain processes and activities to another company. Accuracy of cost information is conditioned by finding an adequate relation between overhead costs and cost objects, identifying and tracing cost drivers and output measures of activities, and by monitoring cost behaviour of different levels of a product. Basic characteristics of the ABC approach, such as more accurate cost price accounting of objects, focusing on process and activity output (rather than only on resource consumption) and on understanding and interpretation of cost structure (rather than on cost measurement), enable managers to estimate and control future costs more reliably. Thus the ABC methodology provides a foundation for cost tracing, analysis, and management, which entails making quality and accurate operative and strategic decisions as a basis for the longterm orientation of a company. ABC is also complementary to the widely accepted technique of strategic planning and strategy implementation known as Balanced Scorecard (BSC)

We surveyed financial and general managers of 58 companies in Serbia in order to examine their views on the interactions between business and financial strategies. Although the theoretical views are well known and clear, in practice, when there is limited availability of funding sources, a meaningful combination of business and financial risk can be very difficult. We found moderate interactions between business and financial strategies. Managers of companies in Serbia are very aware of the fact that the high volatility of operating profit suggests that they should limit borrowing. However, ordinary practical problems in day-to-day operations, such as long periods of collection of accounts receivable, force the companies to take additional debt. There are significant differences between the views of managers of large companies and managers of small businesses on how business strategy dictates financial strategy. However, firm size is not relevant to the current level of debt, although earlier decisions on business strategy in terms of diversification and internationalization are relevant to the level of leverage. Somewhat surprisingly, the current level of debt does not affect the intended financial strategy in the sense of the managers? preferences to take additional debt to finance possible diversification and internationalization or other high-risk financially demanding business strategies. As the pecking order theory advocates, managers have a strong tendency towards internal financing.

Return), ROE (Return On Equity), ROA (Return On Assets) etc. are in use nowadays. In practice, managers cannot and do not want to apply all of these metrics and managers' choice does not necessarily rely on what theory emphasizes as their advantages and disadvantages. We surveyed 64 CFOs in order to explore the corporate practice in the Republic of Serbia. The DCF-based capital budgeting metrics are dominant compared to the traditional metrics, and the one that is used the most is the profi tability index, only to be followed by the IRR and the NPV. The Payback Period is yet frequently used. The earnings-based corporate performance metrics are still the most important. However, the presence of EVA and balanced scorecard is not negligible. Large companies use them signifi cantly more than small companies. The orientation towards EVA and balanced scorecard increases with the internationalization of a fi rm as well. Finally, companies using sophisticated capital budgeting metrics are prone to using sophisticated corporate performance metrics.