This paper presents theoretical and empirical research on the activities and attitudes of a family business owner regarding marketing as a business function. The development of successful business relationships of a family business is tightly connected with the activities of the business owner. The theoretical review examined numerous family and non-family business studies by analyzing the existing paradigms of marketing management as a whole. The empirical research, surveying 420 family businesses in Serbia, defined the overall role of the family business owner in customer relationship management regarding business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) relationships. Key findings suggest that the main difference in customer relationship management (CRM) between family and non-family companies is related to B2B relationships, which the family business owner is heavily involved in managing, in terms of invested time and responsibility. Future research should cover aspects of internationalization (to regional markets) because it is essential to cross-examine regional with local contacts of a family business owner, to provide full comprehension of the complexity of market relationships in a family business environment.

Modern performance measurement systems include customer satisfaction as an important performance indicator. From the standpoint of the Higher Education Institution (hereinafter HEI) in Serbia, key performance indicators are quality indicators used to assess the current situation; to identify service failures and to take on service recovery; to improve total quality of the institution and to determine the future development of the institution. In increasingly competitive and dynamic educational environment, the management of a HEI is aware of the importance of student satisfaction in the context of student motivation and retention, recommendations to potential freshmen, recruiting efforts and funding, as well as performance management. There are numerous direct and indirect indicators of student satisfaction. The main objective of this paper is to identify the parameters of educational process and non-teaching support that have the greatest impact on student satisfaction. Data analysis, conducted in this paper, provide information on the degree of student satisfaction and possible improvements in this area. This study uses standard and hierarchical regression to examine possible causes of student satisfaction. It is based on answers of 1541 students of the College of Professional Studies – Belgrade Polytechnic, collected during a four-year research.

Over the last two years, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Serbia worked in the modality of distance learning – instructions and students` assignments were performed by distance, while colloquia and exams were realized in traditional conditions. Regardless of modality, HEIs have to ensure high-quality education in every single course. In this sense, the feedback from students is very important. The purpose of this study is to investigate students` attitudes about four dimensions of distance learning – fulfilment of preconditions, organization and realization of instructions, advantages/disadvantages of distance learning, communication and social interactions. Data was collected from 183 first-year students within three courses at The Academy of Applied Technical Studies Belgrade, and was processed in the SPSS software package. The research strategy included descriptive statistics, while the Likert scale was used to assess the satisfaction of the respondents. Analysis of variance and independent-sample t test were used to examine differences in opinions among different groups of respondents. The results of this study could be important for instructors, HEIs that operate in similar conditions, policymakers in the field of HE in Serbia, as well as for present and future research in this area.

No abstract

The success of the Higher Education Institution (HEI) mostly depends on student satisfaction, as satisfied students are the basis of institutional existence, its growth and development. The previous does not mean diminishing other institutional performance factors, but the final goal of all processes is to retain existing students and attract freshmen through continual improvement of student satisfaction. The main objective of this paper is to analyse critically the results of measuring student satisfaction in the College of Professional Studies – Belgrade Polytechnic, in relation to the actions taken to improve the educational process. The study included 56 variables of the educational process and non-teaching support, and until now sample was comprised of 3275 undergraduates. For this paper, the variables of the educational process are separated, and the impact of improvements on student satisfaction is analysed by using appropriate statistical tools. The conclusions of this study may contribute to previous, actual and/or future researches in this field, and may equally serve to other HEIs (that operate in a similar environment) as a basis for enhancing student satisfaction.