In order to sustain or improve a position, higher education institutions have to realize that service quality is a critical condition for survival and growth in the education market. Therefore, the purpose of the research presented in this paper is to emphasize quality as a source of competitive advantage of higher education institutions, as well as to identify opportunities for improving service quality. The main objective of the research is to evaluate whether service quality determines students’ satisfaction. The data provided by empirical research, conducted at universities in Serbia, have been subject to model that is usually used for service quality assessment and evaluation (SERVQUAL model). This model is valuable, but certainly not sufficient for creating an improvement map. Therefore, for identification of improvement priorities, in addition to SERVQUAL model, AHP method, pared t-test, ANOVA and regression analysis have been used. The results of the analysis indicate a gap between service quality that students expect and perceive. In addition, based on quantitative analysis, priorities for improvement of service quality are identified.

Modern business conditions have decisively been indicating that quality is the basis of the competitiveness of a company. A lack of quality creates dissatisfaction and affects customer loyalty. Lately, there has been a tendency of the growth of non-quality costs, which is a consequence of a lack of the quality of the products delivered. Although numerous studies suggest models for calculating non-qualitative costs, no relevant mechanism has been found yet to manage these costs. In this study, the authors attempted to find a link between long-term provisions and the external failure cost since this relation has not received other researchers' attention so far, as it deserves. The aim of the research is to point out the importance of longterm provisions as relevant instruments to control external failure costs. Different surveys have confirmed the initial assumption and showed that long-term provisions are effective instruments for managing the costs of external failure. A positive, statistically significant correlation between long-term provisions and the net profit of a company was also identified among the first 100 enterprises from the list of the most successful enterprises in the Republic of Serbia in 2017.

Achieving and strengthening competitive advantage represents the key factor for survival and success of the modern businesses. It is a fact that successful implementation of Lean management leads to increased productivity and competence. However, in order to maintain profitability and business stability, it is necessary to support Lean concept, which can be provided, above all, by the application of modern information technology. In that sense, by applying the ERP system, it is possible to adapt basic Lean principles to the requirements of a modern environment characterized by constant change of demand and needs of the consumers/users. The main goal of the research is to examine the existing level of application of modern information technologies, as well as the level of attention paid to the integration of Lean concept and software solutions in enterprises in the Republic of Serbia. Theoretical aspect of the research is related to finding appropriate grounds for concluding on the basis of the existing literature. In this paper, research gaps and proposed further research directions have been identified. By applying the appropriate statistical tools (descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, correlation analysis) it was finally concluded that the enterprises which have substantially implemented the practice and principles of lean management are at the same time those who implement IT in their business, i.e. the information systems which support the implementation of lean practice.

Under the conditions of ever-increasing competition in the market, companies can reach a competitive advantage only with flexible offer of quality superior and cheaper products/services. In order to achieve this, companies must carry out innovative and effective business processes and manage them appropriately. In this regard, it is important to identify the factors that may be considered critical for improving business process management. The aim of this paper is to identify and analyse key business process management factors, on the example of the electronic industry. The research results show that the factors that are usually accepted as the most important for increasing the maturity of business process management are not recognised as dominant in the electronic industry. One of the findings of the survey reveals, as the main lagging factors, four of the six most important factors for the successful implementation of business processes. Based on results of the research, Managing employees has been detected as the most important maturity factor for companies from the electronic industry; hence, the suggestion is further improvement within this field.