bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Towards Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development in Lebanon
Authors: Diab Malak Bou
Published: December 2019

Faced with provocation emerged from sustainable development, several states, and in specific organizations and other related social performers, are asking their tasks and desire to take dynamic perspective to social accountability. In doing this, they are faced with sustainable development challenges. Entrepreneurship constitutes the business efforts of an individual or group for earning profit and ensuring economic empowerment, while social entrepreneurship involves the business activities with an embedded social purpose focused on sustainability rather than immediate outcomes. Entrepreneurship is an important factor of economy. The development of social entrepreneurship needs a structural adjustment in the society. The principal paper aim is to investigate the social entrepreneurship role in improving sustainable development. Also, the paper will examine social entrepreneurship as an effective tool in resolving social problems, noting that social entrepreneurship analysis can provide a response to sustainable development challenges. The research focuses on addressing the current state of social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship indicators, pillars of entrepreneurship development, business environment and entrepreneurial opportunity and signifying the practicality of dissimilar business models developed in social entrepreneurship. Surveys were conducted on fifty different organizations (banks and audit companies) to collect data. Also, SPSS system was used to analyze the data gathered, to study the relationship between sustainable development and social entrepreneurship. Evidence suggests that social entrepreneurship can play a significant role for poverty reduction, ensuring employment, economic prosperity, environmental justice, pollution free ecology, good governance, reduction of terrorism, guarantee of peace, corruption control etc., thus offering opportunities to fulfill sustainable development goals in Lebanon. We can conclude that social business models develop a basic spread that grant social entrepreneurs to participate actively to sustainable development.
The role of strategic agility in the IT sector
Authors: Lungu Miruna Florina
Published: December 2019

As we are living in a world governed by technology, the society becomes step by step more digitalized. The IT sector is now rooted both in our personal and professional lives, removing physical boundaries. Given these facts, the aim of this paper is to present an analysis of how strategic agility works hand in hand within the IT industry. Strategic agility represents a trigger for growth in this industry, contributing to its expansion and strategic business direction as part of the business environment. Thus, the objectives of the current paper are three-folded, namely: (1) what does strategic agility stands for in the IT industry; (2) how strategic agility is achieved within IT sector (3) which business areas of IT companies are impacted by strategic agility. In the journey of covering all these points, we will use mixed research methodology. The qualitative research contributes to a deeper understanding of the role strategic agility plays in the IT business. This section of the paper screens the targeted concepts of the research, acknowledging the challenges and opportunities triggered by strategic agility. The quantitative research method represented by a survey highlights through primary collected data a real case analysis of the IT industry. Various stakeholders operating in this industry bring their input to the development of this scientific paper, their opinion being sketched with the support of structured set of opened and closed questions. The findings of this research are collected and analyzed to mirror the significance of strategic agility as part of the IT industry. The paper aims to cover all the listed objectives, raising awareness of how technology is a vital strategic pillar of the business environment. Such results enhance our capacity of future value creation, enabling new opportunities for growth and innovation.
A Comparative Analysis of Crowdfunding in Poland and Romania
Authors: Fanea-Ivanovici Mina , Siemionek-Ruskań Małgorzata
Published: December 2019

Given the difficulty to access traditional bank funding by creative businesses and start-ups, crowdfunding as an alternative way to finance innovative and creative projects has been adopted, enacted and successfully used by several Western countries, which can serve as best practice examples. However, in many countries crowdfunding is still an emerging phenomenon due to its novelty and variety, the general awareness regarding this alternative funding method being relatively low. The aim of this paper is to investigate the extent to which Poland and Romania, the two largest Central and Eastern European member states, have adopted and used crowdfunding to support innovative and creative projects and to assess the sustainability of such a novel funding method in the respective countries. The objective of the comparative analysis is to determine how the existing legal framework supports the implementation of crowdfunding activities and what crowdfunding types are being used in each country based on the existing local crowdfunding platforms, to identify and explain the main strengths and weaknesses of each of the two markets, as well as to provide a set of measures and proposals that can be adopted by the two countries in order to promote and enhance the crowdfunding phenomenon, which we argue is a factor that ensures business sustainability in creative and innovative activities carried out especially by start-up companies. Apart from the empirical analysis of legislation and platforms, the research methodology includes a survey among business students and fresh graduates of business schools, the purpose of which being to assess the level of awareness of young entrepreneurs-to-be regarding this funding method.
Modifying the organisational culture in order to increase the company’s level of sustainability
Authors: Covaş Lilia
Published: December 2019

Changing the business behaviour by prioritising sustainability was proved to be an intelligent solution to social, environmental, as well as economic issues. Adapting to the principles of sustainability must begin with modifying the visions, values and beliefs typical of the economic entities, given that these elements form its organisational culture. Therefore, the concept of sustainability can be integrated in the company’s strategy by changing the organisational culture. Given these points, a study was conducted within twenty-eight organisations from the Republic of Moldova with the objective of identifying the optimal organisational culture pattern for increasing the level of sustainability. The first part of the research implies elaborating a suitable way to compute the global performance of an entity which entails economic, social and environmental performance. To realise a comparative analysis of the results obtained by the companies, was proposed a classification method in 5 performance categories, based on which their sustainability was appreciated. Quantitative research is based on the method of questionnaire, which was applied to a number of 300 employees from the same companies. The organization culture was analysed according to the Competing Values Framework (CVF) by Cameron and Quinn (2011), which is one of the most influential and extensively used models in the area of organizational culture research. The findings show that in the analysed companies dominates hierarchy type of organizational culture. However, the study emphasises the fact that companies with a higher sustainability level scored significantly higher on clan, adhocracy and, market cultures, while the hierarchical is lower. The obtained results prove that organisational culture is a factor which has a considerable impact on the company’s sustainability. Adopting a sustainability-oriented organizational culture can make a major contribution in creating long term success in organization.
The Carbon Dioxide Clathrate Disposal in a Pit near Japan
Authors: Mândrea Lucian , Bădescu Viorel , Voicu Ionuț Cristian
Published: December 2019

The research purpose is to present the possibility to deposit the carbon dioxide clathrate at the ocean bottom near Japan. As it is well known, a big amount of CO2 is produced nowadays, with a very damaging influence on the climate. These effects can already be seen all around the world. A possible solution to get rid of the CO2 surpluses is to liquefy it, transform it into carbon dioxide clathrate and send it through pipes at very low levels into the oceans or seas, where its density is bigger than the salted ocean water density. Theoretical ideas are presented at the beginning. An analytical method is used to calculate the carbon dioxide clathrate pressure at the exit of the pipe and also the pressure at a certain depth into the ocean. Because the carbon dioxide clathrate density and the sea water density are variable at different depths, an integral calculus must be done. The authors also calculated the flow rate through the pipes and the time needed to deposit the clathrate at the bottom of the ocean. The volume of the pit is also determined. A particular calculus is made in the case of the Ryukyu pit near Japan. It has steep slopes and the depth reaches around 8000 meters. The location was chosen because, in the case of Japan, high amounts of CO2 are produced. Hurricanes cross this country. Therefore, we suppose that large interest can appear for such a solution to change the climate even locally. Depending on the previous parameters, one can analyze the opportunity for the practical deposition of the carbon dioxide clathrate in the respective pit with a further economical calculus. The calculus which uses the prices in Japan can estimate the cost to liquefy the CO2 and to send it to the bottom of the ocean as well as compare it with other methods to reduce the CO2 quantity in the atmosphere.
Major Challenges and Barriers to IPSASs Implementation in Lebanon
Authors: Ahmad Amar Sayed , Nasseredine Hassan
Published: December 2019

The need for greater accountability and transparency in government and private institutions handling funds and resources reporting was heightened by the global financial crisis that led to reduced resources available for both the government and private sector. This led to the introduction of an accounting and auditing system known as International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) that will help to track all transactions hence ability to maintain transparency and accountability while reporting financial statements. However, the implementation of the IPSASs guidelines in most countries has been faced with a lot of barriers. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to determine some of the challenges facing the implementation of IPSASs in Lebanon. The study deploys quantitative descriptive study design and the primary data gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire from 100 public accountants and financial system managers. The data collected has been analyzed using SPSS to get frequencies and percentages which have been presented in tabular form. The findings indicate that the level of IPSAS awareness in Lebanon is higher, however, the full implementation of the IPSASs guidelines is still facing a lot of barriers. The principal obstacles that have come out clearly from the study findings included lack of government support, the high cost of implementation, resistance to change and lack of better understanding of the significance and operation of the IPSASs tool. The study has recommended that IPSASs be incorporated in college and university curriculum, the government to fund the implementation of IPSASs in all listed organizations and government departments and strengthen regulatory bodies to ensure that all accountants and auditing organizations in Lebanon comply with IPSASs guidelines.
Investigating how online shopping platform users contribute to improving the businesses’ performance: empirical evidence from Romania
Authors: Barbu Andreea , Militaru Gheorghe , Simion Cristina Petronela , Moiceanu Georgiana
Published: December 2019

The purpose of this paper is to identify how online shopping platform users in Romania influence businesses’ performance. The emergence of e-commerce has led to a revolution in global commerce by diversifying and improving sales and purchasing actions for existing products and services on the market. In Romania, buyers’ behaviour shows a more restraining of online commerce behaviour. Most sales are still registered according to the classic system of physically going to stores, although the number of online users has grown significantly over the last decade. The reluctance of buyers to buy from the online environment leads to the low performance of companies in the e-commerce market. The hypothesized model is empirically tested using data collected from a survey on Google Analytics platforms of some online companies in Romania. The authors used SPSS Software to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement model. There have been analysed various links between some variables that were obtained from Google Analytics, data that were collected by age groups, gender or geographical area. Through an empirical analysis is being analysed the role of tracking data on the websites in order to improve company performance. By analysing those variables, the authors analysed if the number of sessions acquired, the bounce rate of the acquired visitors or other variables can improve the company performance. This study offers a new perspective on company performance in online firms. The analysis of variables describing user behaviour in the online environment in interaction with e-commerce platforms has led to conclusions about the performance of online companies. The theoretical contributions and managerial implications of the study are discussed.
Suitability of OPC UA for distributed energy monitoring
Authors: Krutwig Michael C.
Published: December 2019

According to ISO 50001, energy management systems have become widespread in the manufacturing industry. Especially for most large, energy-intensive companies, an energy management system has become an indispensable component of cost planning and sustainability strategy. Energy monitoring is used for continuously evaluating energy flows. Networked and distributed monitoring in industrial production environments is becoming increasingly common with cyber-physical systems (CPS) and can take advantage of them. Considering this, the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) framework plays a decisive role, as it networks all factory components and creates a standard for interoperability between the components. In a literature review context, this paper examines the flexible OPC UA standard, particularly concerning its applicability to energy monitoring. The research question concerns which OPC UA aspects are of relevance for an energy management system. To reduce the technical resources, a subset of the complete standard tailored to the specific task can also be available in the components. Here, we investigate the requirements an energy-related CPS has to fulfill and extract the standard’s relevant components and characteristics from the OPC UA framework based on these requirements. Using the information model of OPC UA, an energy sensor becomes a CPS. We demonstrate this process in a prototypical implementation.
Romania and its poverty-alleviating competitiveness: a Central and Eastern European outlook
Authors: Argatu Ruxandra , Păunescu Carmen
Published: December 2019

Competitiveness is a prerequisite for development and a critical ingredient for enabling national welfare in the nowadays challenging world, being more and more debated and approached by researchers and policymakers at the same time. Following these considerations, the article aims to illustrate Romania’s competitiveness ranking in fighting poverty and ensuring a decent level of living to people relative to the European Union’s positioning, through indicators comprised within the European Social Progress Index and the Global Competitiveness Index. The concern for this topic is backed up by prior research performed with respect to Romania’s social and economic competitiveness, claiming that the country has managed to improve its standing among European Union member states but it still has to struggle to get even better by following the best practices of these nations. Thus, there is a relentless need for the consolidation of both its economic cohesion by altering the quality of its infrastructure and institutions, as well as its social status through investments in education, knowledge and innovation. As for the methodology, the analysis of Romania’s competitiveness degree will firstly incorporate a literature review section, comprising poverty, competitiveness and competitiveness obtainment tools. The evaluation will also rely on document analysis of secondary data concerning competitiveness indicators retrieved from the websites of the institutions issuing them, namely Social Progress Imperative and World Economic Forum. The research intends to clarify how Romania can become more competitive in social terms, what fields require substantial progress and what the European Union countries can teach us in this sense.
Linearization and discretization risks in knowledge management
Authors: Bratianu Constantin
Published: December 2019

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the limitations induced in Knowledge Management by the processes of linearization and discretization, which happen frequently in decision-making. Linearization is a result of applying linear thinking models in decision-making, regardless of the complexity of knowledge management phenomena. Knowledge and all the other intangible resources are nonlinear entities and they should be evaluated with nonlinear metrics. However, in many situations managers use simple solutions based on linear thinking models and get large errors in their decision-making, with significant negative consequences in management. Also, linear thinking model is dominant in legislation, which may lead to significant errors in managerial decision-making. Discretization is a process in which an entity with a continuous representation, like a knowledge field, is transformed into a piecewise entity to be handled more easily. Also, social media uses discretized systems for different evaluations which should be interpreted accordingly. For instance, counting the number of “like” on Facebook for a certain message or image may lead to the conclusion that friendship is proportional with the number of “friends”, which might not be in concordance with reality. Knowledge management is a complex activity dealing with knowledge, which means nonlinear entities. Using linear thinking models and discretization methods in evaluations and decision-making may lead to significant errors and negative consequences.
Cruise industry in Romania – An emerging market
Authors: Anton Emanuela
Published: December 2019

Cruise tourism has experienced an enormous growth in the last few decades and the future of this industry is also encouraging. The Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea, the two major destinations, offer the most exciting itineraries since the beginning of this industry. The cruise passenger’s perception about destinations, onboard and onshore aspects have been less investigated in the past years but this information shall be used for planning and developing marketing materials, new cruise itineraries, ship designs and shore excursions. The following study was conducted in Romania and aims to clarify the Romanian passenger’s perception about cruise destinations and their preferences. Using a quantitative method, the research is based on some of the most representative international studies as well as a survey sent to the most active customers of a cruise travel agency in Romania, who have shown interest in this kind of trip at least once. As a qualitative research method, a convenience sample of participants were recruited through the researcher’s professional contacts in the cruise and travel industry. Among other conclusions following this research, the most important aspect for a Romanian guest is the itinerary of the cruise ship, followed by the price and the embarkation port. The number of sea days, the service quality onboard and the cruise line are also relevant when choosing a cruise vacation.
Developing rural tourism in the context of sustainable bioeconomy – a Romanian perspective
Authors: Hadad Shahrazad
Published: December 2019

Due to the massive urbanization during the second half of the 20th century, rural areas have undergone major structural changes defined by the migration of villagers to cities (implicitly the depopulation of villages), the introduction of new techniques and technologies for working the land and infrastructure developments. In order to call public attention upon these problems and in the attempt to rehabilitate rural areas, more intensive exploitation of tourism resources has taken place. Tourist resources are the elements referring to the social, cultural, historical, human and natural specifics of a country. In rural tourism, travelers take part in the activities, lifestyle and traditions of rural communities, and in this manner they benefit from an entirely personalized experience. They usually rent rural accommodation, which they can combine with rural activities and attractions (recreational and fun). Rural tourism is defined as all rural tourism activities, primarily agrotourism boarding houses and farms, but also small restaurants and hotels or other accommodation. However, there are countries that classify any activity undertaken outside the city as rural tourism. Research in the field of rural tourism development favors the creation of so-called integrated rural tourism (at both the theoretical and practical level) for the exploitation of underdeveloped regions, creating strong links between the social, cultural, economic and environmental resources. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the level of rural tourism in Romania by means of econometric methods and establish means of aligning the Romanian rural tourism product to international standards. One of the main conclusions the present study draws that is tourism is an important economic segment of sustainable development and is also a key component in the formation of the country image at regional and international level.
Biomonitoring climate change and air quality assessment using bioindicators as experimental model
Authors: Cozea Andreea , Bucur Elena , Vasile Andrei , Stoica Catalina
Published: December 2019

Nowadays, the air pollution has become a major environmental problem due to rapid increase of industrialization and anthropogenic activities which led to climate change. Air pollution is considered as a harmful agent for human health. Different classes of gaseous pollutants (SOx, NOx) are continuously released in air and perceived/recognized as pollutants. Among the biological models, plants could give us information related with pollution range in a monitored area, analyzing injuries caused on the leaves surfaces. The aim of this study was to identify and select certain species of plants for using them in experimental biomonitoring studies. An experimental fumigation system with a closed fumigation glasshouses maintained under defined conditions with environmental control and pollutant delivery was used to study the effects of air pollution on plants species. The relative degrees of injury as a response of plants to pollutants fumigation were assessed. Considering the sensitiveness degree to pollutants, the indigenous tobacco Nicotiana rustica proved to be the most sensitive followed by cultivated tobacco Nicotiana tabacum and least sensitive Petunia hibrida. Future researches will focus on field biomonitoring.
Reframing business reporting in a Big Data world
Authors: Dutescu Adriana , Pugna Irina Bogdana , Stanila Georgiana Oana
Published: December 2019

This paper investigates the challenges raised by the “datafication” of the business environment in the area of performance management. Big Data and its powerful analytics are now essential elements of the business landscape, and the mindset of managers and decision-makers has a crucial impact on how the opportunities offered by these new technologies can be capitalised. Our focus is on how and to what extent business performance management models need to be reviewed and reframed in this era of Big Data. We propose a model, called Balanced ScoreCard System Thinking, that may insure an integrative, highly dynamic and agile construction. This “top-down-bottom-up” approach assess the way in which every segment of the Balance Score Card is affected by Big Data and Business Analytics. These findings may enable business leaders to develop a more agile and forward-looking approach to performance management, which is only made possible through these new technologies of data analytics.
Qualitative and quantitative Analysis of consumers perception regarding anthropomorphic AI designs
Authors: Ene Irina , Pop Mihai-Ionuț , Nistoreanu Bogdan
Published: December 2019

Business intelligence and analytics are nowadays being integrated into diverse industries, from healthcare to customer relationship management and behavioral profiling, due to the competitive advantages that they offer. Nevertheless, most companies try to integrate as many forms of business intelligence systems as possible into different internal processes. This overall digitization applied to more and more business departments is being analyzed with both curiosity and reluctance. The decision regarding the implementation of innovative forms of automation is taken in an attempt to discover and solve business challenges. However, there are several issues involved, which need to be addressed. One of the risks that are being discussed in the research environment refers to the level of acceptance of artificial intelligence systems. The tolerance and overall readiness of the consumers towards innovation and technology is one of the critical factors which need to be determined before implementing disruptive business intelligence systems. Moreover, in an effort to make devices friendlier to consumers, some developers chose to assign anthropomorphic appearances and even create individual identities for each artificial intelligence system. In this context, it is important for most companies investing in intelligent automation systems to determine to which extend the use of anthropomorphic designs impacts the customer’s perception. The objective of this research paper is to analyze the unconscious reaction of consumers towards two opposite designs of artificial intelligence systems: a robotic-like form and a human-like design. Based on this difference, a photo collage was created figuring two pictures: one with a metallic robot having a conversation with a human being and one with a robot with a strong anthropomorphic figure found in the same situation. For the analysis, an eye tracking device was used, in order to measure the point of gaze, the unconscious motion of the eyes, along with the time spent on each fixation and the order in which different elements were fixated upon by the respondents. As the eye-tracking device can generate data in various forms, this research includes both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the results, which confirm the same hypothesis, regarding the consumer’s preference towards artificial intelligence systems with robotic designs.
Key drivers and skills need for innovative companies focused on sustainability
Authors: Grigorescu Adriana , Maer Matei Monica Mihaela , Mocanu Cristina , Zamfir Ana-Maria
Published: December 2019

Innovation is essential for European competitiveness and provides key inputs for developing business models that are conducive for a more sustainable economy. Recent evidences show that businesses have increased the management attention and investments they’re dedicating to sustainability. This paper aims to identify the most important drivers supporting companies to develop innovation activities oriented towards making the business models more sustainable. We explore microdata from the 2016 Innobarometer “EU Business Innovation Trends” (Flash Eurobarometer 433), covering 14,112 companies from 30 countries. Using statistical classification methods, we identify the most important factors that are related to innovation activities that have potential to shape the efficiency of raw materials usage and the environmental protection. Special focus is given to companies’ investments in training, software development, research and development, company branding, design of products and services, organization or business process improvements and acquisition of machines, equipment, software or licenses. Also, our analysis highlights the skills that are needed the most by companies in order to support their innovation activities targeting sustainability. Our results are useful for better understanding the attention that is given to sustainability by innovative companies and which are the main factors that boost innovation dedicated to sustainability.
New approaches to customer experience: where disruptive technological innovation meets luxury fashion
Authors: Harba Jacqueline-Nathalie
Published: December 2019

Consumer behavior is shifting radically with the rise of e-commerce and new technologies. As a result, luxury retailers are forced to embrace a variety of technologies to keep their customers engaged. How do brands captivate shoppers and provide the customer experience that will satisfy their desires? Through dissemination of literature and case studies on examples from the industry, this paper presents a detailed discussion on the new approaches to customer experience in the luxury fashion industry, in the context of a modern economy that is highly shaped by disruptive technological innovations. The discussion includes two detailed case studies, focusing on two key themes that define contemporary customer expectations: the story – discussing customer’s desire to be immersed in the narratives behind catwalk collections, and the experience – discussing the use of technology to create a unique retail space through the use of online and mobile specific technologies. The first case study focuses on how new technologies provide brands with new opportunities to present their products through narratives. Using famous luxury retailers Dior, Givenchy and Prada as examples, the case study provides a detailed discussion on the use of virtual reality and augmented reality as tools that enable customers to project themselves into the story behind a catwalk show and become active characters in the narrative, through the use of technological devices. The second case study focuses on the importance of merging the online and the traditional brick-and-mortar store. “The Store of the Future”, by luxury retailer Farfetch is used as an example of how retailers make use of high-tech equipment, virtual reality and augmented reality not only to create a tech-powered interactive experience that will intrigue customers, but also to improve retail productivity by capturing customer data. The study adopts a qualitative research method to evaluate the validity of the concepts discussed in the Literature Review, using a sample of three in-depth interviews with industry experts, focusing on the use of technology to improve customer experience in physical retail spaces. Based on previously published research, it is estimated that the primary research will indicate that it is not the use of technology that drives the customer experience, but customer expectations that determine the adoption and adaptation of disruptive technologies to satisfy the shoppers’ requirements.
Game mechanics and aesthetics differences for tangible and intangible goods provided via social media
Authors: Haziri Fortesa , Chovancová Miloslava , Fetahu Faton
Published: December 2019

Companies aspire to fulfil consumers’ needs, wants and desires by offering products and services. Due to globalization and digitization, the world became a small village by facilitating the obtainability of products/services across the globe. Furthermore, the online purchasing via social platforms mirrors the traditional purchasing process. Gamification, game techniques and elements have been employed in the different domain for engaging and motivating consumers, students, end-users in numerous countries and cultures. Gamification is considered the appliance of game techniques and game elements in the non-game environment. It’s been adjusted in different models founded as a need to explore and explain variables, phenomena and theories. Game mechanics as one of the game elements are applied in different disciplines to achieve better performance, fruitful collaboration, active and enthusiastic participation, creating enjoyable, pleasurable and entertaining environment. Aesthetics are described as the sensory part that game evoke within the player. To identify the differences within consumers who purchase via social media when game mechanics and aesthetics are applied, the chi-square test for independence has been employed. The results estimate that the association between products and services as variables is not statistically significant and the relationship between them is weak or moderated. The findings of this research are useful for private companies and other interested stakeholders.
A balanced approach: Brexit from political and business perspectives
Authors: Hoinaru Răzvan , Năstase Mihnea
Published: December 2019

There is a considerable amount of publications written on rolling back the EU supra state, national sovereignty regain, and strategic (mis)conceptions for analysing Brexit scenarios for both the UK and the EU. Many articles present a unilateral point of view with a tendency to be normative. The presentation of only one-sided political, historical, and business perspectives can be very dangerous, limiting understanding and constructive approaches. This also happens with macro-economic analyses that are used fit for purpose. David Cameron’s political calculation to call for a referendum regarding the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union has had complex ramifications. With causes that have led to the British citizens’ decision that range from multiple crises in the European Union, member states’ inability for burden and risk sharing, to the lack of trust portrayed by European institutions and a confusing internal rhetoric. With a City of London remaining undecided and continuously evaluating the value at risk of Brexit, and in the absence of a new European financial center, it is important to make sense of the arguments of both in and out supporters. Thus, this article attempts to present a more integrated approach, spanning across politics, trade, private businesses and social attitudes. This paper looks beyond international relations between nations and takes into consideration the international relations between corporations and their business strategies.
Accounting for the future: How will corporate business models deliver sustainability?
Authors: Haslam Colin , Hoinaru Razvan , Daniel Buda
Published: December 2019

This paper considers the information value of carbon-emissions disclosures for investors. Our argument is that Financial Institutions (FIs) do need to map the carbon-financial intensity of corporate activities so as to provide investors with higher returns on capital relative to the carbon emissions attached to this capital. Our analysis maps out carbon-financial risks in the S&P500 constituent companies that are domiciled in the US and capturing approximately 82% of the total U.S. equity market value. We examine the extent to which carbon-financial risk has already impacted on the allocation of capital (debt and equity) and market value exposure from carbon emissions in the S&P500. Our analysis of carbon generating and carbon dependent business models in the S&P 500 reveals a complex and interconnected physical-financial value chain. This new insight will force FIs to now become active investor’s rather than simply investing (or disinvesting) at a distance in order to secure a long-term decarbonisation of their portfolios. This papers also argues for new innovative disclosures such as company’s reporting their top 10 material carbon-stakeholder relations. This would help FIs understand a company’s business model in terms of carbon interdependency and inform regulatory and technical interventions thereby avoiding the possibility of a disruptive evacuation of capital from carbon-intensive business models.
Was Euro the magic wand for economic growth? An analysis of the real benefits of Euro adoption for the New Member States
Authors: Holobiuc Ana-Maria , Mihai Bogdan
Published: December 2019

At the beginning of the 21st century, the European single currency has been considered a guarantor of prosperity and welfare for the countries that were able to meet the nominal convergence criteria. Starting with Slovenia, a number of five Center and Eastern European Countries joined the Economic and Monetary Union, aiming to achieve the economic prosperity of the Western countries. The concept of economic convergence has been popularized through the economic growth literature during the last century and has become more and more debated with the deepening and expansion of the European Union. The main purpose of this paper has been to evaluate whether there is any hard evidence attesting that Euro adoption accelerated the economic development and created a significant advantage for the New Member States that opted for the single currency, as compared with their peer countries. In this respect, we have studied a panel of New Member States that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007, comprising both Euro and Non-Euro countries, and we concluded that the single currency do not necessarily guarantee higher growth rates. Moreover, we revealed that the Euro New Member States were more affected by the economic and financial crisis than their Non-Euro peers. We have also shown that there are significant discrepancies between the early adopters of the Euro and the countries that joined the Eurozone after 2004 in terms of convergence and that the differences between the two groups have expanded in the last years. Last and not the least, in order to test our hypotheses, we have compared two sister-countries: Slovakia that joined the Eurozone in 2009 and Czech Republic that has not taken until now the decision to adopt the Euro. In this respect, our results suggest that both countries had good economic performances, and for some periods Czech Republic outperformed Slovakia, mainly in terms of GDP per capita and Foreign Direct Investment. Therefore, we concluded that the single currency has not significantly enhanced the economic performances in the case of the New Member States.
Land taxation
Authors: Izvoranu Anca Marina , Călin Henriette Cristiana
Published: December 2019

The process of producing agricultural goods involves natural resources, cataloged as inputs. Neutral, the most important is the land, as the primary resource among seeds, land, agricultural machinery, fuel. The present paper will analyze how the land resource is taxed, the needs and opportunities of taxation, and what are the shortcomings of this niche. The study does not aim to deal exhaustively with the legislation related issues in this sector, but has in particular sought to identify future directions of development in terms of the ability of agricultural actors to cope with the commitments they have since they are owner of agricultural land. At the same time, the information resources landowners would need to help understand and overcome the tax obstacles that they live when they want to grow through acquisitions or expansions, will be considered. Taxes, as part of fiscal policy, part of the economic policy, are established instruments, considering the level of development and the state national economy. That’s why they differ from one country to another, relative to their level of development. In low-developed countries, a smaller redistribution of the Gross Domestic Product of Taxes is observed, through the state budget, to the situation of the developed countries.
Exploring the Concept of Crisis in Businesses: a Critical Step in the Formulation and Implementation of Crisis Management
Authors: Muşetescu Radu-Cristian , Shayb Hezi-Aviram
Published: December 2019

After an initial period of ignorance of the phenomenon of crises that are experienced by businesses, a fast expanding literature is approaching this issue. However, the present authors perceive a lack of commonly agreed conceptualization and taxonomy in debating the situations when companies are facing difficulties. We explore in this paper how economic theory and management knowledge could assist escaping such challenging contexts. We argue that a narrow focus on financial indicators of the company is critical for any business decision targeting the restructuring and reorganization but the deep causes of the challenging context should be identified. We argue that crisis management has in common principles and approaches with risk management but the delimitation should be made clear. There may be organizational crisis when risk management approaches could be employed in order to deal with them but there are many instances when the approach of risk management is insufficient or even not operational. Such circumstances require a real entrepreneurial approach. We advance a coherent system of conceptualizing the crisis and differentiating crisis management from risk management.
An overview on the correlation between the economic status of a country and the population’s health indicators
Authors: Păunică Mihai , Manole Alexandru , Motofei Cătălina , Tănase Gabriela-Lidia
Published: December 2019

In this paper, the authors aim to measure the influence of the macroeconomic indicators that characterize a national economy on some key national health indicators. The purpose is to obtain an updated evaluation of the population medical status, under the impact of either growth or economic decline. The analysis focuses especially on Romania but also on other countries, to be able to investigate comparatively national indicators and trends. Multiple data sources have been used for an in-depth analysis, to fit in an appropriate manner the purpose of the study. Static and econometric data analysis software was applied on primary data, as analysis instruments. The correlation coefficient and the regression were the tools used to obtain the study conclusions. We start from the premise that the potential of statistic data sources, combined with the processing power of the data analysis tools would be able to lead to the best result. We have also reviewed the previous studies performed on the same topic and, along with our data, the obtained conclusions should have a certain value and interest not only for current needs and utilization, but also for future researches. The authors are aware of the direct influence between the macroeconomic status (or performance) indicators and the indicators that characterize the health of the population, and will attempt to measure the intensity of this impact on several key selected domains.
Product versus Celebrity – An eye-tracking experiment for the determination of the attention-catcher in advertising
Authors: Nistoreanu Puiu , Pelau Corina , Lazar Laura
Published: December 2019

Celebrity endorsement has been frequently used in advertising as consumers are attracted and tend to imitate the behavior of the star. In the past years, celebrities have been a frequent mean of attracting the attention of the consumer towards an advertising. In an era with an over-load of information and ads, the glamour of the celebrities has had the power to increase the visibility of the advertised product. Besides the positive effects which celebrities bring to an increase of attention of the consumers, their endorsement can also have negative consequences. One of these undesired effects is the overshadowing of the advertised product by the celebrity. Consumers will have the tendency to watch the celebrity for a longer time and their attention is distracted from the advertised product. In an eye-tracking experiment we analyze the fact that the celebrity might distract the attention of the consumer from the advertised product and its logo. The results have shown that the participants have the tendency to watch the logo of a product for a longer time in advertising without celebrities. In opposition to this, in advertising endorsing celebrities, the attention is caught by the celebrity.
Marketing communication in Tourism Connection challenges in new service sectors
Authors: Pop Nicolae Al. , Baba Cristina Andrada , Anysz Raluca Năstate
Published: December 2019

The drive for sensational, adventurous and unique experience is a growing tendency in contemporary society. Services adapt to this demand and communication is a main tool of support for these redefined services. Communication can redefine every known type of service by shaping expectations regarding interaction among parties, place of action, time of use, management methods, results and purpose of the information. The mass tourism is evolving into a variety of forms and one of the segments growing in importance is the Adventure tourism which requires, along with the complex and demanding activity, a more specific and canalized interaction on all levels and in all stages. The perception of an activity or a place, the gained support, the safety measures, emergency situations and general opinion are results of the marketing communication. This study observes the Adventure market in terms of reasons, types and trust, by leading a qualitative exploratory research and in-depth interviews with 18 actors and participants and expressing ways of adequate addressing. Romania is a newcomer on the Adventure tourism market and provides opportunities to test approaches.
Improving the lean logistic operations management in transportation by introducing the RFID system
Authors: Popescu Mihaela Cornelia
Published: December 2019

Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) gained a lot of attention lately, due to the technology revolution, namely the IoT of things, which allowed a wide range of applications in the manufacturing and service sectors. The research reflects the importance of using the RFID tracking system in the supplier’s distributions operations, by reducing the level of inventories’ movement, increasing accuracy in depicting in a timely manner the shipping freight, with no paperwork inaccuracies. In this regard, the methodology is based on a semi-structured interview with managers of transportation companies who have provided information of the transportation performance in both cases of use or not use of the RFID technology. The paperwork mistakes and shipping delay were the indicators registered. In this matter, SPSS quantitative methods, Pearson correlation and linear regressions have been applied. The tables reveal the strong bivariate correlation between the RFID systems, paperwork mistakes and shipment delays. The regression analysis underlines the positive strong correlation between paperwork inaccuracies and shipment delays which means that an increase in document mistakes will lead to a certain amount of time increase in shipping processes.