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Purpose Poor payment discipline has been a constant problem faced by European companies and has only deteriorated with the current global economic crisis. Even though new legislation has been adopted several times on the European level, the situation has not changed in favor of improved payment discipline. This research aims to determine the correlation between ethical culture of the company and how it influences its payments. Design/methodology/approach The factor structure of Kaptein’s (2008) instrument for measuring ethical culture was analyzed using principal component analysis with varimax rotation. This factor analysis yielded six factors with eigenvalues over 1.00. The reliabilities of the single constructs were as follows: clarity (α = 0.891), feasibility (α = 0.918), discussability (α = 0.955), supportability (α = 0.956), sanctionability (α = 0.879) and transparency (α = 0.801). These six factors explained 78 per cent of the total variance. All six factors were named according to Kaptein’s (2008) proposal, whose factor analysis yielded, in addition to the six factors, the following two factors: “Congruence of supervisors” and “Congruence of management”. Both factors represent the ethical culture dimension that Kaptein (1998) called “Congruence”, which refers to the extent to which superiors’ and managers’ acts are in line with their ethics on the declarative level. Findings The results showed that two dimensions of ethical culture, sanctionability and feasibility, improve payment discipline. Research limitations/implications The results of this study provide an important link between ethical culture and late payments. However, the research has some limitations. The first limitation is the response rate of only 9.1 per cent. The next limitation is geographical location; the results in other European countries could be different. The third limitation of the research arises from the data collection, because ethical culture was evaluated by one person from each enterprise, and the average payment delay was also calculated based only on a sample of invoices. Future research should therefore attempt to confirm the correlation between ethical culture and payment discipline in other European countries. It would be interesting to compare finds among different European countries, to determine whether there are major differences among companies in the field of payment discipline. Originality/value Good payment discipline can be defined as settling obligations to the customer on time. Late payments have been one of the biggest problems in many European economies. Trade credit becomes even more important during economic crises (Guariglia and Mateut, 2006), when investments are in decline, trading volume is reduced, bank credit is harder to obtain and interest rates are increased (Vojinović et al., 2013; Lin and Martin, 2010). Because customers do not fulfill their obligations on time, even enterprises with healthy sales growth encounter cash flow problems (Tsai, 2011). This paper’s empirical research has been implemented in Slovenia because it has some of the worst payment disciplines among European countries. Such research is unique in Slovenia as well as wider.

Collaboration between company and its suppliers is important in providing value to customers, especially in the age when companies are dominantly trying to focus on lowering costs to be more effective. But not just cost-effectiveness is a driving principle for all companies. Some companies are oriented towards establishing relationships with suppliers in order to provide value to customers. Hence, purpose of this paper is to explore relationships between companies and their key suppliers and to identify what influences their collaboration activities. Primary research was conducted on 182 Croatian companies, applying scales identified in previous research. Factor analysis and multivariate linear regression analysis were applied in analyzing research results. Results indicate that there are several benefits that companies perceive key suppliers are providing to them. Market and scout function, quality function, social support function, rescue function and innovation development function are some of them. These functions (supplier benefits), influence company future collaboration with key suppliers and consequently influences co-creation. Research results identified that quality, social support and innovation development function influence company’s future collaboration activities. Based on these results implications for marketing managers are offered and ideas for co-creation provided.

Purpose – In many industries, perceived service value is found to be a significant mediator between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, this paper aims to test a conceptual model of perceived service value with its antecedents, such as perceived price and perceived service quality, and consequences, customer satisfaction and loyalty, in the retail banking industry. Design/Methodology/Approach – For the empirical study, a measurement instrument was developed and tested for validity and reliability. Measures were assessed with exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). A structural model with five reflective constructs was evaluated to test direct and indirect relationships among constructs. Findings and implications – Results confirm a mediating role of perceived value in relationships between perceived price, perceived service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in the case of retail banking services. Limitations – Because the results are directly relevant only to customers and marketing managers of retail banking services, generalizations of the findings beyond the immediate population observed should be made with caution. Originality – This paper extends existing knowledge with both direct and indirect effects among researched concepts, and shows the importance of perceived service value in achieving satisfied and loyal customers in retail banking services.

Late payments have long been a problem for enterprises, and the situation only escalated following the recent global economic crisis. Even though new legislation has been adopted at the European level, the problem of late payments has not improved. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to find out whether late payments can be explained by enterprises’ ethical culture. The analysis of ethical culture was performed by Kaptein’s (2008) measurement instrument. Of the six dimensions that could be confirmed with our sample, three correlated statistically significantly with late payments: sanctionability, feasibility and transparency. Sanctionability refers to the likelihood that unethical behavior will be sanctioned and ethical behavior will be rewarded; feasibility refers to the creation of conditions that allow employees to meet normative expectations; and transparency refers to the degree to which incorrect behavior is visible to those who can have an influence on changing such behavior. The more sanctionability and feasibility are expressed in enterprises, the better their payment discipline; the more transparency is present, the worse the payment discipline. Furthermore, our research showed that the size of the enterprise, liquidity (current ratio) and financial leverage (debt to asset ratio) have no statistically significant influence on the payment discipline of the observed enterprises.

The concept of health-promoting leadership focuses on the interaction between the organization and the individual by identifying components able to positively influence employees’ working conditions. In the present study, the effects of health-promoting leadership and transformational leadership on the employees’ recovery–stress balance are investigated. In an online study, 212 Slovenian workers were asked about their perceptions of their direct supervisors and their work-related stress and recovery. The results showed that both leadership styles have a significant effect on employees’ recovery at the workplace, which mediated the relationship between leadership and work-related stress.

European countries have faced the problem of poor payment discipline for many years. Despite legislation adopted in 2000 and 2011, the situation is not improving. Not much empirical research has been done about the causes of low payment discipline, and even the work that has been done has been generally focused solely on the financial reasons. The current research tried to determine whether the payment discipline is affected and influenced by management ethics. The study showed that board’s and senior management’s ethics affects the length of the average payment delay to suppliers. Based on this evidence and prior research in the field of moral judgment, this study developed a package of measures against late payments based on the improvement of the moral judgments of management.

The main goal of the paper is to research the impact of marketing resources on company performance for companies on B2B markets. The conceptual model, including market orientation, marketing strategy, ICT support factors for B2B markets and company performance was proposed and empirically tested. The research results show that market orientation and its sub-constructs, namely competitor orientation and customer orientation have a positive impact on implementation of marketing strategy and ICT support for B2B markets. Also, implementation of good marketing strategies for companies on B2B markets and ICT support on B2B markets have a positive impact on company performance.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore small hotels guests' perception of social responsibility (SR), to relate their SR perceptions with their motivation for choosing small hotels instead of large ones, and to check whether motivation is further related to guests' satisfaction. System thinking is used for better attainment of SR through linking the environmental and social dimension of hotel guests' SR perceptions. Design/methodology/approach – The paper starts with a theoretical background for the conceptual model. The empirical quantitative research was conducted in 2013. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire. The hypotheses were analysed with structural equation modelling. Findings – The findings show that guests of small hotels perceive SR predominantly through its environmental and socio-local perspective. The guests with stronger perception of SR are more motivated to choose small hotels for their vacations, and at the same time, demonstrate a higher level of satisfaction with their choice. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to guests of small hotels only and to two dimensions of SR: environmental and socio-local. Originality/value – Results of the study should encourage the small hotel operators to implement system thinking when reviewing their existing SR actions and adding some new ones. Relevant SR actions in small hotels, based on managers' system thinking, should become an important part of strategic, managerial and operational decisions.

Every society is based on humans, being also essential factors of the social responsibility (SR), which is an important predecessor of the organizational performance. SR supports informal systemic behavior aimed at requisite holism of behavior of influential persons and their organizations; it leads towards creativity-based well-being (CBWB) of humans in organizations and in society. This matters: people with CBWB live and work better. Links between CBWB, SR and human resource management (HRM) and the influence of SR and HRM on organizational performance from aspects of growth, development and finances are demonstrated empirically. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Analyzing tourism perceptions of host communities and residents’ attitudes toward tourism development has been gaining increasing attention in the tourism research. This paper examines how residents perceive positive and negative economic and socio-cultural impacts of tourism. The authors identify several differences between two groups of respondents: residents employed in tourism and other residents. The study provides tourism planners with useful information concerning specific elements associated with residents’ positive and negative perception of the impact of tourism.

We investigated relationships among market orientation, innovation and reputational resources, and their impact on market performance and fi nancial performance within the transitional economy of Slovenia. Market orientation related positively to market and fi nancial performance of fi rms indirectly through innovation and reputational resources. Reputational resources associated positively with loyalty, market share, and sales volume, innovation resources associated positively with market share, and sales volume indirectly through customer loyalty. Selected marketing resources related positively to fi cial performance indirectly through customer loyalty, market share, and sales volume. The implications of these fi ndings for theory and practice are considered. Copyright © 2007 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. JEL Classifi cation: M31, M10

The study investigates the relationships between market orientation, innovation resources, reputational resources, customer related capabilities, and distribution based assets, as well as their impact on market and financial performance. The results indicate that market orientation is indirectly related to a company's market and financial performance through other four marketing resources. Reputational resources have a positive impact on loyalty, market share, and sales volume, while the impact of innovation resources on market share and sales volume is rather indirect through customer loyalty. While the customer related capabilities significantly impact customer loyalty their impact on market share and sales volume can not be confirmed. On the other side the distribution based assets are weakly related to loyalty and market share and sales volume. General findings indicate that selected marketing resources impact financial performance indirectly through the creation of customer loyalty and directly through market share and sales volume. V raziskavi proučujemo povezavo med tržno naravnanostjo in inovacijskimi viri, viri ugleda, sposobnostmi povezanimi z odjemalci in premoženjem, ki temelji na dobaviteljih, kakor tudi njihov vpliv na tržno in finančno uspešnost. Rezultati razkrivajo, da je tržna naravnanost preko štirih obravnavanih marketinških virov posredno povezana s tržno in finančno uspešnostjo podjetij. Viri ugleda imajo pozitiven vpliv na zvestobo in tržne deleže ter obseg prodaje, medtem ko je vpliv inovacijskih virov na tržne deleže in obseg prodaje predvsem neposreden preko vpliva zvestobe odjemalcev. Sposobnosti povezane z odjemalci sicer pomembno vplivajo na zvestobo odjemalcev, vendar v raziskavi njihove povezave s tržnimi deleži in obsegi prodaje nismo potrdili. Premoženje, ki temelji na dobaviteljih je zgolj šibko povezano z obema kazalcema tržne uspešnosti (zvestobo, tržnimi deleži in obsegi prodaje). V splošnem ugotavljamo, da tržni deleži in obsegi prodaje na finančno uspešnost vplivajo neposredno, hkrati pa so tudi pomemben mediator pri posrednem vplivu zvestobe odjemalcev na finančno uspešnost.

In contemporary marketing research, there is a general consensus in marketing and management theory that intangible resources of the organisation can play crucial role in sustainable competitive advantage creation. In this paper, the relationships between four such intangible resources (hotel image, perceived quality, perceived value and hotel guest satisfaction) are empirically researched. Structural model of guest satisfaction was developed and tested on the sample of 1,020 tourists in Slovenia. Results suggest that the direct impact of perceived quality on guest satisfaction is quite weak. However, perceived quality as well as hotel image impact guest satisfaction indirectly through perceived value. The results indicate the importance of perceived value as mediating variable in service perception models which means that marketing practitioners and managers in the hotel industry should focus their efforts mainly on the perceived value of their offerings.