Marko Mihic

Economic analysis of social services for the elderly in Serbia: Two sides of the same coin

According to demographic trends, the ratio of senior citizens in the overall population of the Republic of Serbia is rising. This generates the need to create socially acceptable and economically sustainable models for the protection of the elderly. The goal of this paper is to stress the necessity of analyzing and evaluating the efficiency of social protection services aimed at senior citizens. The first part of the paper underlines the need for economic analysis of these services; while the second part features the analysis of the two most frequently provided services for the elderly in Serbia: admission to social protection institutions and home care for senior citizens. Based on the research results, the paper also provides a comparative overview of the efficiency of the services mentioned. This overview clearly confirms that both services prove to be economically justifiable from a social perspective; nevertheless, it also indicates that the cost of home care per user is considerably lower than the cost of putting a senior citizen into a nursing home. After presenting and discussing the results of the studies, the paper also offers recommendations aimed at enhancing the development and sustainability of the social protection system for the elderly in Serbia.

Risk identification in product innovation projects: new perspectives and lessons learned

ABSTRACT The paper addresses the improvement of innovation project (IP) risk identification by applying the RBS (Risk Breakdown Structure) method, and represents a follow-up analysis of the subject (a case of IP before and after applying the method). The activities of risk identification are an initial phase in most of risk management processes and classifications. High-level risk-taking is one of the key characteristics of IPs, due to the fact that this type of projects is related to implementation of new ideas. An example illustrates the combination of RBS/WBS for evaluating the risk concentration, called Risk Breakdown Matrix. This research has proven that implementation of the presented approach in the context of the Serbian market can improve efficiency of all phases of the project, especially those related to planning phase.

How to choose the appropriate project management approach

During the process of managing a project, requirements and approaches are changed, depending on the project implementation stage or certain challenges that occur during the project implementation. The degree of projects complexity changes over its life cycle phases, where the uncertainty might be considered as highest at the initial phase with the tendency to reduce as information gathers over time. Within the paper different project management approaches are presented, emphasizing the difference among them and their sensitivity to uncertainties and projects characteristics. The traditional approach is suitable for managing well-structured projects in the project environment with clear requirements and project scope. But, stakeholders cannot always specify all the requirements at the very beginning of the project and changes throughout the project life cycle can be expected. Agile project management is most appropriate for managing projects with expected frequently changes throughout the project life cycle and related to that high uncertainty. For managing projects with not clearly defined goals and solutions, which are high-risk and high-change projects, with high failure rates, possible option might be extreme project management. In the situation when a project has clear solution but not clearly defined goals, emertxe project management could be best project management approach. The requirements of project management could be developed during the project life cycle, depending on different characteristics of project life cycle phases. Also factors that affect project success are discussed in the paper as well as importance of considering project complexity, uncertainty and project environment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Can we do better? Economic analysis of human resource investment to improve home care service for the elderly in Serbia.

Background Social services aimed at the elderly are facing great challenges caused by progressive aging of the global population but also by the constant pressure to spend funds in a rational manner. Purpose This paper focuses on analyzing the investments into human resources aimed at enhancing home care for the elderly since many countries have recorded progress in the area over the past years. The goal of this paper is to stress the significance of performing an economic analysis of the investment. Methods This paper combines statistical analysis methods such as correlation and regression analysis, methods of economic analysis, and scenario method. Results The economic analysis of investing in human resources for home care service in Serbia showed that the both scenarios of investing in either additional home care hours or more beneficiaries are cost-efficient. However, the optimal solution with the positive (and the highest) value of economic net present value criterion is to invest in human resources to boost the number of home care hours from 6 to 8 hours per week and increase the number of the beneficiaries to 33%. Conclusion This paper shows how the statistical and economic analysis results can be used to evaluate different scenarios and enable quality decision-making based on exact data in order to improve health and quality of life of the elderly and spend funds in a rational manner.

Application of fuzzy PERT method in project planning

In the process of project planning, it is necessary that the project manager should carefully assess the values of the input elements of the process, which are often laden with uncertainty. Since this is a project to be executed in the future, currently not all conditions are known in advance under which the activities will take place. This why certain values, such as the duration of an activity, the quantity of necessary resources etc, cannot be accurately determined in the planning stage. That said, there is a need to find the adequate way to deal with that uncertainty and successful project planning. The paper presents features and the basic elements of including the fuzzy system in the application of the PERT method in order to analyze the duration of the project. The numeric example which is a part of this paper features the application of the fuzzy numbers concept in the project duration analysis. The application is based on turning the estimated duration of the activity into trapezoidal fuzzy numbers, after which the rules of the fuzzy arithmetics are applied, and the temporal reserves and the critical project path are determined. The application of the fuzzy system underlies numerous managerial decisions. Furthermore, it is certain that the incorporation of the fuzzy logic into project planning may help managers bring better decisions and make better plans.

Strategic Project Management — Project Strategy and Measurement of Success

Relevant research has shown (The Standish Group Reports, 2009) that a large number of organizations do not achieve the set goals in the execution of their projects — the completion of the project in the predicted time period, within the budget, and with the agreed quality, among others. On the other hand, a more serious problem is that many of them seem to fail to achieve business goals, while it is a commonplace that the desired results fail to be achieved in either group. The majority of organizations strive to improve the execution of their projects in a traditional way, for example, through employees’ education, work process improvement, introduction of software support, etc. The focus on these elements only results in a limitation as to how much the effectiveness and efficiency of the project execution can be improved, especially from the aspect of the organization achieving its goals. In order to achieve a higher competitive advantage, the real improvements have to be closely linked to the strategic aspect of project management.