FDI’s Impact on Transitional Countries, Serbia as a Rational Choice: The FIAT-ZASTAVA Case

The privatization process and foreign direct investments (FDI) are among the most important economic issues in transitional countries. FDI has enormous influence on transitional countries that need serious structural changes. In this paper we will study FIAT’s decision to invest in the Serbian automotive industry. We will try to rationalize FIAT’s decision because Serbian car manufacturer ZASTAVA was not the only alternative for FIAT to invest in the Balkans. In order to justify FIAT’s decision we will apply the Mullins model of horizontal and vertical FDI, examine the importance of the cooperating history between two car manufacturers and compare macroeconomic conditions and Global Competitiveness of Serbia and Romania, which was the main alternative for FIAT. Finally, we will also try to explain why FIAT decided to announce the investment at the end of political campaign in Serbia when pools gave anti-European parties higher chances for victory, instead of waiting to see the outcome of the elections.

Generic charisma - Conceptualization and measurement

In these times, when fame is available to almost anyone, it is worth being able to measure the extent and dimensions of a person's charisma. Most of the research on charisma to date is restricted to the area of leadership. In this article, however, charisma is generalized to take in all human beings and is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional cognitive-affective phenomenon. The article presents a pilot study aimed at providing an adequate operational definition of the construct as well as an initial tool for its measurement. A following literature review shows how authors have developed the concept of charisma and its initial operational dimensions for empirical research. A questionnaire is developed in three stages. The factor analyses applied in stages two and three point towards a six-factor solution (i.e. six dimensions of charisma). Further analysis reveals that the developed instrument is reliable and viable as well as applicable for future theoretical and practical work.     

Digital natives and social media

Digital natives (also known as “Generation Y” and “Millennials”), a generation born during of after introduction of digital technologies, 1980s and after, have mixed preferences for media use in personal and professional lives. A study by Friedl and Tkalac Ver?i? (2011) showed that even though digital natives prefer digital media in their personal lives, this is not necessarily reflected in their business lives. This study addressing preferences of “traditional” vs. “the new media” in a university setting found an opposite result.     

Terminological databanks as the bodies of knowledge: Slovenian public relations terminology

The aim of the research project Terminology Databanks as the Bodies of Knowledge: The Model for the Systematisation of Terminologies is to compile a dictionary of Slovenian public relations, with 2000 entries. The terms will be explained and translated into English, with typical context, examples. From July 2013, the dictionary will be publicly available on www.termania.net.     

Gender,migration and care deficits: what role for the sustainable development goals?

ABSTRACT

This article explores migration to higher income countries in light of collective commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and argues that domestic social protection and labour market policy will need to be modified to meet these commitments. We look primarily at women in care work, using a broad definition of care that includes home help, domestic work and health care. We argue that the failure to recognise and value unpaid care work has created a sustained labour demand for women migrant care workers in many of these labour-importing countries. Increasingly, immigrant women are being imported into host economies to care, often in informal settings, and frequently engaged by private households, without full access to social protection and labour rights. The consistent application of SDG goals 5 and 8 and their linking to existing labour rights norms and conventions could simultaneously address care deficits in home and host countries and protect the rights of care workers in labour-importing countries and ensure that migrant workers are able to claim these rights.     

Social deontics: A nano‐level approach to human power play

The notion of “deontic rights”—the capacity of an individual to determine action—is described as a tool to analyze human power plays in the turn‐by‐turn unfolding of social interaction. Drawing on various bodies of literature, the paper portrays the organization of the adjacency‐pair sequence as the key locus of negotiation over deontic rights. How such negotiations happen in practice is also considered. Two deontic patterns instantiating themselves in sequential relations—deontic congruence and deontic incongruence—are discussed. Negotiations of deontic rights are suggested to take place specifically in and through three different forms of deontic incongruence, each of which involves a subtle mismatch between the claims of deontic rights of the first speaker and the recipient's treatment of these claims. These implicit power plays easily escape the eye and are therefore difficult to reflect upon and counteract by the participants themselves, which makes a thorough understanding of these mechanisms important.     

The Concepts of University Lifelong Learning Provision in Europe

The organizational and conceptual models of the university lifelong learning provision in Europe are analyzed. Unexpectedly, common terms such as “lifelong learning” and “university continuing education” are found not to be well defined, and there is a substantial lack of statistical data on both. The underlying concepts of the EU member states differ significantly and their efforts seem to be partly mismatched. One of the main common denominators is the inseparable connection with e-learning and/or open and distance learning. Modern information technology support appears to be the foundation of future efficient and cost-effective lifelong learning.     

How European PR practitioners handle digital and social media

The European Communication Monitor (ECM) 2010 showed that digital communication and social media have grown in importance in the media mix of European organizations. Both new media types are positively correlated to the perceived impact of public relations (PR) in the organization. Specifically social networks and online videos are considered the most important social media tools. Also European practitioners expect that the content of communication will become more important as and when the use of social media further increases. The consequence that everyone within the organization is able to spread information is perceived as the most problematic aspect of social media. A potential problem is that only about one third of the European organizations have implemented social media policies with communication consultancies leading the way. Communication consultants consider social media significantly more important than practitioners working in organizations.     

Introduction to this special section: The impact of globalization on public relations

Globalization has thrust public relations into the limelight providing new opportunities while posing immense challenges as well. Whereas globalization has impacted the public relations industry in many ways, public relations also has contributed to the spread of globalization. Using the global diffusion of the top 10 public relations agencies, this article argues that public relations is often erroneously perceived as only involving corporate activities. The body of knowledge is almost completely silent on the use of public relations for altruistic and information campaigns. This special issue presents some of the papers presented at the 14th International Public Relations Symposium (also popularly known as Bledcom 2007) whose theme was “The Impact of Globalization on Public Relations”.