Consumption trends of milk and dairy products in Slovakia and its comparison with other V4 countries

The article examines the competitiveness of Ukrainian banks influenced by economy digitalization, the dynamic spread of electronic payments and e-commerce, as well as innovative technologies aimed at providing digital services. When shifting to an Online Platform business model, a bank can expand its range of banking products, attract more customers, thereby forming a competition policy and gaining competitive advantages. The paper aims to assess the digitalization level affecting the general competitiveness of banks and its components based on Ukrainian banks. For this purpose, the following methods were used: standardized input statistical indicators, comparison and ranking, a cluster analysis, and a regression and correlation analysis. The cluster analysis confirmed the current role of digitalization as a competition driver that determines the competitive advantages of banks and creates additional opportunities to expand the customer base and the range of services. The correlation and regression dependence of the competitive position identified by the activity indicators of certain banks on the level of competitive digitalization confirmed a close direct impact on the competitive position of personal deposits arising from the development of digital banking technology; the pre-tax income, profiles of assets and personal loans, and corporate deposits are subject to a significant direct impact, while the weakest direct impact determines corporate loans. The foregoing substantiates the feasibility of large-scale introduction of innovative digital technologies by banks to maintain competitive positions in the banking sector of the economy. Applying the proposed approach based on certain regression equations, managers of Ukrainian banks will be able to assess the efficiency and make appropriate decisions concerning investing in digital tools and services.

Nowadays, social media influencers are one of the most important assets of many businesses that originate purchase decisions. The relevance of this paper is determined by the fact that it tries to fill in the research gap of literature determining the factors that might influence the purchase decisions of millennial consumers based on the theories of the constructs. The purpose is to determine the impact of brand value on the credibility of influencers over the purchase decision. Therefore, 412 millennial consumers from the city of Arequipa, Peru, were surveyed through an online form provided by Google. Then, the validation and descriptive statistics were made on the program SPSS. Additionally, the inferential statistics using the software Smart PLS. The results show a positive, significant, and direct relationship between the credibility of influencers and customers’ purchase decisions. Moreover, this relationship increases through the brand value when incorporated into the model as a mediator variable, facilitating the decision of consumers. In conclusion, it was estimated that consumers feel even more confident when social media influencers transmit the message showing specific brand attributes.

Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Universidad Nacional de San Agustin de Arequipa for its support in developing this project.
The present study has been self-financed by the authors.

Financial decision-making through social media blogs and opinions is an area not much explored by the researchers. This study intends to understand the perceived usefulness of social media in financial decision-making amongst individuals and groups based on demographic similarities and social parameters. This paper aims to understand the perception of various subgroups in society within the large population sample. The paper applies Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric tests to examine the proposed research questions from a dataset of 201 individuals residing in two most populated states in Northern India. The analysis reveals the differences between different groups categorized based on generation, financially dependent, educational background, occupation, and geographical location. In terms of social media’s perceived utility in financial decision-making, results suggest that segregated groups based on cohort generation and occupation have significant variations relative to others. Based on the educational context, all other segments, number of financially dependent, geographical location, were found insignificant. The novelty of the paper lies in investigating the perceived usefulness of social media in financial decision-making amongst various homogenous groups based on demographics in a developing country. The study outcomes can be useful for the financial service providers and social media platforms in comprehending consumer behavior to devise an innovative marketing strategy for financial products targeting specific segments through enhanced coordination between them.

Acknowledgment
This paper was supported by Internal Grant Agency of FaME TBU No. IGA/FaME/2019/002.