bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The impact of the logistics management in customer satisfaction
Authors: Ghoumrassi Amine , Țigu Gabriela
Published: August 2017

Logistics management is one of nowadays tools to face economic challenges; it’s a mix of business and core activities of the organization. The supply and distribution activities integrated together form what’s known as logistics activities. The logistics activities within a business organization attempt to satisfy customers through achieving the time and location related market challenges and also through the cost of the service provided as well as the quality, taking into consideration customers needs and purchase power. Customer satisfaction is important because it provides marketers and business owners with a metric that they can use to manage and improve their businesses. Customer satisfaction is also a way to determinate the continuity of the business or of a product life by measuring the loyalty of the customers. If the customers are happy and satisfied, it will ensure the continuity of sales which means the continuity of the business. In the past customer satisfaction was more focused on requirements such as quality and reliability reducing costs of poor quality. In mid 50’s the production costs were continuously increasing, The way to maintain the company’s position within a changing market and increase profit starts by focusing on the service provided to the customer and on decreasing the cost, logistics activities became the backbone of these organizations that target the customer satisfaction while achieving competitive advantage. This study aims to show the impact of the logistics management on customer satisfaction in small and mid-sized Algerian industrial companies, by interviewing the companies managers and everybody in charge of the logistic process, the interview questions will be based on some literature review issues.
The culture of excellence. Challenges and opportunities during changing times
Authors: Suciu Marta-Christina
Published: August 2017

The main goal of the paper is to highlight the importance of supporting the promotion of the culture of excellence among people involved in a way or another in contemporary business. In order to support business excellence, the culture of excellence have to empower and engage all the people within an organization to think out of the box in a modern vision suitable to the challenging and changing times we are facing now. All over the world, in the most competitive countries, regions and sectors of activities there is a paradigmatic change of business strategies and policies oriented more and more towards performance and excellence. The paper highlights the importance of promoting the culture of excellence in the contemporary changing business environment. It suggests an important shift from a perspective that focuses on the so called ‘hero of excellence’ towards promoting the culture of excellence among the whole organization. Within modern business, in order to face challenges of the changing times and to explore their opportunities all the people from an organization are considered to manifest as ‘heroes of excellence’ by co-creating and co-working together within creative and innovative teams. They have to contribute and to participate actively to assure, preserve and develop the competitiveness and well being of the whole organization. The paper supports a holistic, cross disciplinary and integrated vision. It is structured into three parts including: a brief literature review based on an overview of the current state of the literature dedicated to the topic of culture of excellence (part 1); presentation of the main steps of the process of building a sustainable high performance organization (part 2); a brief presentation of examples of best practice and case studied identified internationally (part 3); conclusions that highlight the importance of culture of excellence in changing and challenging times.
What it takes to be an entrepreneur in Romania
Authors: Segal Tatiana , Hadad Shahrazad
Published: August 2017

For more than three decades now, famous and relatively famous theoreticians from around the world and from Romania having different specialisations and statuses within society (from economists who work in universities and research centres to those involved in political decisions, from anthropologists to sociologists, from political analysts to jurists) and also practitioners that have transposed their ideas into reality by creating their own small or medium enterprises which support their roles within both the national and international economies. Additionally, statistics, be them undertaken by international organisations such as UNO or the EU or other national institutes reveal the ever increasing share of SMEs within the GDP, employment, turnover and the list may continue. The concern of policy makers of encouraging the development of entrepreneurship is manifested both in the legislative and financial frameworks by granting tax exemptions to those starting a business, by awarding them financing under certain conditions or by fostering the possibility of their accessing various European funds. This article seeks to provide the necessary support to the persons/entities that would or should take the necessary steps in order to define the job of the entrepreneur or undertaker in the economic field in general and not particularly in the construction field making a review of the current entrepreneurial phenomenon in Romania and analysing the opinions of different entrepreneurs with respect to the requirements of the jobs they have. Purposively, we designed and distributed a questionnaire in Bucharest. The number of valid responses is 47 and even if the sample is not representative, we consider the findings a step forward to defining the entrepreneur job.
Human resources challenges for the 21st century
Authors: Rasca Lavinia
Published: August 2017

Researchers predict that, in the next decade, significant changes will dominate the labor market. On the on hand, new jobs will be created by employers, while others will be displaced. The World Economic Forum recently estimated that 65% of the children entering primary school today will work in completely new jobs when they will enter the labor market, while many in-demand occupations or specialties are less than 10 years old. Employers start to have as a major objective to increase labor productivity, and innovation. They look for new skills, that are scarce, willing to attract, engage and retain in their organizations people that demonstrate attitudes like resilience, responsiveness to change, entrepreneurial mindset, willingness to innovate. While corporations, in their attempt to increase productivity, restructure and lay off people, entrepreneurship becomes a hope for a better living. On the other hand, the human resources market will start soon to be dominated by millennials, having to work together with people from X generation, who will retire later or not at all. Women will be more and more present in the labor force, as well as immigrants. All these phenomena will change the characteristics of the working places. In the digital world, the border between the work life and the professional life will become blurred. Wellbeing, meant at enhancing both professional and personal life, will be crucial. HR departments and leaders will have new challenges. In this paper, based on relevant literature review, attempts to identify challenging changes encountered in the labor markets, as well as actions that might improve knowledge, skills, and attitudes, necessary in the present society. Another goal is to create a model depicting the factors and flows that motivate, satisfy, and engage employees. The paper might be of interest for government, educators, training providers, employers, and workers.
Branding post-communist Romania and its effects on country image
Authors: Andrei Anca-Georgiana
Published: August 2017

In recent years, more precisely from 1989 on, which was considered by a lot of experts the beginning of the second stage of globalization, nation branding campaigns have started to be launched in more and more countries in order to help developing nations image and reputation and to provide a competitive edge on economic, social and even political areas. Simon Anholt and Wally Olins are the two authors who studied the most nation branding phenomenon and came up with theories which were applied often by professionals when elaborating nation branding campaigns for different states. Nadia Kaneva, Keith Dinnie, Melissa Aronczyk, Luminita Nicolescu and Alina Dolea have also focused their researches on this theme and manage to contribute with new and interesting ideas to the field. This paper provides insight into the most important nation branding campaigns made by Romania starting from 1989 until present. Through a comparative analysis of those campaigns the paper tries to identify which was their impact on Romania’s image or reputation. How was Romania perceived (from the image perspective) before 1989 at international level? Did the image change after 1989? And what was the impact of the most important branding nation campaigns implemented after 1989 in the image of Romania and implicit in economy? These are the main questions this paper tries to answer. At the same time, the study also explores briefly the concept of globalization, nation branding, national image and national reputation. The conclusions of the paper will provide in the end a general background of all studied nation branding campaigns which will include the similarities and differences between them, but also both strong and weak points. Its aim is to contribute, among other existing papers, as a starting point for researchers or professionals who want to elaborate nation branding strategies for Romania or other countries.
Involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in elaborating and implementing public policies: Study case-Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises
Authors: Popescu Ruxandra , Ghiocanu Stefania
Published: August 2017

Involvement and development of the private sector in boosting the economy nationwide is a main objective of the current program of the government, which means that a good cooperation between small and medium companies, private companies and multinationals and public environment including both public institutions and policies implemented and developed by them, becomes more than necessary. The paper summarizes the findings of a quantitative research based on a self-applied questionnaire which was aimed at Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises and also of a qualitative research that gives an overview of the process of elaborating and implementing a public policy. The involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises in the process of designing and implementing a public policy can become indispensable but it is well know that there is, in fact, a lack of initiative at this level, from both parties. One of the main research questions of this paper is to find out how much do representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises get involved in the process of elaborating a public policy and how much do these actions and measures impact the organizational policies of the companies themselves. A good cooperation between the business environment and the public institutions and a strong correlation of their joint efforts, should become a common practice between both parties, being crucial that this form of cooperation to be initiated from the very beginning. The contribution of this paper is a practical one, given the fact that the paper itself entails the direct responses of small and medium-sized enterprises on the current and future public policies that directly targets them, providing as well an analysis on the effects of public policies on small and medium-sized enterprises. Thus being said, the paper can also be a guide for both small and medium-sized enterprises in providing examples and measures of involvement and favorable public policies development, but also for public institutions by analyzing responses based on practice activities of small and medium-sized enterprises; giving them a solution to correct or continue generating positive results of those policies.
Trade comparative analysis: Republic of Moldova and other relevant countries
Authors: Stamule Tănase
Published: August 2017

The paper plans to analyze the evolution and structure of trade of the Republic of Moldova between 2005 and 2015, its weight correlated with that of other important trade partners and its potential for development. In the first part we will make a comparative analysis between the overall exports and imports of Moldova towards the EU and CIS, also from a perspective of evolution and structure. We want to see the main categories of products that are exported from Moldova and also the main products that are imported and how this trade changed according to the legislation. We shall also develop an index of dependency of Moldova towards these economic zones and its evolution. In the second part we shall focus on the structure and evolution of trade of Moldova with The Russian Federation and Ukraine in order to analyze their weight but also the degree of economic cooperation between the countries. We are also interested to see which are the most important categories of products, that are traded between these countries and how were they affected by the relation of Moldova with the EU. In the third part we will analyze the overall trade of Moldova with Romania, measuring the evolution of the weight of Romanian exports and imports from and towards Moldova and the changes in their structure. An objective will be to set a theoretical optimum level of development in order to set a level of trade which could support a strong and sustainable economic development between the two countries.
Hybrid” airlines – Generating value between low-cost and traditional
Authors: Stoenescu Cristina , Gheorghe Camelia Monica
Published: August 2017

Over the last years, the rise of low-cost airlines has determined significant changes in the airline industry and has shaped the evolution of the existing business models. Low-cost airlines started by offering basic services at very low prices; traditional airlines responded by equally cutting costs and reinventing the services offered, with an orientation towards braking down the fare and implementing add-ons, in order to become cost-efficient. As traditional airlines developed strategies to become competitive in this new environment, low-cost airlines started focusing on new ways of enhancing passenger experience and attracting new market segments. As a result, the fragmentation of the market segments addressed by low cost carriers and traditional airlines became less obvious and the characteristics of both business models started to blend at all levels (airline operation, distribution channels, loyalty programs, fleet selection). Thus, this new competition became the foundation of the development of a new „hybrid” carrier, between the low-cost and the traditional models. This article investigates the characteristics of the newly created business model, both from a theoretical perspective and by analysing several case studies. A particular attention will be granted to the evolution of the Romanian carrier Blue Air towards the “hybrid” model. The article focuses on determining the position of the “hybrid” airline in a market with carriers situated along both sides of this business model: lower cost vs. “better” experience and raises the question on how value can be generated in this context. Another aspect tackled is the understanding of the new segmentation of the market, as a consequence of the development of the new business model. In order to achieve this purpose, a survey has been conducted, aiming to mark out the travel preferences of the passengers travelling through the Henri Coandă International Airport.
Cultural influences in cross border cooperation. An overview on Romania – Serbia cross border EU financed programme
Authors: Ploae Cătălin
Published: August 2017

Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, European borders have undergone major transformations. Increasing flows of commodities, people, capital, information, and knowledge, coupled with the process of Europeanization, have critically changed the functions and significance of borders (Anderson and O’Dowd 1999, van Houtum 2000, O’Dowd 2003). In this context, we raise the question if culture does have a causal effect on economic development at this level of cross-border cooperation? The data on European regions suggest that it does. This paper focuses on identifying the way culture influence the way countries cooperates within cross border policies and programs in the European area, giving also an overview on particular issues of Cross Border cooperation between Romania and Serbia.
Automated music selection of video ads
Authors: Wiesener Oliver
Published: August 2017

The importance of video ads on social media platforms can be measured by views. For instance, Samsung’s commercial ad for one of its new smartphones reached more than 46 million viewers at Youtube. A video ad addresses the visual as well as the auditive sense of users. Often the visual sense is busy in the sense that users focus other screens than the screen with the video ad. This is called the second screen syndrome. Therefore, the importance of the audio channel seems to grow. To get back the visual attention of users that are deflected from other visual impulses it appears reasonable to adapt the music to the target group. Additionally, it appears useful to adapt the music to content of the video. Thus, the overall success of a video ad could by increased by increasing the attention of the users. Humans typically make the decision about the music of a video ad. If there is a correlation between music, products and target groups, a digitization of the music selection process seems to be possible. Since the digitization progress in the music sector is mainly focused on music composing this article strives for making a first step towards the digitization of the music selection.
Leadership models and behaviors for sales executives. What drives success and the best results?
Authors: Dünnweber Matthias , Fortmüller Astrid
Published: August 2017

The paper analyses the effectiveness of the best leadership models and behaviours that are used by sales executives. Although, the impact of the most common characteristics and behaviours used in sales have been researched very well, recent research has only very limited results on a comparison of the most successful leadership personality traits and behaviours depending on companies’ situation and the context. In this paper we analyse two different situations: dynamic environment and stable environment. The context in this paper refers to the area sales. The paper will provide an explanation of the most successful leadership style used in sales and the characteristics of it and why they are also very useful in a sales process. Additionally, we will analyse the effectiveness of these characteristics in the two different situations of a company and exclusively in the sales context. We argue that the characteristics can be defined as the most effective one in every situation and context. We will develop a theoretical overview that shows clearly the best leadership traits and behaviours for each of the two situations in sales that is based on a literature research. The theoretical frameworks will be adjusted and confirmed with three senior sales executives from three different industries. The results of this paper will provide sales executives useful and easy to understand information about the advantages and disadvantages of the different leadership traits and behaviours depending on the context in and situation.
Enterprising education - a research on students as agents of change in social entrepreneurship
Authors: Gauca Oana Codruta , Dragan Denisa
Published: August 2017

This article is a study on the awareness and understanding of social entrepreneurship among students. Moreover, the article aims to emphasize the different meanings this buzz word has developed, whether it is the purpose of social entrepreneurship, the fields it activates in or the profit which should or should not be distributed. We aim to cover aspects of the definition of the social entrepreneurship field, as well as the ways in which students act as agents of change. The main research methodologies used except for literature review are interviews and case studies for several social business developed by students. The interviews are with no predetermined questions, in order to allow flexibility. The article wants to demonstrate that students are the emerging social entrepreneurs and important initiators of change in this field. In this regards, students should be educated and should develop skills within the universities programs, skills that are very specific compared to simple entrepreneurship. The main theoretical contribution to the field of education is the proven necessity that education facilities need to educate themselves. In order to create our future entrepreneurs as well as provide them with the skills set necessary to become entrepreneurs, education needs to become enterprising. The main practical contribution is the proof of students being involved in the change of society around them and main contributors to their environment.
Managing ambiguity in business. A holistic and innovative approach
Authors: Pop Oana
Published: August 2017

This article will look at the hurdles of dealing with ambiguity and the wicked problems that organizations are struggling with, by providing key insights from a one year team coaching program that the author had the opportunity to deliver in a Romanian entrepreneurial organization. Based on the actual methods used and highlighting the findings and impact of the program, we will reflect on how ambiguity manifests in organizational settings and how wicked problems can be defined. The methods employed are within the range of complexity science and are holistic approaches to systemic interventions within organizations that combine soft systems methodology, paradoxical theory of change, complex responsive processes approach with important concepts from systems thinking such as archetypes, feedback loops and modeling. One of the key objectives of the article is to reunite different academic approaches and link them to a case study as a way of adding value to these approaches and to reiterate that research needs, to find its rightful place in the practitioners’ toolkit and have a more meaningful and direct impact on the real struggles that business is faced with. The author’s expertize in systemic interventions is based on extensive practitioner experience, having been trained and certified as a systemic coach and facilitator, and therefore draws upon the work of other skilled practitioners that support companies in finding successful ways to address complexity. Although the article can be easily put in the complexity science and systems thinking area of academic interest, the research questions and insights are intended to serve the learning and the evolution of organizations.
Building new business model from multiple case study research in the Internet of Me
Authors: Ruggieri Roberto , Rossetti Francesca , D’Ascenzo Fabrizio , Cappelli Lucio
Published: August 2017

The digital revolution has greatly changed the approach to culture, work, leisure time, the way we interact and communicate with people: the digitization of information has taken root and has become essential in all areas of social life as a phenomenon that guides and monitors the transformation of society in all its various forms, bringing great changes in almost all areas and especially in the world of work and industry. One of the core elements of the fourth industrial revolution is the systematic application of IoT technologies (Internet of Things) and IoM (Internet of Me) to production processes on a global scale. This study seeks to identify the main decision in the IoT/IoM pattern innovation, more specifically, the purpose of the paper is primarily an analysis of what are the possible future benefits of IoT and IoM, trying to understand the effort and their opportunities for a consumer oriented business. Then to analyze the competitive advantage that companies are pursuing when they implement a business which is IoT/IoM oriented. Our research aims to address the following two research questions: 1)Does exist a well-structured business model for the companies IoT/IoM service oriented? and 2)Is it possible to standardize behavioral pattern and to draw guidelines for companies who want to start similar strategic management? The research presents two phases methodologically joined between them: from a theoretical point of view it is defined the change from the business model towards the “ecosystem” of business model in the strategy IoT/IoM oriented, and from a empirical point of view the business development of an Italian start-up first mover group in the sectors involved in IoT and IoM revolution, through the direct interview qualitative tool.
Policy framework and legal forms of social enterprise in Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: Staicu Daniela
Published: August 2017

In Central and Eastern European countries, the transition to a market economy stimulated civil society initiatives that in the past had been either discouraged or had become part of the Communist state system, and opened new pathways to entrepreneurial initiatives. The 1990s was an open window to the creation of a significant number of non-profit organizations, including the pioneering establishment of the first social enterprises. When these countries became members of the European Union, the process of legal institutionalization of social enterprises started to be discussed and has taken place at various stages. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the policy frameworks and the legal forms and of social enterprises in eight countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The research seeks to determine the extent to which the development of national policy frameworks influences the development of legal forms under which social enterprises operate. For the purpose of this analysis, data were collected from relevant to this subject country reports, studies, laws released between 2009 and 2016. The research shows that European social enterprises are often ‘hidden’ among existing legal forms either as associations and foundations with commercial activities, cooperatives serving general or collective interests and mainstream enterprises pursuing an explicit and primary social aim. Further research needs to be done to determine the potential for growth of entities operating as associations and foundations with commercial activities. Furthermore, the research concluded that the countries with specific laws on social entrepreneurship generate 61 % of the social economy activity in Central and Eastern European countries. Further research needs to be done to determine if introducing a social enterprise specific legal form, will stimulate the development of the business models under which social enterprises operate and implicitly growth.
Analysis of additional hotel services in the international luxury hotels – a case-study from Budapest
Authors: Juhász-Dóra Katalin
Published: August 2017

The investigation of additional services from the aspect of local embeddedness is a novelty in the academic literature related to the tourism and hotel industry. The primary function of hotels is to provide accommodation and other services for the hotel-guests. Secondarily, they may also offer complementary-services and a community space for the city-residents and for non-hotel guests. Due to the globalization, the change in the consumer behaviour and global firms, the question of location and local resources are becoming more and more significant especially in the case of international hotel chains. The international hotel company is a member of a hotel market at a specific location, and it is surrounded by a sociological environment, local people, culture and traditions which have an impact on the competitiveness of the hotel. The author explains the results with the application of the multidimensional scaling model, finding answers for the questions in which ways the local embeddedness can have an effect on the competitiveness of a hotel based on a case-study carried out in a five-star hotel (member of an international chain) of Budapest in 2016.
Consumer behaviour towards new products
Authors: Bucatariu Mihaela , Nicolescu Alexandra Iulia , Taşnadi Alexandru
Published: August 2017

The main purpose of this paper is to find a structure of consumer behaviour, especially regarding the preference for the newly-released products from the market. We intend to study the impact of the new, innovative products compared to the traditional ones. Empirical research is based on the selling mix of a company in Romania and Austria. The analysis of this case will be done with the support of an econometric model of simple regression. This research confirms the validation of the structure and the attitude of the consumers towards the new products, launched by that company. By applying this linear model, it is possible to identify the percentage of the increase or decrease in consumption of new products. The need of carrying out this study regarding the impact of the consumption of new products is to create a profile and to find the causes that influence their acquisition. The originality of this paper lays in studying some aspects of influence over the consumption of new products from McDonald’s in Romania and Austria. Where does McDonald’s stand regarding the digitalization? It is not enough to sell new products; it is also necessary to bring innovation in the organization. Nowadays consumers are more present in the online environment and retailers are adapting at a fast pace to their needs of direct communication and transparency. How does a company that faces Slow Food and Bio era, deal with consumers who are more preoccupied with the nutritive values of the nourishment act? Platforms for real-time communication with clients such as “Our food. Your question” redefined the term of transparency and helped McDonald’s stop bad rumors. The results of the research will show us if there really is transformation in behaviour towards traditional products and in what degree consumers are influenced by innovation.
Listen to ISO 9001:2015 for organizational competitiveness: Correlation between change management and improvement
Authors: Fonseca Luis Miguel , Domingues José Pedro
Published: August 2017

In their quest to achieve superior performance and business results, organizations have extensively adopted models such as ISO 9001 Quality Managements Standards. Research supports that Quality Management System brings significant benefits for organizations competitiveness and success and more than 1 million organizations of all activity sectors worldwide have implemented ISO 9001. In a world of increasingly complexity and interconnection, the revised ISO 9001:2015 International Standard aims to ensure that Quality Management Systems are flexible while remaining reliable. The concept of Change Management was introduced in the standard and Improvement can be achieved both in a continual/incremental mode (already present in the ISO 9001:2008 edition) and in a breakthrough change/disruptive mode (new in ISO 9001:2015). ISO 9001:2015 is now closer to Business Excellence Models, such as the EFQM, that highlight the need for agility and flexibility for enduring success. To access if organizations that have already implemented ISO 9001:2015 are indeed managing change and achieving improvement, and if there is a relationship between these two variables, a survey was held with IRCA ISO 9001 Registered Auditors on a worldwide basis. Sample normality was confirmed trough Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test and the hypothesis was tested by using Pearson Correlation coefficient. The findings show that the auditee organizations have positively implemented ISO 9001:2015 requirements on change management and improvement. There is also a strong positive correlation between change management and improvement, suggesting that the organizations that properly manage change by planning, designing, implementing, and controlling change in an effective and efficient way, demonstrate a higher level of performance and results improvement. These conclusions have significant implications for the Quality/Organizational Excellence Management Body of Knowledge, requiring a new way of thinking for 21st-century organizations and reinforced attention to change management processes and the skills needed by the Quality/Organizational Excellence Managers professionals, for their successful use.
The determinants of exchange rates and the movements of EUR/RON exchange rate via non-linear stochastic processes
Authors: Petrică Andreea-Cristina , Stancu Stelian
Published: August 2017

Modeling exchange rate volatility became an important topic for research debate starting with 1973, when many countries switched to floating exchange rate system. In this paper, we focus on the EUR/RON exchange rate both as an economic measure and present the implied economic links, and also as a financial investment and analyze its movements and fluctuations through two volatility stochastic processes: the Standard Generalized Autoregressive Conditionally Heteroscedastic Model (GARCH) and the Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditionally Heteroscedastic Model (EGARCH). The objective of the conditional variance processes is to capture dependency in the return series of the EUR/RON exchange rate. On this account, analyzing exchange rates could be seen as the input for economic decisions regarding Romanian macroeconomics - the exchange rates being influenced by many factors such as: interest rates, inflation, trading relationships with other countries (imports and exports), or investments - portfolio optimization, risk management, asset pricing. Therefore, we talk about political stability and economic performance of a country that represents a link between the two types of inputs mentioned above and influences both the macroeconomics and the investments. Based on time-varying volatility, we examine implied volatility of daily returns of EUR/RON exchange rate using the standard GARCH model and the asymmetric EGARCH model, whose parameters are estimated through the maximum likelihood method and the error terms follow two distributions (Normal and Student’s t). The empirical results show EGARCH(2,1) with Asymmetric order 2 and Student’s t error terms distribution performs better than all the estimated standard GARCH models (GARCH(1,1), GARCH(1,2), GARCH(2,1) and GARCH(2,2)). This conclusion is supported by the major advantage of the EGARCH model compared to the GARCH model which consists in allowing good and bad news having different impact on the volatility. The EGARCH model is able to model volatility clustering, persistence, as well as the leverage effect.
Effects of silo mentality on corporate ITC’s business model
Authors: Mohapeloa Tshidi
Published: August 2017

Background & orientation: The existence of silo mentality has direct effect on the business model used by any ITC company. Its contribution slows service delivery whilst increasing customer’s despondency. However mitigation could help overcome barriers within divisions, improve customer experience and increase productivity. But when different units as components of a company fail to integrate, collaborate and work together to achieve a common objective goal, not only are performances affected but also operations at all levels. A business model canvas can help determine how a company intends to create value for customers whilst it makes money. Thus deliverance of an effective value proposition for efficient customer needs, can be affected through silos. Purpose: This study explore the effects of silo mentality within an ITC company (at organisational level) using the 9 elements of the business model canvas as framework. Methodology and research questions: As an exploratory study qualitative methods were used where in-depth interview questions looked at how silo mentality within the organisation affects the core business model elements and why. Twelve participants were selected from an enterprise business unit through a convenience sampling method. Content analysis helped with the development of core themes that looked at the how silos affect each element (process) and why (meaning). Findings: Silo mentality affects not only the individuals but team, products, value proposition, relations with partners, customers, stakeholders. Thus undermines internal capabilities and key resources. Absence of teamwork within the divisions leads to conflicts which delays achievements of common goals. Bottlenecks affect inter-divisional progress and relations, customer output and relations and compromise the quality of service. Implications: Silo mentality is a bottleneck that not only weakens firms’ capabilities and growth potential but destroys any value created by the firm.
Innovation ecosystem model for commercialization of research results
Authors: Vlăduţ Gabriel
Published: August 2017

Innovation means Creativity and Added value recognise by the market. The first step in creating a sustainable commercialization of research results, Technological Transfer – TT mechanism, on one hand is to define the “technology” which will be transferred and on other hand to define the context in which the TT mechanism work, the ecosystem. The focus must be set on technology as an entity, not as a science or a study of the practical industrial arts and certainly not any specific applied science. The transfer object, the technology, must rely on a subjectively determined but specifiable set of processes and products. Focusing on the product is not sufficient to the transfer and diffusion of technology. It is not merely the product that is transferred but also knowledge of its use and application. The innovation ecosystem model brings together new companies, experienced business leaders, researchers, government officials, established technology companies, and investors. This environment provides those new companies with a wealth of technical expertise, business experience, and access to capital that supports innovation in the early stages of growth.
Green controlling – concept and practice
Authors: Păunică Mihai , Mocanu Mihaela
Published: August 2017

The three-dimensionality of sustainability links the following fundamental areas: ecology, economy and society. Sustainability controlling focuses on a three-dimensional sustainability-oriented system of corporate goals, which equally includes economic, environmental and social goals. Therefore, the objective of sustainability controlling is the comprehensive support of sustainability management, namely formulating and implementing a corporate policy that comprehensively covers all three dimensions of sustainability – people, planet, and profit. One of the pillars in defining sustainability is the environmental pillar. Among the three pillars of sustainability, the environmental dimension is the one that receives constant attention from academia, organizations and policy-makers. Governments, international agreements, society and various stakeholders pressure organizations to improve their behavior towards the natural environment. Thus, authors chose to focus in the present research on green controlling. There is a variety of terms used to name “green controlling” such as environmental controlling, ecologically oriented controlling, ecological controlling, eco-controlling etc. The concept is widely spread and accepted in German-speaking countries, whereas the Anglo-American scholarly community conceptualizes “environmental management control systems” or “environmental management accounting”. The authors’ objective is first to clearly define the concept of “green controlling” and secondly, to thoroughly state the most relevant instruments of green controlling for each of the following areas of responsibility: supply area, disposal area, environment area, adaptation area and coordination area. The importance of the presented research lies in the need of both controllers and managers for a clear set of easily and efficiently applicable instruments of green controlling, in the lack of which any theoretical debate lacks on relevance.
The strategic role of partnerships between universities and private corporations as a driver for increasing workforce competitiveness in a global economy
Authors: Damoc Adrian-Ioan
Published: August 2017

A global economic context means increased competition as corporations face contenders from other countries, and there is a wider range of choices on the market available to consumers. This global competition drives economic actors to seek competitive edges to increase the efficiency of their operations; within this global economy, corporations seek these advantages, outsourcing their activities in order to make use of the opportunities of globalisation. The same situation can be encountered on the labour market. While the expansion of economic activities globally often means increased employment opportunities, it also means that job seekers from around the world need to become more competitive on the job market to attract better employment opportunities. Workforce competitiveness is determined by various factors, like availability and ease of access (i.e. job market legislation), level and quality of education, and cost. The level and quality of education are of particular concern, as it gauges the potential of the workforce, and is the cornerstone of the controversial “skills gap”, based on a common complaint of corporations regarding a shortage of skilled employees. Acknowledging the importance of this factor, numerous companies have concluded partnerships with local universities, leading to intimate connections between the business environment and education. Thus, in the same manner that supply and demand shape the markets for typical goods and determine the success of a market, these partnerships between universities and corporations influence the labour market, bringing together demand (i.e. the corporations seeking skilled employees) and supply (universities and education centres training the future workforce). There are numerous long-term benefits that such partnerships can bring to a country’s education sector. As such, the present paper seeks to examine the strategic importance of partnerships between academia and industry as a key driver in defining the competitiveness of the workforce, with a case study on Uzbekistan.
Design, preparation and properties of novel flame retardant thermosetting vinyl ester copolymers based on castor oil and industrial dipentene
Authors: Mao Wei , Li Shouhai , Li Mei , Huang Kun , Xia Jianling
Published: August 2017

A novel bio-based flame-retardant thermosetting vinyl ester resin monomer was synthesized from castor oil. The chemical structures of the monomer was characterized by FTIR and 1H-NMR. In order to improve its rigidity and expand its application in the field of bio-based materials, it was mixed with certain proportions of another reactive bio-based VER monomer, which had rigid and strong polar groups, and then a series of copolymers were prepared with thermal curing method. Then their tensile property, hardness, morphology of fractured surface, flame retardant property, DMA and thermostability were all investigated. The results indicated that the copolymers had relatively high tensile strength of 11.2 MPa, and the limiting oxygen index is above 23% in all prepared copolymers. DMA demonstrates that the glass transition temperature of the cured resins is up to 56.1°C. Thermogravimetric analysis shows that the copolymers have excellent thermal stability.
Determination of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene in field and laboratory by means of cold fiber SPME equipped with thermoelectric cooler and GC/FID method
Authors: Tajik Leila , Bahrami Abdulrahman , Ghiasvand Alireza , Shahna Farshid Ghorbani
Published: August 2017

A simple and effective cooling device based on a thermoelectric cooler was applied to cool the SPME fiber. The device was used for quantitative extraction of aromatic hydrocarbons in the air. Several factors such as coating temperature, extraction temperature and relative humidity in the laboratory setting were optimized. Comparison of the results between the cold fiber SPME (CF-SPME) and NIOSH 1501 method on standard test atmosphere indicated a satisfactory agreement. The CF-SPME and SPME method were also compared. The results revealed that CF-SPME has the most appropriate outcome for the extraction of aromatic hydrocarbons from the ambient air. The cold fiber SPME technique showed good results for several validation parameters. Under the optimized conditions, the limits of detection (LOD) and the limits of quantification (LOQ) ranged from 0.00019 to 0.00033 and 0.0006 to 0.001 ng ml−1, respectively. The intra-day relative standard deviation (RSD) showed ranging from 4.8 to 10.5%.
Numerical investigation of a novel burner to combust anode exhaust gases of SOFC stacks
Authors: Pianko-Oprych Paulina , Jaworski Zdzisław
Published: August 2017

The aim of the present study was a numerical investigation of the efficiency of the combustion process of a novel concept burner under different operating conditions. The design of the burner was a part of the development process of a complete SOFC based system and a challenging combination of technical requirements to be fulfilled. A Computational Fluid Dynamics model of a non-premixed burner was used to simulate combustion of exhaust gases from the anode region of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell stacks. The species concentrations of the exhaust gases were compared with experimental data and a satisfactory agreement of the conversion of hydrocarbons was obtained. This validates the numerical methodology and also proves applicability of the developed approach that quantitatively characterized the interaction between the exhaust gases and burner geometry for proper combustion modelling. Thus, the proposed CFD approach can be safely used for further numerical optimisation of the burner design.
Potential influence of compounds released in degradation of phytates on the course of alcoholic fermentation of high gravity mashes – simulation with analogs of these compounds
Authors: Mikulski Dawid , Rolbiecka Aleksandra J. , Kłosowski Grzegorz R.
Published: August 2017

Aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of supplementation of high gravity media with mineral compounds and myo-inositol, at concentration which would be obtained as a result of degradation of phytates present in raw material during alcoholic fermentation. The process of alcoholic fermentation was conducted under laboratory conditions in a 72 h system at 37°C with the use of S. cerevisiae D-2 strain. Calcium chloride proved to be the most effective of all supplements tested. Final ethanol concentration increased by 1.2% v v−1 and the yield of process increased by ca. 7 dm−3 ethanol 100 kg−1 of starch in comparison with control. Selective supplementation with KH2PO4, ZnSO4 and MgSO4 also increased the ethanol concentration, but the effect was accompanied by a deterioration in composition of volatile products. The hydrolysis of phytate complexes with microbial phytases can be an alternative solution to supplementation of HG mashes presented in this work.