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High-g rowth firms (HGFs) make a significant impact on the development of countries’ economies and micro, or firm level, factors are vital in understanding this phenomenon. Indeed, HGFs are unique engine of national economies that contribute essentially to economic growth which is much sought after in internationally open economic environment. More specifically, HGFs internationalization is perceived as a source of productivity, export and employment growth in the country. Economic policies of countries, as a macro level stimulus, aim to provide impetus for HGFs development, however understanding micro level factors of HGFs creation, development and internationalization are the basis for macro level decisions. Studying and modelling of micro level factors not only provides an opportunity to understand the phenomenon of HGFs but also develops the basis for policy decisions especially in the field of business internationalization.

The market research institutes that measure the impact of advertising campaigns aggregate their results according to different criteria in order to provide clients with a normative Framework or framework of reference. In addition to the volume of advertising investment, one of the most common criteria is the industry or product category, due to its influence on effectiveness measures. The academic literature has likewise underscored the need to take into account a product category when assessing advertising effectiveness (Vakratsas & Ambler, 1999). The concepts of industry and product category have drawn attention from researchers because of their usefulness in defining business strategies. For example, the interest in dividing markets into subgroups based on industries and product categories is grounded in the possibility of conducting a more comprehensive and accurate analysis of the competition and competitive advantages.

Today’s highly volatile business environment has initiated a wide variety of changes within organizations of all industries (Hurn, 2012). Change dynamics, in general, is likely to increase in organizational context due to: Digital and innovation disruption; Shifting social and demographic trends; Growing knowledge-based economy and knowledge workforce development; More sophisticated customer needs; and Global economic integration and liberalization. Regardless of its root-cause, it has been argued that change occurs in various shapes, forms and intensity (Jarrett, 2008). Accordingly, many authors recognize that key factor of an organization’s effectiveness lie in the ability to adapt to ever-present change, while successful change management became a pattern for organizational survival and long-term sustainability.

The traditional interpretation of corporate finance is characterized by ownership. Although, their rights are widely distributed among individual stockholders, but can be managed by few managers. Hence, conflict of interest is arisen among managers and shareholders and this results in an agency problem (Fama, 1980; Fama & Jensen, 1983). A number of empirical studies also confirmed the ownership concentration of firms, especially those dominated by few large owners or block-holders (La Porta et al., 1999). The concentrated structure of ownership also contributes towards agency conflict between block-holders and minority shareholders. From another perspective, the block-holders can benefit minority shareholders by their role in monitoring managers and also can be hazardous if they strive to achieve their own private goals (Shleifer & Vishny, 1997).

An important health financing issue facing Canada and other OECD countries (OECD, 2017) are the health consequences of obesity. Statistics Canada (2014) reports that 51.6% of adult Canadians were overweight or obese in 2009 compared to 53.6% in 2013. The proportion of Canadians who are overweight differs by sex, with 59.2% of Canadian males overweight in 2009 compared to 62% in 2013 and 43.9% of females overweight in 2009 compared to 45.1% in 2013. These increases have led to calls for policies to control obesity (see Clark et al., 2014). These rates of obesity are based on the body mass index (BMI) which is the ratio of weight (in kilograms) to the square of height (in meters). Cranfield (2007) uses the Canadian Community Heath Survey (CCHS) to examine the determinants of the body mass index (BMI) of Canadians.

Firms are struggling to gain competitive advantage to resist the ever-increasing global market pressures. Many strategic management studies have identified several essential pillars of building firm’s strategy, often highlighting positive relationships between the use of human resources and the firm performance (Collins & Clark, 2003; Wright et al., 2005). Thus, human capital as the stock of productive knowledge and skills embodied in individuals is a crucial strategic production factor. Knowledge and human resource are intrinsically related concepts since it is people who can learn, generate, utilise and disseminate knowledge in collaborative networks. Knowledge is a primary input in the innovation process, and the ability to use knowledge is crucial in achieving high innovation performance and the strategic competitive advantage (Bock, Opsahl et al., 2012).

The discourse – conversation – surrounding ethics has its roots in the Socratic and Platonic tradition, which displaced that of the pre-Socratic philosophers such as Thales and Anaximander. Taking a rationalist approach, i.e. the inseparability of ethics from knowledge, Socrates and Plato entirely changed the landscape in terms of the epistemological discourse. Plato (2006) develops the idea of Socratic rationalistic ethics and considers good (alongside beauty) and justice as fundamental to reality. Aristotle (2011) holds that wise decisions are an indication of a virtuous way of life and a social order that is just. Unsurprisingly, in his view ethics is the common, indissoluble link between individual activity and social relations. Similarly, for Thomas Aquinas (1948-1949), ethics encompasses rules that govern our actions and virtues, both of which are milestones for the individual. Immanuel Kant (1997) stresses the rationalistic principle of ethics by appealing to practical reason, i.e. reason as a guide to practical activity.

Due to the pressure of global competition, shortened product-life cycles and the increasing opportunity to imitate product designs or their elements, companies continuously focus on innovations as one of their main agenda in order to maintain their global or national competitiveness. Besides, these innovations are considered as an ultimate source of productivity improvement, the growth in sales volume, and the capability of a company in question to stay competitive on the global market (Liao, Hu, Chen, & Lin, 2015). Companies perceive the need to continuously adapt, develop, and innovate as an economic necessity that results from global market pressures. The enhancement of product design and quality, accessorial technological services, their accessibility and reliability are no longer only seen as a benefit but rather an ultimate condition for the sustainability of company competitiveness.

The world’s population continues to increase rapidly, and, within the next 30 years, more than half of all people will choose to live in large urban centers (Faria et al., 2018). This has led to a number of problems, such as congested people and transportation traffic and increased pollution that produces climate change. The concept of “smart” cities has emerged as a way to deal with these issues, in which these cities are defined as an ecosystem that seeks to improve citizens’ quality of life through a combination of technology, sustainability, and physical infrastructures (Estrada et al., 2018). Smart cities have to use new technologies ranging from the Internet of Things (IoT), which facilitates connections between everything, to home automation (i.e., the ease with which citizens can manage daily routines through their homes).

Years 2008 and 2009 were particularly affected by the outbreak of the global economic recession which in addition to economic instability was also affected by political instability. Economies of most countries in the world felt the impact of the financial crisis, not excluding the EU countries. Since the start of the crisis, there has been a substantial reduction in the EU’s growth potential. In the EU, this was reflected at the macro-level by 4.74% GDP reduction in 2009 (Campos-Soria, Inchausti-Sintes & Eugenio-Martin, 2014). The high levels of external liabilities and private and public debt in many countries in the EU still constitute substantial vulnerabilities for growth, jobs and financial stability. The development of various indicators at micro and macro levels in times of last crisis in various countries was investigated by several authors (Campos-Soria, Inchausti-Sintes, & Eugenio-Martin, 2015; Gugler, Weichselbaumer, & Zulehner, 2015; Zhao, Jiang, & Li, 2014; Tatulescu & Patruti, 2014; Mazurek & Mielcová, 2017; Klepáč & Hampel, 2018).

When implementing sustainable development principles, business should play the core role, and the corporate social responsibility is one of the examples of the active role of enterprises in implementing sustainable development goals. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) describes the companies that are aware of their mission and take responsibility for their impact on society in general. The CSR is vital for sustainability, competitiveness, advance of companies and development of the world economy. The CSR provides benefits for risk controlling, allows cost savings and stipulates affordability of the capital, facilitates stakeholders’ relationships and improvement of human resource management. In practice, human rights and corporate social responsibility have become an important aspect of business strategies for many companies.

The After-Sales (AS) service is becoming a strategic business driver to maintain longterm customer retention, customer satisfaction and capital revenue in such a manner that it guarantees the continuous improvement of products and services offered to customers; AS market is up to five times larger than the new product market (Bundschuh & Dezvane, 2003), whilst it is widely agreed that the turnover of the original purchase can be tripled during the product lifespan by investing in AS services. Consequently, performance of the after-sales department should be well measured and monitored to achieve a balance between the business and the operational goals on the one hand, and their assessed values on the other (Cavalieri et al., 2007).

The issue of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) caused by multinational companies is a potential important impediment to tax collections. Because tax planning schemes utilized gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax jurisdiction where there is insufficient of no economic activity (Hines, 2014; OECD, 2017). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has estimated the general annual revenue loss of USD 100 to 240 billion due to the BEPS OECD (2017). Dharmapala and Riedel (2013) focused on tax motivated income shifting between parent companies and their affiliates. The parent companies have almost 60% affiliates established in low-tax jurisdictions. It resulted in profit shifting from the high-tax parent companies’ jurisdictions to the low-tax affiliates’ jurisdictions where the profit is taxed with the lower tax rate.

The rapid development of information communication technologies (ICT) has expanded the possibilities for marketing communication. In order to increase business competitiveness and carry out effective marketing activities, it has therefore become important to acquire knowledge about e-consumers and to identify significant elements that shape their virtual behaviour and influence their decision to buy. An analysis of scientific literature revealed that there is a gap in knowledge with regards to the e-consumer behaviour of different generations, as customer segments, and their preferences in the purchase phase. The purchase phase is characterised by different internet marketing communication elements, which influence the performance of browsing and searching tasks. The goal of the research presented in this article was to determine the most significant internet marketing communication elements during the purchase phase of the e-consumer journey by performing a browsing task and using the mathematical decision tree approach.