THE LOGISTIC DRIVERS AS A POWERFUL PERFORMANCE INDICATOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL COMPANIES OF KOSOVO

Filipos RUXHO

Professor Ass. Dr. , Department of Business and Management, Universum College, Kosovo,

filip.ruxho@universum-ks.org

Christos Ap. LADIAS

Professor, Regional Science Inquiry Journal

Ladias@rsijournal.eu

Abstract

Regional companies in Kosovo operate in challenging economic conditions that hinder their ability to survive and develop. However, the management of logistics supply chain managers can increase their performance and help in their further development. The main purpose of this research is to investigate whether the management of logistics supply chain drivers can serve as a formal predictor and driver of the development of regional companies in Kosovo. The study aims to help Kosovo’s regional companies in a formal and independent way to integrate with supply chains, increasing their performance and development amid the difficult economic conditions in which they operate. The research approach and method is based on a quantitative survey conducted among 103 regional companies of Kosovo. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and hypotheses are tested using Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The results of the statistical analysis showed that the management of the six logistics drivers of the supply chain affects the increase in the performance of regional companies. It is mainly influenced by the information logistic driver, compared to other drivers, it turns out that over fifty percent of the respondents believe that the information logistic driver is the most important, followed by the next driver with sixteen percent transport, twelve percent facilities, nine percent resources, seven percent inventory and only one percent price. From the analysis of the questionnaire data, the importance and quality of road transport in the performance of regional companies was clearly highlighted. Implications and managerial practices of this research will serve as an aid to policy makers and institutions when designing development initiatives for regional infrastructure, economic zones and locations.

Keywords: logistic drivers, regional development, inventory, transportation, information

JEL classification: R10, R11, R40, R58, M10

 pp. 95-106

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DRAWING AN INDICATOR OF TOURISM COMPETITIVENESS AND EXAMINING ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH TOURISM SEASONALITY FOR THE GREEK PREFECTURES

Thomas KRABOKOUKIS

Researcher, Department of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly, Pedion Areos, Volos, 38334, Greece

tkrabokoukis@uth.gr

Serafeim POLYZOS

Professor, Department of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly, Pedion Areos, Volos, 38334, Greece

spolyzos@uth.gr

Abstract

Within the context that tourism competitiveness is a complex concept, this article proposes a conceptual framework and uses Pena’s P2 distance synthetic index (DP2) to classify the Greek prefectures according to their competitiveness. This paper aims to define the potentials of Greek prefectures through the tourism competitiveness index. Additionally, examines the relationship between tourism competitiveness and tourism seasonality which is a significant phenomenon that affects tourism every destination globally. The study utilizes a total of 66 variables, and the data were processed using the Package ‘p2distance’ in R Studio. The analysis reveals four groups according to their values in the tourism competitiveness index (DP2) and tourism seasonality (RSI). In these four groups, tourism carrying capacity and tourism saturation indexes from previous studies are also presented in the last section. Overall, the analysis supports multidisciplinary and synthetic research in the modeling of tourism research and promotes the DP2 synthetic index in the study of tourism competitiveness. The overall analysis can propose a tool for tourism management and regional policy, as these are complex concepts. The proposed approach advances the DP2 index as a quantitative measure for tourism competitiveness and compares the results with tourism seasonality

Keywords: tourism competitiveness, tourism attractiveness, tourism seasonality, regional and tourism development, DP2 synthetic index

JEL classification: R10, R11, R58, C43, Z32

 pp. 55-70

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DETECTING CITY-DIPOLES IN GREECE BASED ON INTERCITY COMMUTING

Dimitrios TSIOTAS

Assistant Professor, Department of Regional and Economic Development, School of Applied Economic and Social Sciences, Agricultural University of Athens, Amfissa 33100, Greece

tsiotas@aua.gr

Nikolaos AXELIS

Airport Infrastructure Engineer, HAF, – Researcher, Department of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly, Volos, 38334, Greece

nik.axelis@gmail.com

Serafeim POLYZOS

Professor, Department of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly, Volos, 38334, Greece

spolyzos@uth.gr

Abstract

According to growth poles theory, the areas lacking critical sizes to develop polycentric structures are restricted to the development of structures of special configuration. In Greece, the development of growth poles is restricted to the emergence of “urban dipoles” and “tripoles”, which are often used in the literature within a not well defined context. Based on a recently introduced method, this paper quantitatively detects functional dipoles in Greece by discriminating zones in the distribution of commuting, the number of daily movements for occupational purposes outside the city of residence. The analysis is implemented at three different levels of geographical scale, the intercity, an adjusted intercity (without the metropolitan regions), and the interregional scale. The analysis detects the functional dipoles per geographical scale and reveals the distance levels where polycentric structures emerge in the setting of commuting in Greece. Overall, this examines the applicability of a new dipoles detection method and paper provides insights into the conceptualization of hierarchy in urban structures, into the context of regional science and regional economics.

Keywords: Growth poles, urban structures, city networks, urban hierarchy, city distribution

JEL classification: R12, R40, R58

pp. 11-30

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