Background: The use of smart technology in grape and wine production in Serbia in the current economic conditions represents a significant segment of the further development of grape and wine production. The use of smart technology in grape and wine production in Serbia could help and contribute to production in every sense. Unfortunately, the application of new technologies is still limited to individuals. Purpose: Despite all the unknowns, some farmers are ready to implement this type of production. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to familiarize the interested public with smart technologies in grape and wine production. The authors want to emphasize that this type of production has a future and that it can be developed further. Study design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the authors used their own research conducted through surveys with winegrowers and winemakers in 2019 and 2023, which relates to the application of smart technologies. In other words, the authors tried to find an answer whether the application of precision technologies has a future. Findings/conclusions: The application of new technologies in agriculture has great potential that can improve grape and wine production. We believe that Serbian grape and wine producers should be more active and involved in projects that imply the application of new technologies. On the other hand, the state could significantly contribute to facilitating the application of these technologies. Limitations/future research: A possible limitation for the application of this manuscript, according to the authors, is the lack of information about the benefits and real possibilities of (smart) technologies among grape and wine producers. A major problem in the implementation of this production may be ignorance of its benefits and insufficient state support in providing subsidies.

Background: Modern information and communication technologies, artificial intelligence, the Internet, and the process of globalization have led to the replacement of traditional consumer behavior patterns and decision-making styles with new ones, characteristic of life in the era of technological revolution. The exponential growth of online shopping indicates that contemporary consumers are willing to embrace innovations brought about by these processes. Moreover, it is evident that the affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions of consumer behavior are also changing under these new circumstances. Therefore, modern marketing research requires the obligatory analysis of psychological traits, especially of online consumers, in order to successfully manage customer relationships. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore whether and how psychological traits-such as depression, anxiety, stress, extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness-influence consumer decision-making styles and compulsive online buying. Furthermore, the authors seek to determine whether knowledge and understanding of decision-making styles represent an opportunity or a challenge for strategic management within organizations. Study design/methodology/approach: A theoretical review of the available literature indicates a connection between psychological traits and consumer decision-making styles. Accordingly, an empirical study was conducted using a survey method on a randomly selected sample of 377 respondents. A specially designed questionnaire, comprising 14 questions divided into four thematic sections, was used for data collection. The empirical data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient, multiple regression analysis, and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Findings/conclusions: The results of the study show that psychological traits such as extraversion, neuroticism, innovativeness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience, as well as emotional disturbances (stress, anxiety, and depression), have a statistically significant impact on consumer decision-making styles. Limitations/future research: The main limitation of this research lies in the absence of a universal model encompassing all relevant psychological factors that influence consumer behavior and that would allow for adequate quantification of such influences. Future research will focus on psychographic market segmentation and the application of nonlinear statistical models and machine learning methods.

Background: Mobile payments represent a rapidly growing method of performing financial transactions, primarily due to the widespread use of smartphones and related technologies. Despite their numerous benefits, the global acceptance of mobile payments remains inconsistent, particularly in developing countries. Purpose: This study aims to examine factors influencing the intention to accept and use mobile payment systems among consumers in Central Serbia. The research model is based on the UTAUT2 framework, extended by perceived trust and perceived risk. Study design/methodology/approach: A quantitative research approach was employed, using a structured questionnaire distributed to 845 potential respondents, of which 239 valid responses were obtained. Data were analyzed using SPSS with descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regression analyses to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings/conclusions: The study reveals that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, price value, habits, perceived trust, and perceived risk significantly influence behavioral intention to use mobile payments. Moreover, habits, behavioral intention, and facilitating conditions also significantly influence actual use behavior. Social influence and hedonic motivation were found to have no significant impact on behavioral intention. Additionally, perceived trust significantly reduces perceived risk, highlighting the interplay between these two constructs in user behavior. The model explains 72% of the variance in behavioral intention and 45.5% in use behavior. Limitations/future research: The study is limited to Central Serbia, with a modest sample size and overrepresentation of older respondents. Future research should include broader geographic coverage and examine the moderating roles of gender and age on mobile payment adoption.

Background: Whatever product we buy today, we should all take sustainability into account. This applies to everyday consumer goods, the use of environmentally friendly materials, and the field of transportation. A wide range of mobility options is available to meet modern transportation demands, and the steady increase in the number of vehicles used for daily travel has become clear in recent years. The increasing diversification of mobility needs has made car ownership - typically at least one vehicle per household - nearly indispensable. Increased traffic and the ever-increasing number of vehicles are also a threat to our environment. In addition to noise pollution, air pollution has worsened in recent decades largely because of the continuous emission of carbon dioxide from transportation. If all transport vehicles were electrically powered, urban noise and air pollution would be significantly reduced, thereby contributing to sustainability and enhancing the overall liveability of cities. However, the uptake of electric cars remains challenging due to the trade-offs involved, and there is ongoing debate regarding the extent to which they contribute to cleaner transportation. Purpose: This paper aims to examine consumer segments from the dataset of a previously conducted online survey, based on their attribute preferences related to electric vehicle purchasing decisions. Study design/methodology/approach: In an online questionnaire survey conducted in February 2023, we collected responses from 206 participants. Their answers enabled us to apply conjoint analysis to determine the characteristics of the ideal electric vehicle. The present study aims to identify which electric vehicle attributes are considered most important in the purchase decision-making process across different consumer groups. To achieve this, we segmented the respondents into well-defined groups, examined their preferences, and estimated the utility values associated with each sub-attribute level. Findings/conclusions: During the segmentation process, three distinct consumer groups were identified: "City Comforters", "Long Haul Luxers" and "Eco Hatch Explorers". Although their preferences vary in relative weight, all three segments prioritize price, driving range, and vehicle design when considering the purchase of an electric vehicle. The analysis also presents the relative importance of attribute levels within each group. Limitations/future research: The vast majority of respondents to the online questionnaire underlying this study were individuals with a pre-existing interest in automobiles and driving. While this target group provided valuable insights, more robust and generalizable findings could be obtained through a larger and more demographically diverse sample. Additionally, analyzing the demographic background of the identified segments could yield further meaningful insights and is therefore recommended as a promising avenue for future research. A further methodological limitation is that the applied model does not account for noncompensatory decision rules - situations in which a respondent considers one attribute so essential that it overrides all other considerations. In such cases, a respondent will consistently choose the same attribute level regardless of the trade-offs. To better accommodate this type of decision-making behavior, future studies may benefit from applying the Adaptive Choice Based Conjoint method.

Background: The beginning of the new millennium brings the emergence of several different trends in the industry. The development of information and communication technologies causes changes in consumers' lifestyles, which requires implementing an omnichannel sales strategy. Increasing competition and market concentration create a need to develop innovative business models for leading retail chains. More than just the traditional marketing mix elements need to be present to achieve the desired business results. Creating "own branded products" appears to be an essential goal of companies in the retail trade. Purpose: The paper aims to determine whether one of the decisive motives for using "Private label," the achievement of a higher level of profit, is stated while ensuring a better negotiating position for the company in modern marketing channels. Study design/methodology/approach: The paper compares the business results before and after using "private label" items within the range of the observed companies by calculating the gross and net profit margins. The optimal solution of the business models is reached using linear programming methods, which will maximize retail companies' overall profitability. Findings/conclusions: The results of empirical research showed that the company increased its realized profit by introducing the three "Private label" products. Thus, the initial hypothesis that the introduction of a private trademark improves the overall level of profit is verified. Limitations/future research: This research's limitations are caused by the fact that it was conducted in one market. The general validity of the conclusions should be tested in other geographic areas and markets of other product categories.

Background: The significance of this study arises from the increasing complexity of managing insurance products, driven by the need to accurately model and predict the occurrence of insured events and associated risks. These processes are relevant not only to life insurance companies but to any institution offering personal insurance and supplementary coverages, such as banks, brokerage firms, and others. Existing literature highlights extensive possibilities for the application of stochastic processes in various fields, including finance, biology, and environmental engineering, with notable applicability in insurance. Purpose: This article aims to explore the application of stochastic models in the decision-making processes for managing insurance products. Specifically, it focuses on the development and utilization of multi-state models for pricing selected insurance products and analysing the impact of parameter changes on the amount of regular net premium. Study design/methodology/approach: We start with the traditional 'Healthy-Dead' model, which we extend to include the 'Sick' state. By restricting the transition from this state to the 'Healthy' state, we obtain a three-state 'Healthy-Sick-Dead' model for incurable critical illness. This is a non-homogeneous Markov process characterized by the respective transition probabilities. Actuarial calculations of transition probabilities are based on specific statistical data from an unnamed insurance company. The resulting regular net premium represents the real (net) price of the supplementary insurance product for incurable critical illness. Findings/conclusions: The main findings suggest that incorporating stochastic models into the creation and management of insurance products allows for more accurate predictions of insured events and better risk assessment. The introduced three-state model provides a robust framework for pricing supplementary insurance due to incurable critical illness. The analysis demonstrates how changes in transition probabilities affect the amount of net premium, underscoring the importance of precise parameter estimation. Limitations/future research: The study's limitations include reliance on accurate historical data, which may not fully capture future trends and changes in health outcomes, as experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. Future research should explore the integration of a larger amount of real data and advanced computational methods for their processing. Additionally, extending the model to include the 'recovery' transition would enhance its applicability for 'all' types of critical illnesses. The creation of such an insurance product would, however, assume the availability of a large amount of high-quality data (Schmidt, 2021).

Background: In recent years, research efforts have focused on understanding virtual environments and the importance of collaboration in such environments. The spread of remote working, exacerbated by the global pandemic and changing workforce dynamics, has meant that organizations are increasingly reliant on dispersed teams. Building trust in virtual teams is paramount to fostering effective collaboration, and achieving common goals. Trust reduces uncertainty, promotes collaboration and facilitates open communication between team members. Building trust in virtual contexts is challenging due to limited face-to-face interactions. In addition, knowledge sharing plays a crucial role in improving team effectiveness by enabling information sharing and problem solving. The lack of physical proximity in virtual environments is a barrier to spontaneous knowledge sharing and highlights the critical need for a culture that encourages knowledge sharing. Methodology: This study highlights the importance of cultivating a supportive virtual environment, ensuring psychological safety and utilizing technical platforms to facilitate information sharing. Quantitative data and survey methods are used to explore the integral impact of trust, knowledge sharing, collaboration, and team effectiveness. Findings and Conclusions: The results of this study contribute to the existing literature on virtual teamwork by highlighting techniques and practices that improve team performance. The finding that trust and information sharing play a central role in virtual teams can help organizations develop effective virtual work policies, design appropriate training programs, and select suitable collaboration platforms. Limitations and Future Research: While the study provides valuable insights, the generalizability of the findings to other contexts is limited by the restriction to a single sample. Replicating the study in different organizational contexts would improve the robustness of the results. Furthermore, the cross-sectional nature of the study limits the possibility of proving causality. Future research efforts could use longitudinal studies to examine the complex relationships between trust, teamwork, collaboration, and knowledge sharing over time.

As we have underscored on several occasions in previous Chapters, the survival and the success of the firm are connected on the one hand to the ability to effectively and efficiently achieve the current strategic model and, on the other, to the ability to interpret the environmental dynamics and to design and achieve a strategic model for the future different from the current one. 1

Background: The paper examines banking service quality perceived by students as a basis for determining implications for green services. The focus was on this market segment bearing in mind its potential effects on banks' long-term profitability and students' acquaintance with environmental issues. The attention was dedicated to the green banking concept taking into account the role which banks have in creating an eco-friendly society. Purpose: The aim of the research refers to identifying banking service quality aspects that are important for students. Later, those can be used as a starting point in determining actions regarding green services in the case of the student population. Study design/methodology/approach: The quality of a bank service was modeled as a hierarchical reflective-formative construct, because of which the SmartPLS software was applied. Five SERVQUAL dimensions (assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and tangibles) were specified as lower-order reflective constructs which form the higher-order formative construct (banking service quality). After testing the model, separately for reflective and formative constructs, path coefficients were presented. Finding/conclusions: The results have shown that responsiveness and assurance represent dimensions that have the largest contribution to banking service quality, i.e. the highest path coefficients to higher-order construct. In accordance with those findings, certain implications concerning green services were given. Limitations/future research: The omission of certain variables that may be related to banking services represents the limitation of this study; hereby, in future researches, some socio-demographic characteristics (such as gender, household income, etc.) could be included in the analysis.

Background: The research on boards' strategic involvement has increased dramatically in the last few decades due to the need for improving boards' strategic effectiveness as a mechanism for improving organizational performance. The corporate scandals highlighted even more that boards' strategic decisions have sizable consequences for organizational survival, and long-term implications for organizational development. Purpose: The main research questions in this study are: 1. Which are the main elements of the concept of boards' strategic involvement?; 2. Which models constitute the core of the concept and how we can classify them?; 3. How has the discourse on boards' strategic role changed over time? Our purpose is to provide comprehensive answers to these questions and draft the future research agenda in this area. Study design/methodology/approach: Having in mind that boards' strategic involvement is a multi-disciplinary area, we first conducted an integrative literature review, to detect the competing groups of models, and afterwards we conducted a semi-structured literature review in order to identify the most important topics in this area and to draft the future research agenda. Findings/conclusions: This paper contributes to research by identifying the models of boards' strategic involvement, classifying them in three competing groups of models that represent the foundation in this research area, by identifying the most investigated topics in the past five years and finally, by drafting the future research agenda. Our conclusion is that the research in this multidisciplinary area is navigating around these three groups of models and that the most explored topics around which the future research is going to be conducted are boards' involvement in the area of strategic human resource management and decisions regarding organizations' sustainability. Limitations/future research: The study's main limitations are related to the fact that the identified models on boards' strategic involvement have been developed, mostly by authors from the USA and UK, where the one-tier board system is used. In future research, the authors should focus on proposing new framework(s)/model(s) and supporting its insights with empirical evidence.