Purpose: According to ISO 9000:2015 “the primary focus of quality management is to meet customer requirements and to strive to exceed customer expectations”, where “a customer can be internal or external to the organization”. Internal customers refer to a company’s employees, while external customers are the buyers of a company’s products and services. Previous research has scrutinised the impact of ISO 9001 on company performance, without clear focus on the performance related to internal and external customers. Methodology/Approach: The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of ISO 9001 on the performance to internal and external customers using a survey that has been responded by 141 companies in the Republic of Serbia. Findings: The results show that quality management system (QMS) certification to ISO 9001 enhances employee- and customer-related company performance, while certification incentives are found to influence this relationship. Research Limitation/Implication: The data are gathered in only one specific country, although there are no reasons to think that the results could depend of the specific analysed region. Originality/Value of paper: The main value of the article is to be one of the first ones to analyse, in any way, the impact of QMS on internal and external customers.

Digital labour platforms provide lower barrier access to employment and income generation for all, having a great potential to create almost equal opportunities for persons with different forms of disabilities to engage in the labour market while contributing to their inclusive employment. However, to be able to provide adequate services to their distant employers, remote workers must possess a sufficient level of digital competences, skills and knowledge. Accordingly, the paper seeks to assess the level of digital competences of persons with disabilities in Serbia and to establish whether there are any gender-related differences in that regard. The results obtained aim to identify the gap between the existing and required competences for starting an entrepreneurial venture or finding a job using freelance platforms. The paper’s main contribution reflects the fact that digital competences of persons with disabilities in Serbia in the context of their self-employment are a topic insufficiently explored in the existing literature.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the innovation performance of Serbian family firms, the differences in the innovation performance between family and non-family firms as well as different family firms, and the relationship between business process innovation and customer satisfaction among family firms.Design/methodology/approach: The sample consists of 207 valid responses from young Serbian companies from various industries founded in 2015 that published their financial statements in 2017. The statistical analysis involved descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, and correlation analysis.Findings: The study results indicate that family businesses in Serbia are innovation-oriented and that they introduced a number of innovations in business processes related to the production and distribution of goods or services and the development of products and business processes. The results also suggest that family and non-family firms are equally committed to introducing innovations in business processes. In addition, the study did not confirm significant differences in the performance of business process innovations among family firms in the manufacturing, trade, and service sectors. Finally, the results demonstrate that introducing business process innovations is positively associated with customer satisfaction and customer retention rate in Serbian family firms.Originality/value: This paper presents the first comprehensive analysis of the innovation performance of Serbian family firms and can help policymakers assess the contribution of innovation to economic goals.

The COVID-19 virus pandemic appeared to be a low-probability, high-impact event that has caused significant disruptions in supply chains worldwide. The hotel industry has been one of the most severely affected, with all participants in the supply chain suffering from the crisis. This paper aims to analyze if, and to what extent, hotels in the Republic of Serbia have faced difficulties in supply chain management (SCM) due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, with special reference to the difficulties in introducing information and communications technologies (ICTs) for SCM. Empirical research was conducted in May, 2021 involving managers from 40 hotel companies categorised as 4-and 5-star. The study results reveal that majority of hotel companies have experienced difficulties in SCM and implementation of ICTs for SCM due to the pandemic, while the intensity of difficulties is not found to be correlated with hotel size, category and affiliation.

We aimed to assess the efficiency of the selected national innovation policy programs in the Republic of Serbia. We analyzed the impact of the Innovation Fund’s Mini-Grants and Matching Grants programs on the operating revenue growth of beneficiary micro, small, and medium enterprises. An econometric analysis of panel data was conducted. Because of the small number of periods observed, a model of individual effects was applied. Conclusions and recommendations were based on the results of random effects models. The findings indicate that program funding increased business revenues compared to the period before and that there was a direct link between indebtedness and revenue growth, which confirmed the positive impact of financing on the sustainable development prospects of beneficiaries through facilitating access to funding and innovation capacity improvement. These findings can have important policy implications as they provide guidelines for designing future actions and empirically confirm the need to increase public expenditures for innovation policy.

Purpose: This paper analyses the role of intellectual capital (IC) as a factor of the financial performance of entrepreneurial firms, which are recognized as the main drivers of economic growth and employment.Design/methodology/approach: The sample consists of 188 business owners from Serbia. The primary data are collected using the questionnaire, while the secondary data come from the annual financial statements of their companies. The elements of IC as independent variables are grouped into three components: human, structural and relational capital; sales revenue and operating profit CAGR (5y) are used as dependent variables, while company size and industry type are used as control variables. Statistical analysis involves factor and regression analyses.Findings: The results reveal that IC components contribute to the long-term financial performance of entrepreneurial firms. Specifically, the following elements have positive effects on financial performance: knowledge of the entrepreneur, process improvement and organisational culture. On the other hand, entrepreneurs’ social skills and tenacity were found to have a negative impact on revenue and operating profit growth, while support from informal networks had a negative effect on the growth of sales revenue.Originality/value: This study aims to fill a gap in the literature on the impact of IC on the financial performance of entrepreneurial firms.