As one of the most interactive economic activities, tourism has improved significantly since the Internet allowed customers (travelers) to look for and create their trips without the need to go to a travel agency. Through the development of Internet marketing, tourists are able to receive information in real-time and view them on the screens of their devices (computers, laptops, mobile phones or tablets), and consequently they can create their own content and share it with others. Due to this development, we are witnessing a new phenomenon, so-called app capitalism, in which companies like Uber and Airbnb make money on services and goods they do not own and finding new business models in the tourism sector which enable customer-to-customer models. To be able to respond to these changes, the tourism industry needs to bring together knowledge, money, and technology for the purpose of creating new business models. The development of technology in all social spheres, including tourism, has provided a strong tool for consumers in terms of both acquiring and disclosing information to others. One of the rapidly growing technologies which is also one of the cutting-edge technologies entering tourism is blockchain. Blockchain technology captured worldwide attention in 2017 and its implementation has been revolutionizing various industries (e.g., retail, healthcare, tourism). The aim of this paper is to analyze the potential of the tourism industry in terms of blockchain implementation. Blockchain technology provides significant benefits to the tourism industry since its implementation can help increase competitive advantage, improve customer satisfaction and enhance performance. In this paper, the authors present the current situation in the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Macedonia regarding the use of blockchain technology in the tourism industry. The main findings of this paper comprise the detection of key areas regarding why blockchain technology is not implemented in the tourist industry, and what processes should be handled. By presenting a case study of the implementation of blockchain technology in tourism, the authors analyze the potential of using blockchain technology in the tourism industry and discuss topics for further research.

The primary purpose of the supply chains is to ensure and secure the availability and smooth flow of the necessary resources for efficient production processes and consumption. Supply chain activities have been experiencing significant changes due to the importance and creation of the integrated process. Blockchain is viewed as an innovative tool for transforming supply chain management’s (SCM’s) actual business model; on the other hand, the SCM provides an applicative value of blockchain technology. The research is focused on examining the influence of blockchain technology on the increasing efficiency, transparency, auditability, traceability, and security issues of the food supply chain (FSC), with particular attention to the local food supply chain (LFSC). The main objective of the research is to suggest the implementation of blockchain technology in the local food supply chain as a niche of the food industry. The result of the research is the identification of a three-layers model of a smart local food supply chain. The model provides efficient and more transparent tracking across the local food supply chain, improving food accessibility, traceability, and safety.

This paper aims to discuss the notion of silver entrepreneurship in the context of the silver economy. Policy-wise knowing who silver entrepreneurs are and what it takes to support them is an essential step to productively managing the ageing population and promoting an age-ready but age-friendly approach to creating a sustainable economy and society in the new demographic reality. The paper provides a theoretical and empirical literature review of silver entrepreneurship to identify the current state of the art. It also identifies selected policies and strategies aiming to foster silver entrepreneurship, representing a more inclusive and age-diverse entrepreneurial landscape. The silver entrepreneurship proves to be a challenging research field due to the elusive nature of entrepreneurship itself and the lack of universal definitions for this phenomenon.

Research background: Foreign direct investment is perceived as a valuable tool for economic growth. The growth could be realized more or less as a set of benefits depending on the FDIs features. In the period from 2009 to 2016 a remarkable increase in the share of FDIs inflow in automotive sector in Macedonian economy was noticed, from 2.8% to 14.1%. Thus, there seem to be good reasons to examine the issue of how the increased FDI inflow expressed through the remarkable in-crease of FDIs inflow in the automotive sector. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to analyze the causality between the increased FDIs inflow in the automotive industry and a remarkable export growth. The research interest of the study is to recognize the importance of the FDIs inflow structure as a determinant of the export structure. Methods: Within the paper a model is developed that identifies the FDIs as a factor of growth of the export performances. A regression analysis is used to examine the correlation between the FDIs inflow and export. In order to examine causality, the Granger causality test is applied between the FDIs inflow and increased export. Findings & Value added: The results suggest that FDIs create a good basis for quantitative and qualitative shift in the export structure of the Macedonian economy. The paper associates growth of sectoral export with the growth of FDIs in that sector. Due to the increased FDI inflow in the automotive industry, this sector has significantly increased its share in the total Macedonian export. The paper indicates that FDIs can be considered as a way of engagement in the global supplying chains, which additionally influences positively the competitiveness and export performance of the host suppliers.

Foreign Direct Investments - FDIs are recognized in the economics literature as one of the vital determinants of economic growth. A particular interest of any host economy is to reach the employment effect of the FDIs. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the relationship between the inflow of the FDIs and the unemployment rate in the case of the former Yugoslav republics and to identify whether and how the new economies have benefited from the FDI inflow. The paper develops a model identifying the FDI as a determinant of the unemployment rate. A regression analysis is used to examine the correlation between the FDI inflow and the unemployment rate over the period of 30 years. The results show differences in FDIs inflow and huge individual variations in the unemployment rate in each country.

As an innovative technology, artificial intelligence (AI) leads to disruption and automation of almost every process and business model in almost any industry today. AI contributes to the process of disintermediation of value chains resulting in shrinking the producer-customer links. The chapter examines the influence of AI on disintermediation in the tourism industry. It investigates the changes and transformation of the value creation process and marketing in the tourism industry affected by AI technology. AI could transform and revolutionize every segment of the tourism industry. Thus, it can make tourism more efficient, with new value-added customer services. AI is considered an enabling tool for the creation of the so-called “smart tourism” as a new age of tourism development. As a digital tool, AI enables the tourism industry to get insight into the customer, understand tourist profiles and provide consumers with personalized and niche travel experiences.