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Being the basic need of humans, but also an attractive element of the tourist offer, gastronomy is related to the attractiveness of a destination, and Balkan gastronomy is considered to be one of the most positive aspects of the tourist image of the region. This study aims to investigate the locals' perception of gastronomic specificity of ‘Balkan food’ and national (local) food as well. Furthermore, the study investigated how ‘Balkan food’ is perceived in terms of its tourist potential, uniqueness, quality, nutrition and its general role in the creation of a joint ‘Balkan’ tourist brand. The methodology included a historical approach and a survey which involved110 respondents. Out of 21 traditional dishes identified in the official tourist promotional activities of selected countries and a review of the relevant literature, the following are identified as regional ‘Balkan’ dishes: ‘pečenje’, ‘musaka’, ‘ćevapi’ and ‘sarma’. The following are identified as national dishes: ‘pastrmajlija’, ‘sogan dolma’, ‘raštan’, ‘pašticada’, ‘burek’ and ‘svadbarski kupus’. The results indicated that some nations have specific knowledge of certain dishes being considered national and regionally present, while other nations show a lack of knowledge of food origin and regional presence in identified countries. Furthermore, the results showed that different dimensions of Balkan cuisine significantly contribute to the tourist potential of the region, while the contribution of its nutritive characteristics is perceived as less important. Results showed that ‘Balkan food’ is considered to be important for the improvement of the ‘Balkans'’ image and promotion, as well as important for the creation of the regional tourism brand.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the entrepreneurship activity in Turkey and the Balkan countries and to show in which fields they can cooperate in the future.

Document analysis was used in the research. In this context, taking into consideration the Global Entrepreneurship Index data published in 2019, the entrepreneurial potentials of Balkan countries, its current status was examined. Therefore, Turkey’s contribution to the development of entrepreneurial activities in the Balkan countries is shown in the study.

The results of the research show that entrepreneurship activities in the Balkan countries are not at the expected levels. In addition, it is determined that Turkey is in a central position in the Balkan’s entrepreneurship ecosystem in subjects such as especially, product innovation, risk capital, the ability of entrepreneurial start-up and its enterprises show high growth. Other Balkan countries may cooperate with Turkey about the production of technological products and technology transfer issues. Partner incubation programs can be formed. Training activities related to the entrepreneurship ecosystem can be organised together.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first study that addresses the current situation of Balkan countries by analysing the entrepreneurship index scores of Turkey and Balkan countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, northern Macedonia, Greece and Slovenia). It also formulated suggestions on establishing cooperation with Turkey.

The peoples living in the Balkan Peninsula over centuries have created a very rich cultural heritage and the constant political upheavals in the region have affected the development and preservation of their cultures. This paper aims to review the internet infrastructure and networked readiness levels of the Balkan countries, which are conducive to scientific co‐operation and preservation of digitised cultural heritage. It also explores the destructive effects of wars on the cultural riches of the region.

The internet facilities and the scientific production of the Balkan countries were identified using published sources and Thomson's Web of Science database. A game‐theoretic approach was used to expound the consequences of wars and the adverse effects of the nation‐building process on cultural heritage artefacts.

Balkan countries lack sound internet infrastructures, hindering their contributions to the world of science and stifling scientific co‐operation among themselves in terms of joint papers. The co‐ordinated efforts have yet to exist to streamline the digital preservation of the unique cultural heritage of the Balkan countries.

This paper discusses the impact of the nation‐building process on cultural and scientific heritage artefacts using the concepts of the “game theory”. It reinforces the fact that destroying the cultural heritage artefacts during wars is not a “zero‐sum game” in which the dominant culture wins and the “other” culture loses. It is not even a “lose‐lose game” in which both parties lose. Rather, humanity loses part of its whole cultural heritage forever.

Introduction: This study presents defining and analysis of the results of people infected with COVID-19. The main goal of this chapter is to extract and present an overview of COVID-19 pandemic infection; wherewith extracted dataset, we analyse confirmed, deaths and recovery cases.

Aim: This chapter tries to analyse the differences between Balkan states according to affected cases with COVID-19. To achieve our goal, we used a reported dataset from World Health Organization (WHO). The methodology used in this chapter is quantitative by measuring the data and comparing these data. Results show compared cases between countries in Balkan.

Results: The data are analysed using SPSS software. The analysed data show that there exist very important differences between states regarding all cases that are either positive or deaths of recovered. All the data are collected from WHO databases in the CSV file where the number of cases in our dataset is 2,762 rows which include Balkan countries.

Conclusion: All these cases are taken in the period January–December 2020. These contain a total of 10 cases from Balkan countries. In this way, the number of infected, confirmed and death cases is shown in that region.

Originality/value: This chapter contributes to defining and analysing the epidemiology of all states which are part of Balkan territory. As we know, COVID-19 has its impact in different forms but the greatest consequences in these places are tremendous. According to WHO reports, we see three statements of cases which are cured, died and infected up until now. The most powerful states in the world have passed this period of infection in different forms successfully, but some of them, such as in the Balkan region, have failed by having numerous deaths and this had an impact on the economy, free movement of people and so on.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of logistics performance on the carbon (CO2) emissions of Balkan countries.

Fixed-effects panel regression analysis is used to estimate the causal relationship between CO2 emissions and logistic performances of Balkan countries. Logistics performance is measured by logistics performance index (LPI) which was published by the World Bank in 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 and used for ranking countries by means of their logistics performance. LPI is based on six main indicators: customs procedures, logistics costs and the quality of the infrastructure for overland and maritime transport. As a measure of carbon emissions of sampled countries, the natural logarithm of carbon dioxide emission per capita is used in this study.

The results obtained reveal that there is a positive and significant relationship between logistics performance and CO2 performances of the sampled Balkan countries.

This study is based on only 11 Balkan countries. In this sense, the data used in the analysis is limited.

Considering the important geostrategic position of the Balkan region, logistics sector has an important role for the development of the countries in that region. In this sense, the findings of this study may provide useful insights for policymakers to achieve sustainable economic development. Furthermore, as far as the authors know, this is the first study that focuses on the relationship between logistics performance and carbon emissions of Balkan countries.

In this chapter, Andrea Óhidy discusses some pivotal issues of the book. Firstly, she shows the common challenges for current and future EU-member states to increase the participation and success of Roma people in education and lifelong learning. Then she discusses policy strategies and measures for Roma Inclusion in the Western Balkan states Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. They try to improve the social situation of Roma people but also to promote minority languages and cultures. She found the main cause of the similarities concerning the strategies and concrete projects for possible solutions in the adaptation of the EU Roma inclusion policy in the Western Balkan states as part of their negotiations for EU membership. She considers the implementation of these policy measures and also the educational attainment and success of Roma in the Western Balkans unsatisfactory.

Tourism is a big and complex system which incorporates a large number of public and private sectors that offer a wide range of products and services for different segments of tourists. Therefore, tourism development has become important for many organizations from different industries in the region. While tourism affords significant positive effects to tourism destination, it also adds large environmental footprint; to be more sustainable, the tourism industry needs to apply specific strategies to make it more environmentally friendly. Thus, sustainable tourism development becomes a paradigm shift to include a green orientation as a way to achieve these goals.

This chapter is focused on a green orientation in tourism in the Western Balkan countries. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the importance of a green orientation in tourism as an important way to achieve sustainable tourism development. The major method of research was secondary data collection. Key sources of information included literature concerning sustainable tourism and the green economy, green strategies in tourism, as demonstrated in the work of UNWTO, UNEP and WTTC. Data gathered from these organization’s web pages were examined.

The Western Balkan countries accepted and applied the idea of sustainable tourism development in practice, but they remain insufficient in application when it comes to green orientation in tourism. All countries in this region should adopt more precise green strategies for future tourism development to provide long-term benefits for local population, environment and economy in tourism destination.

Most large enterprises have “a global view” in the expansion of their activities and, thus, in the creation of their investment projects. They invest in specific countries when they conclude that the countries in question fulfill their goals. It is not enough that an economy of a country has as a target to become a market economy, to open its borders and to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) flows for the economy to become globalized, but it is necessary for this result to be shown by significant foreign participation and huge FDI and trade inflows into the host country. If this never happens, then the country will not benefit from globalization. From one point of view, multinational enterprises (MNEs) “decide” which countries benefit from economic integration and which countries successfully participate in the huge worldwide globalized economic chain. On the other hand, due to the large investment opportunities that a few countries offer to MNEs and due to the large number of host countries, at the end, MNEs invest only in specific countries. Thus, there are a lot of countries that are isolated from the whole system. Moreover, smaller MNEs in economic magnitude often extend their activities mainly to neighboring countries, in order to maximize their profits and minimize their costs. The share of FDI is not the same in all countries and the FDI inflows in less‐developing or poor countries show little growth or no growth at all. Today's FDI orientation is not as global as expected and there is a regional trend in those flows, when at the same time a few countries, especially from specific regions (such as the Balkan region) still live cut off from the world of FDI flows.

The creative process through which the territorial resources, knowledge and culture are used, exploited and configured to match needs and to achieve congruence with the changing business environment has become a crucial process for competitiveness. This is even more relevant for economies of developing countries which are continuously struggling to reap the benefits of globalisation, as well as to grasp the new opportunities for competitiveness. As such, this paper aims to try to concentrate on the dynamic perspectives of the creative economy of countries by distinguishing between the potentialities and performance. The paper tackles the influence that creativity capacities might have on performance of countries.

The methodology consists in identifying creative economy indicators from a diverse data set of the World Economic Forum and distinguish them between potential and performance indicators.

Data reveal as good progress and emphasis is being devoted to increasing the level of creativity; however, the Balkan countries still holdup in their capacity to boost innovation.

The paper provide a new focus of research on creativity measurement that is significant for understanding what creative capacities territories possess and the ability to make proficient use for growth and innovation.

This paper proposes a new operational framework for measuring and interpreting the creative economy indicators by identifying not only indicators that gauge the potentialities of a country, but also indicators that are linked with the performance dimension, as well as the relationship amongst them.