The digitization of production processes in the manufacturing sector represents a pivotal transformation that fundamentally reshapes how companies achieve productivity, make informed decisions, and secure a competitive advantage. This research investigates the integration of Industry 4.0 technologies—including the Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, 3D printing, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI)—within traditional manufacturing systems. The study focuses on three key dimensions driving digital transformation in manufacturing firms and examines their impact on digital platforms, which are increasingly critical for maintaining competitiveness in the digital age. The adoption of these platforms facilitates the seamless integration of Industry 4.0 technologies, thereby enhancing the growth potential and innovative capacity of manufacturing companies. This investigation involves a comprehensive analysis of data collected from 635 valid surveys across six countries—Serbia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria—using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings confirm the significant influence of positive employee attitudes toward digitization and the intention to utilize digital tools on the successful adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. These results underscore the necessity of fostering a culture that supports digital transformation, which, in turn, improves the efficiency and competitiveness of manufacturing firms. This study provides valuable insights into the future trajectory of digitization in the manufacturing sector, highlighting the essential role of digital platforms in the ongoing evolution of the industry.

Surging electricity demand, its limited supply, and the pandemic crisis are just some of the key factors that resulted in changes in electricity prices on the power exchanges. This topic brings about a notable economic influence on both producers and consumers. The main purpose of this paper is to explore power price volatility during the four-year period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2021, in 28 power exchanges in Europe, measured using daily velocity data. In addition, based on the fixed and chain base index numbers, as well as their relative merits, this paper was designed to measure the gap and convergence in trends. Considering that the price volatility varies depending on the observation period, this paper performs a comparative analysis of electricity price volatility on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual level for all examined countries. The obtained results indicate that electricity price volatility is higher on a daily basis. Related to this, convergent trends are demonstrated on all 28 observed markets, and there is a growing trend of hourly spot prices in the analyzed four-year period. The results of this paper also confirm a higher power price volatility during the pandemic period in 2020 and 2021 compared to the prepandemic period during 2018 and 2019.

In times of increasing awareness of sustainability and the need for efficient business processes, this study explores the integration of business process reengineering with circular economy principles within Serbian manufacturing organizations. Addressing the need for sustainable development, the research aims to propose and validate a model that harmonizes business process reengineering with the circular economy to improve environmental and organizational performance. The study conducted an extensive survey and analysis across 135 manufacturing organizations in Serbia, assessing their readiness and current practices in adopting circular economy strategies through business process reengineering, utilizing the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model. The findings reveal a moderate level of integration, with an average implementation score of 44.70% across surveyed organizations. Notably, organizations with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications demonstrated higher levels of model implementation. The study highlights the potential of integrating business process reengineering with circular economy principles as a path to sustainable manufacturing. It also highlights the need for targeted strategies to improve management commitment, resource allocation, and participation in sustainable practices. The research contributes valuable insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and academic discourse, advocating for a more systematic approach to embedding circular economy principles within organizational processes for a sustainable future.

With the rapid rise of instability in the global economy and more intensive depletion of resources, there is a need to adopt a new economic model that is becoming a business imperative. In order to improve resource performance, many companies have taken action to find ways to reuse products or their components and restore inputs of production, materials, energy and labour. Many companies today have begun to use the principles of the circular economy to create products that are more durable, easy to reuse or recycle, and more profitable. Having in mind that the textile industry is one of the most environmentally harmful industries, the purpose of this paper is to point out the advantages that the transformation of the traditional (linear) production model into a circular model of industrial activities has for increasing the environmental sustainability of this industry.

Agreed upon by the United Nations, the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out a framework to tackle the world's most pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges in the lead-up to 2030. They provide a network to support business in managing risks and identifying market opportunities. The Sustainable Development Goals have the potential to accelerate innovation and economic growth. However, the ambitious goals will require new models of collaboration between companies, sectors, countries, and regions. The special attention in this paper is given to the analysis of the achieved results in the Western Balkan countries in 2018 measured by the composite indicator such as Sustainable Development Goals Index. The basic research question in the research is: Are all the Western Balkans countries lagging behind the average of the region Eastern Europe and Central Asia in achieving the sustainable development goals?

One of the ways to achieve economic, environmental, and social sustainability in agriculture is to introduce digitalization in the production process or its digital transformation. The primary research objective in this paper is to obtain empirical knowledge about the various economic aspects of investing in digitalization in Serbian agriculture. The research relies on interviews conducted in the period April-October 2023 using a semi-structured questionnaire, covering a sample of 53 agricultural holdings on the entire territory of Serbia. The results show that the interviewed farm managers do not show a high degree of satisfaction with the achieved level of digitalization on the farms they manage. Nevertheless, based on the analysis of economic parameters of investment in digital solutions (return on investment period, perceived benefits, costs, investment limitations, financial support), the largest percentage of respondents (56.6%) intends to intensify investments in digitalization on their farm in the next period.