Sustainability as a growing trend in the 21st century has encompassed almost the entire world economy, including the automotive industry. As a result of this trend, automotive companies are adjusting their strategies and operations to contribute to the achievement of the concept of sustainability at the global level. By turning to sustainability, the automotive industry is experiencing perhaps the biggest transition in its history. This paper therefore deals with the research of sustainable strategies of leading companies in the automotive industry. The paper aims to examine the extent to which the world’s leading companies in the automotive industry meet certain SDG UN goals. The method of the qualitative comparative analysis using the desk method alternative provided the information on sustainability strategies and their fulfilment within the top five companies in the automotive industry according to the Interbrand scale from 2021, considering the UN Agenda 2030 sustainability goals. The results of the analysis showed that the observed companies in the automotive sector meet most of the goals of sustainable development of the UN with their sustainability strategies, which indicates that they are successfully adapting their business operations to modern business requirements. This also makes their brands green, hence the application of the principle of sustainability also affects the strength of their brands, adding “extended customer value”. The paper contributes not only to the development of the framework and elaboration of business models of sustainability in the automotive industry, but also to the development of further theoretical and empirical research in this field and the conceptualization of the principles of sustainability in this area.

The purpose – The purpose of this paper is to support the thesis that a region represents a key functional and geographical entity which requires branding and development of marketing activities. Its geographical components are tourism clusters that should develop their own identity in cooperation with other clusters, within the region as their umbrella brand. Design – The special focus is given to reviewing the issue of defining boundaries of regions as tourism brands, i.e. discussing what exactly makes the essence, or the essential framework, of a region as a market brand in tourism. The paper also presents the model of geographical and marketing clusterisation of Istria and Dalmatia – the Croatia's regions that are essential for the development of tourism in this country. Methodology – The methodology of the research includes the examples of good practice, analysis of the existing strategic documents of the region Istria and Dalmatia, workshop – creating an original model of region clusterisation in the case of Dalmatia by graduate students of management in the Department of Economics at the University of Zadar and author’s management experience in public management in tourism. Approach – There are particular interests within fragmented basic units of local government – towns and municipalities – aiming to "preserve" the identity of each separate geographical unit, even the smallest one, whereas the marketing trends in the dynamic international tourism market require exactly the opposite. Regions must be the unique spatial and socio-cultural entities featuring an adequate tourism identity which is built as an independent and inherent market brand. That fact is perceived in the light of the forthcoming accession of Croatia into the European Union (1st July 2013) and the exceptionally important process of redefining Croatia's regional administrative-political boundaries, where an appropriate regionalisation is considered as one of the prerequisites for the "correct" and optimal social and economic development in the future. Findings – The problem of defining regional boundaries must be seen as one of the essential issues in defining the region's geographical area as the basis for the development of economy. An appropriate definition of the tourism region as an umbrella brand and its sub-brands – tourism "products", i.e. clusters – presents the starting point for further definition of all management and marketing activities, both at the level of clusters, through individual activities, and at the level of the umbrella brand, through joint, i.e. networked management activities. The originality of this research – The originality of the model consists on the fact that it refers to a relatively wide region (within European context) featuring a rich of natural attractiveness and cultural-historical heritage, whose borders were often altered in the past, and which was, and still is, intersected with a number of administrative-political boundaries.

We tested the hypothesis of the procyclicality of stock exchanges regarding the economic activity of CEE and SEE countries, to measure the level of financial integration during the last decade of the transition period, and to compare these two groups of emerging countries. Our ARDL panel estimates support the hypothesis of procyclicality in the transition period in the CEE and SEE regions, and further financial integration, due to the opening up of the market economy and repricing of systematic risk, followed by large capital inflows, trade liberalization and industrial production, along with the implementation of institutional reforms regarding EU integration. In addition, the significant positive coefficient of capital inflows and negative coefficient of unemployment rate in the CEE and SEE panel ARDL results confirm the volatility of the transition process, as is obvious in higher industrial production, followed by the significant impact of import on CEE countries and the much higher significant impact of export on SEE countries. Keywords Panel estimation. Stock exchange. Central and Eastern Europe. South East Europe. Financial integration JEL classifications E44. F36. F43. G1

Summary Th e paper analyzes the factors which have an eff ect on the competitiveness of the shipping industry along with the business strategies that shipping companies use to gain a better position on the market. Th e empirical part of this study is concentrated on the business operations of the largest Croatian shipping company Tankerska plovidba d.d. and one of the largest companies in the world -Royal Dutch Shell, and the analysis of the methods which these two companies use to achieve competitiveness. Th e concluding segment of the analysis presents a general conclusion regarding the dynamics and laws of the shipping industry.

Geographical expansion is inevitable destiny of brands because it determines the growth of the brand and its ability to innovate and maintain competitive advantage in terms of economies of scale and productivity. Therefore, brand managers are trying to find out new ways and approaches in a manner to achive international expansion. The effect that has been studied for a long time in relation with brands is the effect of the country of origin. Purpose of this paper is to find out the impact of the country of origin on the contemporary brand management. Goal of the paper is to point out the end of country of origin trend in developed countries and development of this effect in developing countries. More and more companies are currently trying to cover up the country of origin of the product while brend with its image represents more important and familiar information. Generally, the effect of country of origin becomes less important while the country of the brand has a growing importance.