The purpose of this paper is to determine how companies in the South-East European countries responded to the crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic and work from home challenges, and what could be done in the future to overcome obstacles of working remotely. Forced by the pandemic to change the working style, companies needed to find the best possible solutions to ensure a sufficient level of working activities. Since such a challenge was faced for the first time in modern human history, not many companies were prepared for it. A quantitative approach was taken, using an online survey for the research. The findings are discussed and presented with reference to the relevant theories. The study reveals and points out the main concerns and problems related to working separately from the rest of the organization. The study analyzes how certain factors of working remotely such as lack of traditional leadership, physical workspace, isolation, etc. affected the life and work of employees during the crisis. The study is novel as these were the circumstances we had not faced before. The paper contributes to a better understanding of all of the aspects of teleworking, with an emphasis on social isolation and working under lockdown.

The main research aim is to investigate and test the long-term existence of a balanced relationship (cointegration) between business demographics and economic growth, expressed in terms of real GDP per capita, and to estimate the econometric models expressing relationships between analyzed variables in European economy. Our The study has focused on ten out of the eleven former communist countries, currently members of the European Union, during the 2006–2016 time period. Croatia was left out due to the shortness of the time series available for it, that the study would have required. These findings have significant implications in designing and shaping the future business models in European former communist countries, and increase convergence. The results obtained confirm the existence of long-term balanced relationships between the variables examined, the forms of which however vary from one cluster of states to another.

Novel technologies are quickly reshaping the industrial environment as well as the labor market in what has been called The Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0. As digitalization and robotization quickly become industry standards in many fields of manufacturing, businesses, both big and small companies need to quickly adapt their strategies, workforce and operations to this new reality in order to remain competitive and relevant. Being able to adopt and integrate new technologies quickly will make the difference between being a trend setter or a follower in an increasingly more globalized and more digitalized economy. And there are not just the businesses that need to adapt to this rapid change. The workers themselves will be required to master new skills and be able to operate new machines quickly and proficiently or risk being replaced by one in the near future. This paper aims to look at the new, emerging technologies in the industrial sector, their rate of adoption and their impact on workers, production processes and businesses.

Although the European business environment induces important premises and assures conditions in determining economic growth and social well-being, the determinant and existent connections between the evolution of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), business demography characteristics and the European socio-economic model have been scarcely studied in recent years. The dimensions of the European socio-economic model design a very specific framework in developing business demography and assuring a favorable environment for future SME development. The main aim of the manuscript is to investigate the evolution of the European SMEs sector and the perspective of business demography evolution to converge with exigencies of the European socio-economic model. In order to argue the research objective, eight specific and representative business demography variables were employed, from 12 European Union member states (EU-MS), during 2009–2017. Further, the SMEs’ performances, determined by changing the economic functional paradigm, were assessed. For proving this, an econometric model was designed considering labor productivity as an endogenous variable. Our preliminary analysis shows considerable differences in business demography indicators and SMEs development among all five socio-economic sub-models of the main European socio-economic model, proving a tight connection between European socio-economic models and SMEs’ performance and arguing the necessity of a paradigm convergence. Within some sub-models, there is clear evidence of clustering and convergence in terms of business demography and SMEs future development.

The main aim of this study is to access possibilities of organic production of lavender in Serbia. As a result that 1999 and 2020 have been dubbed the "Year of Lavender" in the US, researchers and practitioners focused various aspects lavender production and cultivation. Lavender is an aromatic-medicinal plant, cultivated in Mediterranean region. The plants have used twofold: as an essential oil as well as a flower. In this study, the authors use a comparative analysis and feasibility study as research methods. The results of comparative analysis revealed that the main countries in organic production of lavender were Bulgaria, France, China, Ukraine, Spain and Morocco. Also, the feasibility study in Serbia showed positive effect on organic lavender production in Serbia. This can be the case study for organic production of lavender to other farmers in Serbia. The limitations and future research agenda will be presented, too.

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Do the ways managers lead and manage people in organisations differ from country to country? Do we have different management practice than managers in other European countries? What personal and professional values are perceived to be most important? This survey was completed by a total of two hundred managers of all levels. The main aim was to find out how management practice in Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina was different from management practice in more developed countries in Europe. Similar research had already been conducted by the European Management Association (EMA) in five European countries (Germany, Lithuania, Malta, Spain and the UK) and its findings have been used here, with permission, to establish a basis for comparison.

Despite the differences between Japanese and styles, both will have a huge impact on their national economies. In terms of cultural management styles will continue to present significant differences. Although nothing is certain, both Americans and Japanese must continue to adapt their management styles to maintain global competitiveness. In general, human resources, labor relations within organizations are mainly features that differentiate the Japanese management system of other countries, especially the US.