Volume 12 (2018): Issue 1 (May 2018)

To other professions, in law enforcement, due to the diversity and complexity of police activity, policemen are daily exposed to various dangers resulting from the risky nature of their working environment. Thus, police work must be carried out in the most aggravating circumstances, often with limited staff and only having a few seconds to make critical decisions: whenever using the legal means, specific equipment, intercepting or immobilizing offenders, acting against various violations of the law, police officers are exposed to a very high number of occupational risks, compared to other civil professions. Despite the fact that public security environment risks are constantly evaluated by specialized workers and dedicated tools, compared to the policeman, this activity almost does not happen and it is mostly evasive taking into consideration that this area is within the competence of the high level manager and it is conducted by the human resources structures in the police units. Although this approach is totally wrong, these entities are the only ones in charge of controlling, mitigating or eliminating work related risks generated by police activity. This paper makes a brief assessment of the risks associated with the police operational work, taking into account the indicators taken and analyzed from the existing statistics of the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs, while offering new solutions in mitigating risks concerning the physical security of police workers.

One of the biggest challenges that organizations are facing today is finding the proper way to shape competitive advantages in the age of Industry 4.0. This digital revolution forces companies to face specific challenges. The main purpose of this paper is to identify key requirements for the creation of a competitive advantage in the age of Industry 4.0 [CA. 4.0] The second purpose is to evaluate the level of organizations' preparedness for Digital Transformation [DX]. Studies based on a literature review describe requirements for organizations functioning in the age of Industry 4.0, especially in the area of DX and exploitation of Virtualization [V&DX].

Living in a world where technology has evolved in an alarming pace, the working structures have become more diverse adapting to this trend, and giving birth to virtual teams, thanks to the ITC tools that have broken the physical boundaries, allowing coworkers to connect from all corners of the world and construct together. The aim of the article is to enrich the effectiveness of virtual teams but also acknowledge the difficulties they may run into throughout their project completions. Mixed methodology was chosen for the study case, having the Romanian Tourism Heritage Federation members as the sample of the survey. The quantitative method was used to quantify the data offered by the surveyed candidates and offer a deeper insight, by collecting data regarding certain aspects of the candidate such as: age, education and experience level, online “literacy”, size and role of the team member etc. and presented in a well-structured figure table. Whereas, the qualitative method concentrated on obtaining beneficial data regarding aspects as: cultural and technological barriers, trust and team commitment barriers along with social interaction ones, as well as leadership and team dynamics perspective. The findings of the research were gathered, interpreted and presented briefly, giving a comprehensive image of the “virtual team” nowadays, facing both fruitful and challenging traces in their working style.

The aim of the paper is to provide a consistent literature review on the importance of structural convergence for the countries within the same economic area focusing on two main topics: the structural similarity problem of countries within an integration area and the evolution and development of the union itself (in line with Chenery and Singer’s approach). We aim to synthesize the most referential findings of the literature and project them on the most recent events in the European Union pointing out the relevance of structural convergence and of the continuation of the process under a reassessed form. The relevance of studying the structural convergence process lies in the medium and long term implications related to the synchronization of business cycles, long-run development patterns and of the dynamics of specialization. Moreover, the topic is of high interest both in the context of the future evolution of the European Union and in the decision making process of adopting the Euro in Romania’s case. On the side of theoretical papers, there is a rich literature on structural change that generally recommends that economic structures and the differences between them should be the starting point for analysis and development of theories of economic development. We believe that the preoccupations for this topic should be recalled in the context of the European events and new facets should be explored. Along with the views expressed in the European Commission White Paper, that the form will follow the function, we emphasize the importance of designing the proper institutions at European Union and Eurozone level, but also at national level with taking into consideration the goal of advancing towards structural convergence.

Analyzing this important relationship between corporate image on one side, and country image on the other side is an interesting and actual topic in the context of the increasing level of globalization. Although the subject was approached by place branding scholars and practitioners, there is still a high need for theoretical and empirical research. This documentary article focuses more on the concept of transfer of image, from corporation to country and from country to corporation, but seen from a new perspective, as a Blue Ocean Strategy. The paper will also show the importance of this relation that exists between corporate and country from the image perspective, by given concrete examples withdrawn from relevant literature. At the same time, based on a documentary study, key aspects will be analyzed in order to show the positive aspects generated by the relationship between corporation image and country image. In conclusions, it will be presented how this connection between corporate and country can be one of the best answers to globalization and how the positive transfer of image can be implemented as a Blue Ocean Strategy. The aim of this study is to convince scholars and practitioners to research more on this new topic, because a proactive approach in this field can help increasing tourism and encourage investment and exports.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is going into a “maturity market”. The main vendor providers surpassed USD 1 billion in evaluation and the research they are launching these days on the market will change again radically the business landscape. It can be seen already what is coming next to RPA: intelligent optical character recognition (IOCR), chat-bots, machine learning, big data analytics, cognitive platforms, anomaly detection, pattern analysis, voice recognition, data classification and many more. As a result the top vendors developed partnerships with the main leading artificial intelligence providers, such as: IBM Watson, Microsoft Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft Cognitive services, blockchain, Google etc. On the business part, the consulting companies who are implementing the RPA solution are moving from developing Proof-of-Concepts (POCs) and Pilots to helping clients with RAP global roll-outs and developing Centre of Excellences (CoE). As a result, the experiences gathered so far by the author on this kind of projects will be tackled also in this paper. In this article will we will present also some data related to automation for different business areas (eg. Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable etc) and how an assessment can be done correctly in order to decide if a process can be automatized and, if yes, up to which extent (ie. percent). Moreover, through the case studies we will provide (1) how now the RPA is integrated with Artificial Intelligence and Cloud, (2) how can be scaled in order to face hypes, (3) how can interpret data and (4) what savings these technologies can bring to the organizations. All the aforementioned services made Robotics Process Automation a very powerful tool since a year ago when the author did the last research. A process that was mainly not recommended for automation or was partially automated can be now fully automated with more advantages, such as: money, non-FTE savings and fulfillment time.

The economic activity generates two types of flows: flows of goods and services and cash flows. These two types of flows generate two types of circuits in the economy, flows of goods and services generate the circuit corresponding to real economy and monetary flows (incomes and expenditures) generate the monetary - financial circuit. The monetary circuit is fundamentally determined by the level and structure of real economy. Comparing production revenue used for consumption with the amount of products and services produced and purchased, an average pricing is obtained. Unless the condition that the revenues generated in the economy are equal to production, it will lead to rising prices, i.e., inflation. Therefore, an adequate correlation between financial flows and real economy must be ensured. From this perspective, were analysed countries from European Union over time, using panel analysis.

In the present context, defined by a variety of social changes, social advancement is a key point that needs to be sheltered and ensured both in Romania as well as at the level of the European Union, in order to have a coherent European space, to reach and maintain a high level of social and economic welfare. The improvement of the social domain can be triggered by using the principles of the European Social Model, which incorporates values and institutions specially established to protect the integrity of people who are socially disadvantaged. Thus, the paper aims, on one hand, to analyze literature review aspects of the European Social Model as being a social development one and to identify the criteria according to which progress is established in relationship with this model. On the other hand, another goal of the paper is to make a comparative analysis between Romania's performance in the context of Central and Eastern European countries' situation. The purpose of the analysis is to diagnose the progress recorded and the social area in which it took place, as well as the differences between countries. The focus of the analysis will be placed on poverty and social exclusion, as dimensions of the European Social Model. The methodology that will help in undertaking the research comprises two elements: literature review and document analysis. The literature review component involves pinpointing information obtained from scientific articles about the European Social Model and aspects associated with it, available in online databases. The second part of the methodology refers to document analysis, which supposes the assessment of reports issued by organizations that provide such statistical data (Eurostat, World Bank, Social Progress Imperative).

This paper presents the definition of cultural marketing services phenomena, trying to identify new ways to interact and gain insight in consumer preference and behavior. The existence of Big Data and Internet of Things can be used in the Cultural Services sector. Traditional marketing and digital marketing can be reunited with the help of Big Data trends and analytics to better connect with target audience. Big Data can be used to analyze and discover new patterns in social trends and uncover customer preference. There are digital ways in which now consumers interact with their favorite cultural service and these are mostly, by internet. This new level of interaction live with your favorite cultural service, band or artist, even with other services like museums or conferences, where a human voice exists, can make the difference between returning or not to a certain service. Customizing the experience for each customer gives way to improving the overall marketing mix and improve profits. Big Data can help at improving this experience and create a better hypothesis for future strategies used in new cultural events. The main objective of marketing cultural services is to offer the client a unique selling proposition that can’t be refused. Using the internet, they leave a digital footprint with every action they make in regard with a certain services: they engage via social networks or check in via GPS. These are just a few examples of raw data that can be collected and used to exemplify future possibilities and predict where people will be in relation with a certain cultural call to action. This information, with consumer behavior studies, motivations, drives and other characteristics (age, sex, income, social position) can determine the best marketing approach for a certain event or communication in order to achieve maximum return on investment.

The mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions has become one of the most important topics on the agenda of EU- and national policy-makers. The importance of the climate change issue is exponentially growing from year to year, gathering specialist from the academic, economic and energy fields in the hope of finding the best solutions in fighting the negative effects of the phenomenon. This challenge has issued an intense debate around the doctrines on which policymakers ground the process of law making. Two of the most debated theories are the neoclassic economic doctrines, on which the major part of the climate change regulation is based, and the innovation economic doctrines, which gained a lot of popularity and supporters in the academic field for the last couple of years. The paper presents the advantages and opportunities of current climate change legislation, as well as their disadvantages and limits. Furthermore it focuses on emphasizing common issues that lead to the failure of climate change legislation and implicitly cause economic loss, lowering the attractiveness of future investments. Based on our research we have developed a decision making model for legislation and regulations of the environmental and energy sectors. The developed model offers guidelines to policy-makers of the energy field and aims both environmental and economic sustainability.

The purpose of this paper involved studying the impact of direct taxes and indirect taxes on the economic growth using an econometric Vector Autoregressive model (VAR) based on the statistical data related to Romania over the period of time 2009 (2nd quarter)-2017 (2nd quarter). Fiscal policy system involved a significant impact on the evolution of economic growth in the recent years in Romania, namely the years taken into consideration for this study. The econometric model used three endogenous variables, namely the level of direct taxes as percent of the Gross Domestic Product (%GDP), the level of indirect taxes as percent of the Gross Domestic Product (%GDP) and the economic growth rate over the analysed period of time. According to the econometric model presented in this paper, it was proved that a positive change in the structure of indirect taxes will have a strong positive influence on the economic growth over a medium-term period. On the other hand, economic growth will be negatively influenced in the next period of time after implementing a positive change in the structure of direct taxes, then returning to a positive influence over a medium term period and maintaining that influence in the future time periods.

IoT, or the Internet of Things, has been in use since circa 1999. It defines a next chapter in the evolution of the Internet where computing devices embedded in everyday objects are able to send and receive data themselves. In recent years miniaturization and economies of scale brought a boon of new devices to the consumer and enterprise market, prompting Gartner to predict over 20bln live IoT devices by 2020. However, the definition of IoT is loose and, for the purpose of predicting trends or discussing security, formulating a clear understanding of the term is crucial. In fact, Internet of Things is a term only mostly used by the media, academia and the industry. Customers in the consumer space refer to the technologies by their benefit describing term of “Smart Home”. A quick analysis of this gap shows how it’s entirely possible no knowledge permeates the business and market worlds because of the incompatible terms used. As more devices, OSes and heterogeneous platforms entrench the concept of a new digital lifestyle, the new “Digital Kingdom” opens its doors to radical disruption, such as the latest massive Mirai and Reaper attacks. Our ability to correctly define the IoT, it’s platforms and components, should lead to better market dynamics and better preparedness, as one can’t secure something that can’t be defined. This paper proposes to further understand the IoT by exploring available definitions, reiterating misuse and equivocal perception, concluding with a more suiting, contemporary definition.

Senior population is still a valuable resource for the labour market and for entrepreneurship. While ageing population is a global phenomenon and solution are needed to milder the economic impact, there are also to consider the positive outcomes related to the optimal use of potential in the senior population and the benefits of an active life upon the elderly. This paper focuses on the entrepreneurial activity of senior population at regional level in Romania (Bucharest-Ilfov and South-Muntenia), considering a panel of 200 limited liability companies established in the last 5 years, by a single shareholder aged 60+ years. The empirical descriptive study is mainly based on the information about these companies searched for on the Ministry of Finance website. The paper aims to answer questions related to entrepreneurial activity of grey population like e.g. fields of activity raising interest of senior entrepreneurs at regional level in Romania and size of companies in terms of employees’ number and yearly turnover. The paper presents few considerations in view of assessing some dimensions of this phenomenon of senior entrepreneurship at regional level in Romania, based on the data obtained for the last 5 years. The results of this analysis will be enhanced by a further study on the same panel addressing mainly motivational drivers to start-up a business.

Researching on the intellectual capital in universities is a challenging task due to the complexity of the intellectual processes within any university and the fuzziness of the basic concepts and methodologies developed so far. Universities are among the oldest social institutions and they concentrate high densities of intellectual capital. The concept of intellectual capital has been created as a result of increasing significantly the role of intangibles in economy and of the dramatic split between the book value and market value of the new companies based on intensive knowledge processes. Intellectual capital represents that component of the total capital of any organization which incorporates all intangible resources and their transformations. Intellectual capital is highly nonlinear by comparison with the capital containing tangible resources, which has a linear structure and Newtonian dynamics. The canonical structure of the intellectual capital is composed of human capital, structural capital, and relationship capital. This structural model has been used extensively in evaluating and reporting the intellectual capital of organizations, including universities. However, the Newtonian paradigm constitutes an important limitation in understanding properly both the nature of intellectual capital and how to manage it efficiently. Our research question is focused on how we can change that paradigm with a better one able to represents more adequately the nature and the basic structure of the intellectual capital. The methodology we used is based on in depth literature analysis, metaphorical thinking, critical thinking, and the multifield theory of knowledge. As a result of our research, this paper presents a new approach of the intellectual capital and its application to the universities.

Looking for an idealization of the business environment, we notice that private businesses which have set ethic goals in business achieved a much higher profit growth rate than similar businesses that have not set business ethic codes. Of course, entrepreneurs decide their own interests and do not consider that the action of social responsibility has to be mechanical. In fact, if we consider a free-market capitalist system, the entrepreneur should have an ethical behavior in business or to choose a moral voluntary attitude. The present paper is looking to see if, in a material, rational and a no-matter-what profit oriented attitude world, a moral capitalism is possible to exist. By the more significant phenomena of globalization, entrepreneurs can be considered selfish people, performing immoral actions, with a predisposition of owning everything, without thinking at the old ideals. Nowadays, the entrepreneurs act only in the direction of getting the profit and very few of them have a moral motivation. The man in the modern capitalist world is looking only for his own interest in order to satisfy his desires and aspirations at a level as high as possible. A normal and natural thing, in fact. Therefore, no matter the role of the entrepreneur, there is the possibility to create cultural ways to solve ethical and social problems, and also methods that make moral capitalism principles to be functional, and, thus, a convergence between the free market and entrepreneurial ethics to be possible.

Over the past few years the global oil and gas industry has been going through a severe market downturn. Despite recent signs of stabilization, oil prices have a long history marked by volatility. In this context, it is imperative for oil companies to optimize their capital allocation, as this might support risk mitigation. The purpose of this paper is to offer a tool that might support the strategic decision-making process for companies operating in the oil industry. Our model uses Markowitz’ portfolio selection theory to construct the efficient frontier for currently producing fields and a set of investment projects. These relate to oil and gas exploration projects and projects aimed at enhancing current production. The net present value is obtained for each project under a set of usersupplied scenarios. For the base-case scenario we also model oil prices through Monte Carlo simulation. We run the model for a combination of portfolio items which include both currently producing assets and new exploration projects, using data characteristics of a mature region with a high number of low-production fields. Our objective is to find the vector of weights (equity stake in each project) which minimizes portfolio risk, given a set of expected portfolio returns. The model is of particular interest for companies operating in Eastern Europe, or in any other mature region. It can also support divestment and acquisition decisions since these may place the company’s portfolio closer or farther away from the efficient frontier. The model is highly versatile and can be implemented on any software with an optimization package such as Microsoft Excel.

The recent global financial crisis has raised a number of questions with regard to corporate governance of banking financial institutions. There was a series of “voices” that expressed their concern and even the lack of confidence in the role of corporate governance at the banking system level, and not only, in preventing the effects of this crisis. The main objective of this research is constituted by the study of the corporate governance influence at the banking system level in Romania on the risks management area and of banking financial performances. The used research methodology is predominantly quantitative. This methodology is based on a descriptive statistics, having as objective the analysis of corporate governance characteristics, the appreciation of the risks management level and the performances recorded at the level of the Romanian banking system. In the realisation of this study, the calculation of central tendency indicators, dispersion and form of distribution were used with the help of the SPSS software under Windows (Descriptive Statistics).

This presentation reviews some real examples from a trading daily basis behavior proving the sentiment is one of the most important drivers when it comes to investment decision. During decades of studying and observing the financial markets we have seen different approaches in the light of many prestigious writers. Are we rational enough to be good candidates for Fama’s theory of Efficient Market Hypothesis? Is it true what John Maynard Keynes stated 90 years ago when he said „the market is subject to waves of optimistic and pessimistic sentiment”? Is the financial behavior the new trend in the financial markets? Are Daniel Kahneman (Nobel Prize winner 2002) and Amos Tversky the new challengers in the market theories league? Future research should concentrate on various symptoms of sentiment and what makes investors become prone to sentiment. This is an important issue to be debated since investors constantly have to analyze, process and interpret huge data of information which provides the basis for their actions.

The current volatile economic environment and the evermore shorter technology cycles impact the way business is done today, especially in an emerging field like the renewable energy sector. Business modelling proves itself as an instrument, which may impact decisively the success or failure of a business. The aim of this article is to identify and present the key elements defining entrepreneurial models in the renewable energy field, as resulted from a synthesis of the recent literature available in journals indexed in international databases of mainstream publications about business models and entrepreneurial models as well as from empirical research performed in the past five years. The research result consists in a systematisation on past approaches on business modelling and the development and adaptation of the entrepreneurial model’s definition specific for the biogas sector.

The economic environment in Romania faces a series of turbulences generated by the political and social environment, and an avalanche of changes and fluctuations can destabilize the activity of an organization. As a consequence, organizations need to be as flexible as possible, able to adapt and integrate any kind of change. In this regard, a manager must study the type of organizational culture found at the company level and the way it can influence the results of the organization. A detailed investigation method belongs to researchers Kim Cameron and Robert E. Quinn who have proposed a model of culture analysis that involves identifying the type of dominant culture and recognizing behaviours which are specific to organizational dimensions such as: organizational leadership, employee management, strategic direction, or criteria of success. The present paper aims to analyze the type of objectives managers set for their employees (namely the strategic emphases dimension) and how they measure results (the criteria of success dimension) at the level of a private company in Romania. Thus, following the application of the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument proposed by the two authors, we identified the type of culture that characterizes the two dimensions, the connection established between them, the possible inconsistencies between the present and the desired situation as perceived by the employees, as well as the type of correlation between the economic and financial indicators and the cultural profile that identifies the success. Such an analysis is very useful as it identifies a series of inconsistencies between the way the goals are set by the managers and the way to measure success, the two dimensions being in a tight interdependence. Thus, a discrepancy between the two dimensions can lead to conflicts at the organizational level, with the manager having a tendency to set a series of objectives (e.g. individual objectives), in fact pursuing other results (such as team results). In this respect, the aim of this paper is to identify a correlation between the objectives targeted by the manager, the way he measures success and the satisfaction of the employees with the current situation.

In an unstable environment, the investors become more aware of the importance of a good assessment of the risk implied by their investment. Therefore, much attention is given to the amount of information provided by the issuer, as well as to the signals it offers to investors. The financial literature emphasizes the role of the dividend policy in signaling the financial soundness of the companies. Our paper aims to verify if the dividend and financing policies of the companies have a role to play in the share valuation in an unstable economic environment and if their explanatory power differs with the phases of the economic cycle. The period 2006-2010 was chosen in order to test our model, as it corresponds to a period of the economic cycle similar to the present one, which may lead to similar behavior of the market participants. Moreover, the behavioral economics sustains the importance of the recent experiences in shaping actors’ responses in conditions perceived as similar. Our analysis is made on a worldwide database including 5391 companies listed in the most important market indices on 82 national capital markets. We chose to multiple linear regressions for successive yearly periods in order to put in evidence in a straight and unambiguous manner the influence of the dividend and financing policies on the share valuation. It puts in evidence that the dividend policy remains an important signal for the investors and it is taken into consideration even more seriously in unstable economic environment. Moreover, the financing policy is emphasized as important signal in investors’ eyes.

Approaching freelancing, a topical subject in regards to human resources, especially after the economic crisis of 2008, places emphasis on the main advantages of integrating it in HR activity. The economic crisis has represented a critical moment for Romanian organisations and their HR activity, thus generating a series of negative effects on profit and the employees’ individual performances. Ameliorating these negative effects is the top managers’ task, just as much as it is the HR departments, whose role has evolved towards that of a mediator in charge of creating the most appropriate climate for achieving performance, efficiency and optimal results. In order to propose a healthy implementation process, with a view to indicating the phenomenon subjected to analysis, the first step was to analyze each employee’s individual performance metrics. Then, a mathematical modeling of performance with the human resource was developed, by applying an additional linear model on 4 major tasks of human resources spending and a report on performance was calculated - the cost being connected to implementingfreelancing in HR activity in the marketing department.The present study, therefore, provides a concrete solution to the great challenge found in HR management, which is assuring that there is concordance between making spending in HR as efficient as possible and ensuring a high level of motivation and increasing performance with human resources in the organization.

During the period known as the economic and global financial crisis, economic forecasting came under heavy criticism for its inability to predict the crisis, to the point where said crisis was deemed not just a crisis of the global economy, but of economic thinking as well, in particular mainstream, neoclassical economics. The critique of economics has focused primarily on the following aspects: its unrealistic assumptions regarding markets and human behaviours; its poor track record in predicting phenomena such as the crisis itself; its over-reliance on models that bear little resemblance to real world conditions, and also that it has a very narrow focus, reluctant to integrate useful inputs from other fields, which is perceived as leading to stagnation and hindering progress in the field. Following the crisis, several academic debates occurred within the field of economics, with several heterodox schools of economic thought receiving renewed attention, while universities have begun to expand the range of disciplines included in their business programmes, gravitating towards a multidisciplinary approach. The present paper aims to examine the concept of multidisciplinarity with a focus on its role in business education today and to assess the extent to which its spread and prevalence can usher in a new paradigm in economic thinking.

Entrepreneurial initiatives and actions are considered main triggers of economic and social development as well as important factors in order to achieve more cohesion among various countries and regions within the European Union. The main goal of the present paper consists in analyzing the scientific literature on entrepreneurship and its influences on regional development. In the first section of the paper the concepts of entrepreneurship and regional development are broken down from the perspective of various researchers. Next the link between entrepreneurship and regional development is established and it is analyzed how the two terms are interconnected: entrepreneurship might have a positive contribution to the development of a region and in the same time some regions are more attractive for entrepreneurs than others. In the last section of the paper a bibliometric analysis is conducted, which aims at establishing the interest existing in the scientific literature for this research topic based on different criteria such as: number of publications, language of publication, journals where articles have been published, areas of knowledge in which authors have published research on entrepreneurship and regional development etc. The analysis was conducted based on scientific literature published between 2001 and 2017 and indexed in the Web of Science - Core Collection. It is highlighted that most of the publications on entrepreneurship and regional development are articles, published in English in the field of Business economics. Overall, the positive trend regarding the number of publications on this topic reveals a growing interest for this research area.

This research aims to highlight the efficacy of the use of Information and Communication Technology as a didactic teaching, learning and evaluation method for improving the instructionaleducational process within the tourism high school. Our research, which took place in 12 high schools with classes in Tourism and Nutrition in the County of Constanta between 2013 and 2016, was based on two variables: the independent variable - represented by the continuous, systematic use of ICT methods in teaching and learning content at the disciplines included in the curriculum Tourism and Nutrition at different levels of study and the dependent variable - which depends and changes according to the independent variable: the specific skills, the degree of understanding and assimilation of the specialized contents. In this article we will present the experimental phase in which the actual research was carried out on two parallel groups of subjects: an experimental group (where ICT methods were used - the coordinating teachers created virtual classes on the educational platform www.easyclass.com) and a control group (in which classical didactic methods were used) and the postexperimental phase in which tests of knowledge assessment were applied to both the experimental classes and the control classes. The post-experimental step allowed the measurement of the dependent variable in the two samples of subjects, experimental and control, and the comparison of the initial data with the final ones. For this purpose, tests for assessing the knowledge acquired by the pupils in the experimental and control classes as a result of each unit of learning included in the content sample were applied. These tests were created depending on the specific and derived competences of each unit of learning, following the extent of their development at the pupils in the two samples.

The current research aims to identify the main directions to implement sustainability in education through curriculum; interdisciplinary/ transdiciplinary approach; business environment; entrepreneurship and innovation. In order to fulfil the objectives of the current study, a questionnairebased survey was sent by email to UNESCO Chairs from Balkan Region and the responses were analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis. According to the results, UNESCO chairs are working towards the main goals for higher education in the EU through some instruments: Establishing the main directions for a quality education; Establishing the relevant directions towards the implementation of sustainability in education through curriculum; Establishing the relevant directions towards the implementation of sustainability in education by an interdisciplinary/ transdisciplinary approach; Establishing the relevant directions towards the implementation of sustainability in education in collaboration with the business environment; Establishing the main directions in the field of education for entrepreneurship and innovation.

This article proposes an analysis of the globalization process impact on the Romanian insurance industry in the last decade, after accession of Romania to the European Union, in terms of competition. One of the main lines of change caused by globalization includes changes in the legislative framework, which are considered to be forced by globalization. The introduction of Solvency II directive to the beginning of 2016 year to ensure for all European insurers, the integration, globalization and the unitary functioning on the same insurance market and the recent measures taken by several Romanian insurance undertakings to strengthen their financial position could be consider a major step to further encourage the improvement of market competition and better policyholder protection. In the last ten years, the Romanian insurance sector has been faced with changes such as mergers & acquisitions and bankruptcies that have modified the local landscape of the industry, so the majority of active companies in the market are now owned by the biggest financial groups worldwide. The results of the research reveal that the Romanian insurance market is characterised by a high concentration and competition level and in spite of the present risks, it is still attractive for foreign investors.

Thanks to the French language, 77 member and observer States and governments of the International Organization of La Francophonie of all continents, with levels of development at the two extremes of the wealth scale, can maintain a regular dialogue. These states where French is an official language, often alongside other languages have a significant impact on the global economy, particularly in cultural sectors. Several studies revealed that speaking French is a professional asset and that, the mastery of many languages, including one for international communication such as French, is a decisive asset in the international competition and the globalized economies. In the same time the intensity of trade in goods and capital between the countries which share the French language as an official language allow the hypothesis of a "linguistic preference" as one of the components favorable to the economic relations between the territories. The scope of this paper is to investigate the current place of the French language in the field of business or finance, its economic weight in the cultural sector and the current need to master French to be competitive on the global labor market. The results have the mission to show the growing importance of the francophone economic space and the necessity of a bigger Romanian implication within its projects and initiatives. The contribution brought by the paper to the field of Francophone studies is significant especially for the Romanian academic environment since less attention has been given in the last decade to the French language and its inputs for the economy.

The Central bank independence was viewed in the last decades as an essential prerequisite for ensuring good monetary policies. However, the global crisis of 2009 has shown that this concept was of little practical importance. The European Central Bank, which was built as one of the most independent central banks in the world, and the Federal Reserve System, a not so independent central bank from the point of view of legal independence, reacted in almost the same manner to the looming crises. Both of them used unconventional monetary policies, for which there was little theoretical support, to safeguard their economies. Quantitative easing, forward guidance and negative interest rate are now considered common instruments in the monetary authority’s arsenal. Moreover, central banks now have an extended goal, i.e. to provide financial stability. This means that they are expected to take action to prevent future economic crises by using monetary policy as a counter-cycle instrument. Given this important modification regarding the expected actions which must come from the monetary authorities, we argue that central bank independence becomes irrelevant in times of economic downturn, when they will use whatever means necessary to ensure financial stability. Political short run need will surpass long run stability as a priority for monetary decision makers.

The current paper explores the role that risk profile analysis plays in maintaining the financial and managerial health of companies, within the reorganization process (a phase of insolvency procedure). During the modern era, the attempts to regulate insolvency proceedings, in order to redefine the principles governing them, have made possible a strong international collaboration and have generated a set of reforms designed to effectively address the global phenomenon of insolvency. The main purpose of the new regulations is to give a second chance to the honest debtor and to support him and his/her business in their recovery efforts. Thus, the reorganization of companies becomes an essential attribute of the free, functional market economy, based upon free competition. EU-wide statistics for 2016 show that over 200,000 businesses are annually affected by bankruptcy, which leads to the loss of more than 1.7 million jobs each year. The situation is particularly important for the economies of all countries involved, regardless of the development level. Because of constant business threats, managers should be aware at all times of the economic and financial indicators, seeking for the vulnerable areas of their business and for those with development potential. Identifying a company’s risk profile involves analyzing all the risks that affect the entity (market risk, bankruptcy, liquidity risk, operational risk etc.). A very important factor concerning the reorganization of a company is the tax policy and this paper further explores the subject, by focusing on Romania‘s business patterns, compared to the international framework, based upon the statistics for reorganization procedures, the applicable legal framework, the creditors' policy to encourage recovery etc. The purpose of this study is to highlight the causes that might limit the recovery of companies, during the reorganization procedures in Romania and, as a further research, to analyze the opportunity of developing an economic risk analysis model able to predict the future reorganization of companies. It would represent a barometer of financial and managerial health.

Transformational leaders encourage their subordinates to achieve organizational goals and objectives and to reach their full potential by providing the needed resources. This increasing influence of transformational leaders on employees instigated us to find out the impact of transformational leadership on employees’ job satisfaction. The study was conducted in the public sectors universities of KPK, Pakistan. A sample size of 130 employees was selected using convenient sampling techniques. The data was collected from grade 16 and upper level of employees in the universities. Initially, 130 questionnaires were sent out to the target population for their participation in the survey; out of which 100 filled questionnaires were received forming percentage of 76.92%. These 100 properly filled questionnaires were used for statistical analysis. Both descriptive and advance multivariate statistical, correlation and regression analysis, were conducted to get a feel for the data and to test the postulated hypothesis respectively. Findings of the study revealed that there was non-significant influence of transformational leadership in terms of idealized influence, individualized consideration, and inspirational motivation on employees’ job satisfaction in the public sectors universities of KPK, Pakistan. However, the intellectual stimulation type of leadership had positive and significant impact on employees’ job satisfaction. The paper contributes to the literature review in context of non-forprofit organizations in a developing country and provides implications for universities’ executives to pay more attention to intellectual stimulation type of leadership to increase employees’ satisfaction and thus help achieve the universities goals and objectives.

The concept of Circular Economy is an emerging topic and the European Union has established a European Circular Economy Strategy in 2015. Although this concept originates from Europe, there is also an increased attention to the Circular Economy in China and the country has implemented regulatory controls in that regard. The scientific interest on this issue has been increasing and a great deal of research articles has been published in the soundest scientific journals recently. The concept of Circular Economy aims to address the need to pursue economic growth, while protecting the environment (including existing resource limitations and pollution prevention), and paying attention to societal and people needs and expectations. The adoption of Circular Economy can generate considerable tangible and intangible benefits such as new opportunities for co-operation, access to markets and innovation of products and services and, simultaneously, improving the environmental performance and mitigating the risks of resource scarcity. This creates value for the companies and their stakeholders and contributes to enduring success. To assess if the Portuguese citizens and companies support and adopt a “Circular Economy behavior”, an online survey was carried out amongst ISEP - P. Porto population, yielding more than 200 valid responses (65% of the total responses were provided by students). Based on the survey outputs (assessment supported in a 5 point Likert type scale), the following conclusions can be drawn: Most respondents agree that it is beneficial both for the environment and the economy the adoption of production systems based on used products and parts reuse and recycling; There is also agreement that the selective collection of waste should be the base to develop new products and there is significant support for a “zero waste economy” in which all used products or materials are reused or recycled. However, the respondents consider that the Portuguese citizens do not always segregate and deposit their waste in the appropriate waste containers and the same applies to companies that do not segregate and manage their waste adopting a systematically environmentally responsible approach. Moreover, they consider that the Portuguese legislation only mildly supports the adoption, both from citizens and companies, of environmental friendly practices. These conclusions reinforce the need to strengthen Circular Economy concepts and approaches within the Portuguese government, citizens, and companies.

There is a considerable amount of interest in Industry 4.0, the so-called 4fh industrial revolution, however, the concept is not clear in the literature. This research by performing a literature review on Industry 4.0, aims to present an overview of the several industrial revolutions with emphasis on Industry 4.0 and its underlined dimensions. Industry 4.0 is characterized by the advanced digitalization and integration of industrial manufacturing and logistics processes, and the use of internet and “smart” objects (machines and products) and merging the physical and the virtual worlds by the adoption of information and communications technology (ICT). Industry 4.0 fosters novel human and production organization systems and new organizational business models, impacting the overall value chain, society and the environment. Contributions for such new business models that can support Industry 4.0 are proposed with envisioned potential benefits such as shorter operations cycle times, quick delivery times, faster time to market of new products and services, improved quality, and product/service customization, stronger consumer involvement and loyalty. Industry 4.0 can help organizations to address new and emerging markets by a differentiation strategy, or even create new disruptive business models. However, it is still in the early stages for most companies and the digital transformation will require a strong leadership, the right human competences and to overcome several barriers, for its successful implementation. And while this will lead to a significant improvement in job creation, there will be also considerable job losses for Employees with low skill levels. Considering that in 2015, only 14% of Small and Medium Enterprises were using internet channel and 40% of the European Union companies still had not adopted any of the new advanced digital technologies, there is a great need to further research Industry 4.0 drivers and success factors.

The present article seek to continue last year’s research by improving upon the subjects of current business models pertaining to personal mobility by way of electric automobiles, the efficiency of said models and by eventually developing a propitious business model, tailored to specificities of this domain. While the proposed topic is circumscribed within the general preoccupation with the rehabilitation of the natural environment through a better use of renewable energy, our fascination stems from the fact that personal mobility with the use of electric vehicles is one of the most dynamic and interesting social, economic and cultural worldwide phenomenon of the last decade. This topic has been broached, under different titles, by a number of researchers. After a significant amount of research on the subject, we realised that the importance of some of the thematic problem’s determining factors has not been sufficiently emphasised neither in the theoretical findings of the most current research nor has it been sufficiently considered and practiced by the industry’s ”principal players” - the entrepreneurs and the managers. The satisfaction associated with this newly formed revelation as well as the confidence to further pursue this line of inquiry have been significantly marked by the realisation that the same concerns have already been touched upon by authors such as Christian Lerch, Fabian Kley, David Dallinger, Thomas Budde Christensen, Peter Wells, Liana Cipcigan. Any analysis of the subject matter is further complicated by the current economic turbulence. Therefore, this article aims to provide not only a nuanced understanding and a clear, exact and correct interpretation of some of the most important “factors/variables” involved but also reconsider the significance of said “factors/variables” within the context of the proposed research theme, so that based on the results of our research we might define a epistemologically useful yet practical concept. In any case, the present articles seeks to provoke further analysis and debate over the conjectural nature of innovative business models applicable to the electrical car mobility field.

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.

As reflective educators, we seek to use instructional practices offering the greatest benefit to our students. Such benefits are easily seen and understood by the professor, but less often are clearly recognized by the students. To fully evaluate the impact of various activities on students, it is essential to explore the pedagogical practices they engage in, both within, and outside of the classroom. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure the variety of instructional activities used int eh business curricula. The instrument that will be described in this session contains thirteen scales drawn from a total of 58 developed items. The survey gathered responses from 189 business students from four US-based universities: two state-supported (public) and two private. Based on Varimax factor analysis rotation, the scales were left intact. All 58 items aligned on the thirteen scales as predicted. Using Cronbach's Alpha, the reliability of the thirteen scales was supported: all Alpha’s measured above .83. The focus of this study is to validate the instructional groupings. The instrument will also serve to measure the delivery of classroom and institutional-guided learning practices for sound instructional practice.

The nexus of innovation, entrepreneurship and competiveness represents a real challenge for the European economy, and not only, taking into account the important role of these determinants of inclusive and sustainable development in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The aim of this article is to explore the relation between innovation, entrepreneurship and national competitiveness, at the EU level, in order to highlight how innovation and entrepreneurship can influence the level of competitiveness and inclusive development in these countries. The results of the comparative analysis based on means-testing using independent samples t-test, at EU level, show that there are significant differences between low-medium innovation performance countries group and high and very high innovation countries performance group in terms of competitiveness, innovative entrepreneurship, productive entrepreneurship and economic and inclusive development, fact which emphasizes the need to take specific actions to improve EU innovation performance, especially in the EU countries included in the low-medium innovation performance countries group for improving national competitiveness and implicitly increasing the level of development. The correlation and regression analysis results suggest that the high level of national competitiveness in some EU countries can be mainly explained by high level of innovation performance, high level of innovative and productive entrepreneurship. The findings of the study can be useful for policymakers to formulate policies for improving national competitiveness within an inclusive development.

Corporate reporting is generally perceived as a type of accounting fit for purpose for the 21 century, taking into consideration not only the traditional shareholders’ needs and views but also stakeholders’. Academic literature tends to over-appreciate the non-financial nature of corporate reporting, forgetting that numbers can have their own narratives, which can be read in between the lines. It is true that numbers present certain uncertainties and an extra level of reporting can provide a better interpretation, in a complementary or continuous manner. The present research looks at the current European Union binding legislation and academic and professional judgements towards it. The ultimate questions to be answered is if corporate reporting is improved information? and whose needs are really served: shareholders, the traditional users of accounts, or stakeholders, always hidden, but intuitively taken into account. Findings of the research show that public good is largely perceived as the duty of private interest, as regulated by the public authorities. This mainly happens as shareholders and whoever puts money at risk still are the primarily user group, but the context and consequences of reporting are wider than before. The approach taken by this paper was first of all to discover inside outs of corporate reporting and secondly to look how industry self-regulators interact with public authorities, for the common good. The added value of the present papers is represented by its policy recommendations presented as conclusions.

The strong emphasis on achieving excellence in the services the museums provide to its target public opens a new road to an area that is not characteristic of traditional museology, namely the journey of innovation. This road to innovation has two pillars: a mature knowledge-based strategy (in response to identified needs of target groups) and the ability to provide education (according to identified needs). Both components are totally dependent on visitors, their needs and their personal or collective experiences. This paper addresses these pillars, considering that education is not a mere accumulation of knowledge, but how the visitor experiences, interacts and learns during his visit. Using the literature review as research methodology, this paper aims to analyze the stakeholders of a museum and to assess their partnerships with other museums, by highlighting the clear advantages of stakeholder involvement in the management system of the museum. The main results shows that museums, as cultural organizations, are a brick at the foundation of economic development in many cities. The involvement and support of the stakeholders is essential for a museum that wants to set and meet appropriate community service goals. Understanding stakeholder`s value is important for effective reporting on the performance of the museum, which transforms and translates through continuous public support for the museum.

In today’s economies the role of marketing cannot be underestimated, just the sole amount of media communications is astonishing not taking in consideration the different marketing and PR strategies involved. The most well-known tools include advertising, public relations, sales promotions, direct marketing and personal selling. There is an increasing number of advertisements that reach our attention by the presence of vulgarity, nudity or moral offenses. The aim of the article is to extensively review the literature of shock advertising namely shockvertising and to pinpoint its evolution in case of Benetton fashion brand. Shockvertising focuses on the idea of selling products through evoking terrifying and repulsive emotions. This type of advertising is used to sensitize people to religion, racism, war, poverty and other taboo topics. The descriptive method is used in order to describe such complex phenomena. The research is conducted in the form of a retrospective qualitative case study focusing on the historical events that are connected to the communications at Benetton. Through the following research a better understanding of shockvertising and its dynamics is reached and emotional reactions of a range of individuals is presented. In addition, the question of ethical considerations and the shock advertising effectiveness is analyzed.

The enterprise value is central in business transactions (i.e. mergers and acquisitions, entrance of new shareholders or exit, bank loans), privatization of state-owned companies, etc., when the seller and the buyer confront each other’s business valuations trying to identify as many weaknesses as possible on the other side. Such important value as the enterprise’ is not an exact figure that can be calculated with precision at a certain date for a certain company, but an approximation that both buyer and seller may consider in each other’s attempt to close a good deal for himself/ herself. The valuation approach in this paper is a market method for business investments and comparable sales. This retrospective analysis of a major privatization in the Romanian steel industry - when the industry’s 'giant' was sold by the Romanian State - aims to identify key factors of the enterprise value in the context of international transactions. This was a high-profile privatization of great significance for the European steel industry and this analysis aims to understand enterprise value in order to model it. For this purpose, the article takes into consideration the information available regarding the privatization of Sidex Galați, the relevant literature and the author’s experience, supplemented by the information from the post-privatization evolution of the Romanian steel enterprise. As a result, the article draws lessons and concludes on determining factors of enterprise value, such as assets, solvency, company's history, cash flow, taxation etc., while the price transaction in the case of the privatization of Romanian steel enterprises was also influenced by exogenous factors, such as the steel market, the State's need for revenues, the controlling package of the company sold, etc.

News about various information security attacks against companies appears almost every day. The sources of these attacks vary from cyber-criminals who want to steal companies’ data to demand a ransom, to current or former employees who want to create damage to the organization. The best way to defend organizational critical assets is to implement an Information Security Management System that secures all sensitive assets from confidentiality, availability and integrity perspective. An Information Security Management System offers top management a framework for sensitive information flow control. This framework includes with a risk assessment that considers the security threats and vulnerabilities of the company’s assets. Companies usually implement Information Security Management System only after they have a functional quality management system, which brings clarity and optimization to the company’s processes. Current approaches on creation and implementation of effective Information Security Management System are very theoretical and thus difficult to use in practice. The main objective of this paper is to present an Information Security Management System implementation method in the case of a small company by defining the basic steps in achieving a fully functional Information Security Management System. The proposed methodology considers the top management Information Security Management System objectives, organizational context, risks assessment and third parties expectations fulfillment.

Higher education institutions face many challenges in order to increase their visibility, recognition and position in the field based or general higher education market. National or international rankings put a lot of pressure on academic leadership to fulfill the criteria of their methodologies. Learning experience is becoming a more and more important dimension of the motivation to study. In the contemporary context of networking diversity, the process of generating learning experience is becoming part of the institutional efforts related to which creating an internal environment is connected to the learning experience generating. The literature review proves a higher interest on student engagement, on students’ and graduates’ involvement in the institutional life, on development a long-term relationship between university and graduates on one hand and between university and industry on the other hand etc. The common issue among all these subjects is the learning experience that is provided to students through all the activities in higher education institutions. What can be done or develop in order to generate a great learning experience starts from a correct, but flexible understanding of the concept. What can be institutionally changed for the benefit of a higher learning experience need a clear recognition of what more experienced institutions have already achieved. The objectives of the paper include: a) a clear understanding of the learning experience concept; b) an overview of the current characteristics of the learning experience providers; c) a start-up strategy for generating learning experience. All these objectives are integrated in a literature review approach as well as in a qualitative study dedicated to the perceptions of students and academics on what learning experience means and what institutionally can be improved. The findings reveal a possible model for building up a learning experience strategy for Romanian higher education institutions.

The evolution of entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative sectors leads to social innovation by creating new jobs intended for the creative class and by building a long-run smart, sustainable and inclusive local development. Innovation and sustainability are concepts that can be applied to many industries, and they can involve numerous improvements related but not limited to processes, products, services, logistics. This paper supports the idea that the creative and cultural sectors can develop through innovative entrepreneurship, by introducing new methods of production, optimizing existing processes, improving the delivery methods or by developing new products or services, while also relying on the help of the government and smart organizations such as clusters. Since innovation involves improving the way of doing business, this paper will focus on identifying the available innovative methods that can be applied to the businesses activating in the cultural and creative sectors of the economy in Romania, together with the main challenges and opportunities that might arise by applying them. The perspectives of intellectual capital, creative economy and knowledge-based society in relation to the impact of innovation and entrepreneurship towards the development of the cultural and creative sectors in Romania will also be considered. The paper will also tackle a series of best practice examples of innovative businesses in the creative sectors, as well as a comparative analysis of the successfully implemented innovative ideas in this field of activity and their impact on the customer satisfaction and on the development of the local economy.

The Value proposition is one of the key aspects of a business model and plays a significant role in any business model. Nowadays, firms could be successful and even could be initiated, only when a value proposition of their business model is clarified precisely. There is a necessity for new studies in order to see whether National Oil Companies(NOCs) are promoting the proper business models that make them competitive. This research analyzes the value proposition and its influence on the NOC’s competitiveness and it supports to deliver the required products and services to their specific market segment and customers. The main objective of this research is to develop a value proposition for the business model of National Oil Companies(NOCs). This could enable firms to be more competitive in the oil industry, especially in the oil supply glut circumstance. In order to achieve this objective, the research methodology is based on the semi-structured interview with the main stakeholders in the oil industry which is NOCs. First, value propositions in the history of oil and gas industry are addressed in almost every decade, then five current or previous managers of National Iranian Oil Company are selected for the semi-structured interview to clarify the current market situation and eventually propose the desired value propositions for the business model of NOCs.

Directive 2012/27/UE of the European Parliament has created a new motivation for energy audits: the avoidance of penalties. According to this directive, large companies in all EU member states must carry out energy audits at least every four years. Does this obligation affect the quality of energy audits? We hypothesize that voluntary audits, in comparison to mandatory audits, have a higher quality level in terms of a higher investment in energy efficiency measures. While mandatory audits must always take the entire company into account, voluntary energy audits allow companies to focus on the most promising business or process areas. The energy balance limits can also be drawn more focused. The auditor can also be selected according to specific professional qualifications. As a methodology, we first define quality criteria for energy audits based on the energy efficiency measures determined. Important factors are the adoption rate, the calculated energy savings and the consideration of non-energy benefits in the calculation. The validation of the collected quality criteria is carried out by a comparison with the results of already existing research work. In an empirical study, we then compare data from audits of both types that have already been carried out with regard to the quality characteristics found. Via a database with 1,692 energy audits conducted in Germany in the years 2014-2016, we can draw up detailed comparisons of the energy balances and, in particular, of the measures calculated. This enables clear conclusions to be drawn about the differences in quality between the different program types.

The following study is, in addition to a reassessment of literature and an analysis based on non-parametrical techniques based on linear programming. The analysis based on the Data Envelopment Analisys (DEA) technique will be used to see whether the model that we have used has a significant importance, if there are any substantial differences between the efficiency scores obtained or estimated through various methods. The theoretical part, based on the DEA technique will be analysed under the influence of both the works of Farell(1957), and also Charnes, Cooper, Rhodes(1978), Banker, Charnes, Cooper(1984) and other newer models. The dissolution of efficiency scores obtained through the CRS-DEA model has been studied for a long time into two different components: One is linked with the scale inefficiency and the other one represents the pure technical inefficiency. This dissolution can be done by using the CRS model with technology when not all the companies are operating at the optimum level, i.e. through the simultaneous application on the same set of data of the CRS and VRS models. In this study, the main non-parametrical Data Envelopment Analysis method is presented (Wu, Fan, Zhou, Zhou, 2012; Halkos, Tzeremes, 2009) and its application on a group of 42 companies (The headquarters of a top commercial bank in Romania - S.C. BRD GROUPE SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE ), based on the information gained in the years 2016-2017. This paper is original because it combines the already developed method with new techniques, in order to link together economic factors and operational research and leaves more room for future researches with the purpose of further assessing and changing the performance of every decisional unit under the influence of the environmental factors.

This paper aims to identify if regime-switching GARCH models perform better than singlestate GARCH models for the Romanian stock market. There will be used two approaches: in-sample and out-of-sample. All estimations are going to be made for the BET Index, which is the most relevant index from the selected market. The results will be ranked based on statistical loss functions for each of the two considered approaches. These rankings should ensure an accurate comparison for models’ performance and they succeeded to return about the same results as in the relevant literature. Hence, for the in-sample evaluation there was no model which performs best for all loss-functions, but one can notice that for the out-of-sample evaluation the regime-switching models performed better especially on short-term (1-day observation period). All of these results were used further to improve some risk management strategies based on VaR, for which the volatility could be estimated through regimeswitching GARCH models, than considering historical volatility.

As we are part of a dynamic world oriented towards change and flexibility, the society becomes more eager to be connected and updated to the latest news. Within this context, the purpose of the current paper is to focus on the tactics the companies use in order to achieve strategic agility in the telecom industry. The study aims to seek and analyzes which are the reasons which support the telecom industry to remain innovative and competitive on the market Therefore in order to align to the exponential trend of the market for innovation, we should have an overview picture of internal capabilities of the organization like human resource, technological advances or innovation. Further on, the literature review strengthens the significance companies place on decisions which keep alive their sustainability. Many studies claim that in order to deliver top results, an organization must be aware and fully exploit its major drivers of success. The paper will bridge the literature review with a realcase analysis. We will use a survey based on a sample of companies operating with the telecom market which will be shared at different levels of the business from stakeholders to top management. The results are meant to lead to a set of findings which influence the companies in being agile on the market. The outcome might serve as a reference point for the ones interested to set up a company within this industry or who are conducting research on this subject.

The digitalization process of the business activities has increased tremendously in the last fifty years, revolutionizing several fields of activity, such as communication, medicine, production, transport, as well as all aspects of the daily social, economic and political processes. Furthermore, the IT field has developed new ways of innovating, including new management models in the production field, that allow management of IT companies to become more customer-oriented in a dynamic competitive field. As technological progress is becoming present in every aspect of everyday life, the pressure for innovation and customer involvement represent the two main challenges of producing successful prototypes and final products for the IT market. The purpose of the present paper is to analyze two of the main product development business model trends in the IT field, namely Waterfall model and Agile model, the latest being an adapting strategy to increased customer requirements and the changing business environment. In order to ensure a practical approach the case study was based on the analysis of their implementation within the company Avira Soft S.R.L. The results of the study emphasized the benefits of using the Agile model at Avira Soft S.R.L starting with 2011 in comparison to the previous model of Waterfall product development. The relevance of the paper consists in the fact that the two models indicate how the IT product development business models are evolving depending on environmental factors and the need for continuous adaptation and innovation due to increased competition. The Agile model brought improvements of the Waterfall model, but also new challenges regarding the organizational culture, communication between members of the company and more pressure for continuous improvement. However these two models are an example of how the IT product development business models are evolving and they form a basis for future product development strategies.

The research purpose is to present the possibilities of the human being which are useful in order to improve the personal level of energy and to achieve an increased balance and a strong self control. These are the necessary conditions to be performed and in the same time to maintain a good health. Humans usually use energy from external sources. But, first of all, by employing different personal techniques, one can reach a high level of balance, energy and self control. These are the simplest, the fastest, the most efficient, the most economical and also ecological ways to have energy. If these attempts are efficient, you are first of all warm, then less ill and stressed. Everybody should try these kinds of methods first. A comparison was made between the results from two consecutive years, obtained by measuring the subject using a Bio-Well device. It results an increase of 23% in the energy level, in the conditions that the other parameters are optimal. The general balance reached the value of 99.97%. The authors proved, with the occasion of these original measurements, that a perfect balance can be reached. Another set of original and new measurements reveal the possibility of the human being to have a good self control. The subject proposed and succeeded in moving the second body energy centre by his own will, which is the most important energy centre of the body in the Zen-Buddhism. This is a remarkable completely original result obtained, maybe, for the first time in the world. In principle, we could control then the positions of the all seven energy centers, one by one. And so, the whole balance of the body. Also, in this way an incredible personal control and level of performance and also a high level of happiness can be achieved.

The present paper adds practical experience to the current IP literature and shows a case study upon a start-up company from Romania benefits of its intangible assets in increasing its competitiveness performances, showing how technology-focused SMEs can use IP effectively to support their business models. So, we provide practical means for understanding one practical way in which an innovative SME profits from patents and standards for creating value, also revealing a good practice in IP strategy and management (awareness and involvement at senior management level, pragmatic and innovative use of the flexibility offered by IP) and facilitating the transfer of knowledge of one IP strategy and management associated to a real innovative business example.

The implementation of bancassurance activity in the banking field contributes to the strengthening of the competitive environment, the development of new products in insurance and the higher satisfaction of the consumer's needs. The strategic priorities of banks are to increase business protection by adding new products to their portfolios, according customer's needs. The distribution of insurance in the bancassurance system is a future solution and will continue to develop on the Romanian market as well. Bancassurance is the main distribution channel in many countries, accounting for more than 50% of life insurance products (eg France, Italy, Spain, Austria), in Portugal the share goes up to 80% and in Romania is around 30%. Among the aspects needed to develop this service, bank representatives propose both the diversification of types of insurance sold through banks, as well as the growth of consumer financial education development and digitalization. This paper aims to highlight different perspectives to relaunch bancassurance activity according to changes from customer behavior and the identification of factors which contributing to the sustainability of bancassurance in digital environment. In addition, will be presented a comparison of the internet penetration rate in the world, the categories of clients using online banking services.

Current educational systems and processes need to anticipate the challenges of the new millennium and lay the foundations for the future in the economic, social, technological, cultural and relational context. New educational programs must seriously consider a number of conditions such as: entirely new ways of serving existing needs and significantly disrupt existing industry value chains; growing transparency, consumer engagement, and new patterns of consumer behavior; the development of technology-enabled platforms that combine both demand and supply to disrupt existing industry structures, such as those we see within the “sharing” or “on demand” economy. In this paper I`ve started from the assumption that in the specific conditions of a creativity-based economy is necessary to rethink the components of the matrix partnership crossing from `triple helix` to `quadruple helix` logic. This new model becomes necessary because under current regional and international circumstances Mode 3 of knowledge production has become generalized. In this paper I`ve opted for the concept that adds civil society proposing reformulate the analytical model so as to place in balance integration with differentiation to produce suitability for a societal design defined by the self-organization of the sense communication process with respect to the analytical axes of complex systems. The basic idea of the research is to identify the way in which the challenges of internationalization of education, the transformations required by the emergence of this process, and the most relevant redefining that must take place at the level of curricular architectures and learning methods are understood. Based on the research I have made, I recommended few ways to cope with sensitive challenges educational systems are confronted with such as: better connecting theory and practice, teaching a more useful economics, designing the future based on the understanding of the past, minimizing the rhetorical component and maximizing the factual one, testing conformity of different ideas in advance.

The oil and gas industries remain an important drive for the world economy. On one hand, global demand for fossil fuels is still rising, and on the other hand, companies face complex investment challenges due to the harsh operational environment of exploration and production activities. Workforce regulations aim to provide a safe and secured working environment. However, exploration and production activities still cause local and global environmental risks such as groundwater contamination, or climate change in broader scale. Analyzing and reporting mechanisms are key performance indicators of sustainable development at the level of oil and gas companies. Obtaining and analyzing required data, nevertheless, seem to be a persistent challenge as to what degree these findings can affect the routine and strategic decisions of the oil and gas companies. In order to enable oil and gas companies to measure and control risks and manage incidents, artificial intelligent technologies in extended monitoring and supervising E&P operations is known to be an efficient prevention strategy. Such tools not only aid in profitability of the oil and gas companies, but also increase awareness of environment and climate change to act more responsibly. In this study, the significances of environmental policies were investigated through interviews with executives and stakeholders, revealing that the implementation of environmental protection policies is affected by the financial stability of the companies, and under severe economic situations, companies seem less enthusiastic in strictly implementing those policies. This paper provides a comprehensive review of emerging technologies in addressing existing and foreseen challenges in sustainable development in oil and gas industries, with the aim of suggesting prime solutions for strategic planning attempts.

Tourism has undoubtedly become a factor of economic and social development for everyone in contemporary society. What seems clear is that tourism growth, with the ultimate goal of increasing the socioeconomic level, is a chronological process that requires a certain amount of time before the desired results begin to be observed. Tourism in Romania is an activity linked to the cultural world and natural heritage, as well as the traditions and customs specific to each historical regions of the country. This research makes an analysis of the flow of visitors in Romania, but also an analysis of statistical data provided by the National Statistics Institute of Romania (in the range of 2013 - 2016) with regards to the departures of the Romanian population abroad. We were interested to see what who visits us and what geographical areas they are interested in, and what this means, but especially if this tourist flow analyzed for a period of four years has an impact on the development of the community. The data show that the largest number of arrivals in our country comes from our neighbors, so a tourism promotion strategy aimed at the neighboring markets would be an important factor for the development of tourism communities, all the more so with as are the countries whose main industry generating economic profit is tourism. A long-term national policy of investment and promotion of the destination Romania at international level is necessary, especially since the data obtained clearly tells us that the interest in the Romanian tourism is increasing and this fact leads to the development of the community where it is being developed.

Every year seems to bring about new technologies that radically change the way we do things. New innovative business models come to life, that change the way the world works so much that a shift of mindset is required if we are to keep up. These days, the largest transport company in the world owns no cars, the largest accommodation provider owns no real estate, the largest retailer by value has no inventory of its own, and the most popular media owner creates no content. But what about the role of regulation in this brave new world? We take a look at the rivals, taxi companies and private hire transport companies (in particular Uber), to assess the need for regulation and the impact of regulation on these two contenders. Our research examines the effects of said regulation on service quality and safety, correlated with consumer opinion data. The impact of non-regulatory incentives on the two seemingly-opposed business models is discussed, thus making the logical case for increased deregulation of both taxis and private hire companies. Opening the way to innovative companies and innovative new business models, allowing them to change the world is our gateway to growth, prosperity and sustainability.

The political, military, terrorist acts that took place during 2011-2017 have affected the tourism industry to a large extent, their effects being seen in the gradual decrease of the number of tourists generating income not only for tourism agencies, but also for tourism objectives for small merchants selling their products near tourist attractions. This has led to the closure of several souvenir shops, but also to the reduction of revenue generated by the flow of tourists to hotels, guides, restaurants. The Egyptian government has attempted to relaunch tourism by contracting a loan from the International Monetary Fund, reopening tourist attractions such as King Seti and Queen Nefertari, the Antiquities Ministry is continuing to finance the acquisition of metal detectors and scanners that are located in the tourist attractions included in the patrimony national. On the other hand, the fiscal measures adopted by the government, which impose VAT on local goods and services, have led to a price increase for all products and ultimately affecting not only citizens but also tourists who find that prices for tourist packages have increased within a few months. To highlight how great the influence that geopolitical events have on Egyptian tourism, data were analyzed for the period 2011-2017 of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics of Egypt, World Tourism Organization and the World Factbook..

When we bring in discussion risk, we think about danger, loss or other unfavorable consequences. In accounting and in finance area, the concept of risk is related to a wide range of terms, such as: cost - volume analysis, decision trees, discounted cash flows, capital assets pricing models, and the newly hedging concept. Effective risk management relates to risk assessment; risk evaluation; risk treatment; and risk reporting. Risk management highlights the actions that the entity takes in order to be prepared for any negative event. The objective of risk management is not to prevent or eliminate taking risk, but is to ensure that the risks is taken with complete knowledge and clear understanding so that it can be measured to help in mitigation. The paper will emphasizes a short evolution about accounting qualitative characteristics and how these features may conduct to a more transparent reporting and a balanced risk management processes. A key principle of comprehensive risk management is risk transparency, both in terms of internal risk reporting as well as external disclosure for users of information in making decision process.

Today’s world is clearly fractured whether we are looking at it through economic, political, cultural or educational lenses. This is in no way something new. The world has always been in this state, but the speed with which it reacted to real or perceived threats and tried to change accordingly was barely perceivable and, therefore, easier to adopt and adapt to. Today those changes happen with incredible speed and our reactions to them may not be informed or educated and are usually taken by leaders who are, at best, controversial and at worst obviously partial to their own, petty interests against the greater public good they vowed to serve. What can higher education do in such a world? Artificial intelligence (AI) is making huge progress and, although education at all levels is lagging behind in meaningfully adopting AI and working with it, the educational system is expected to react to a world divided by the fear of AI using big data, claiming jobs, and ushering in the era of loss of human supremacy or by the glorification of AI which is only a tool, fast developing indeed, but permanently controlled by human intelligence. Even if that human intelligence is concentrated into fewer and fewer human decision makers thus contributing to the already huge gap of inequality existing in today’s world. The present paper will explore issues related to the way in which the leadership of higher education chooses to handle today’s challenges and will use the home university of the authors to illustrate what happens in Romanian universities. The discussion will be informed by the authors’ own experience in the higher education system as well as by an analysis of various discourses and narratives belonging to different stakeholders, discussing those issues in various inter/national media. The paper will offer some recommendations.

Mutual funds and their evolution represent an expression of the performances of capital markets in the majority of states. The inflows and the outflows in mutual funds are used to evaluate the achievements obtained in capital markets all over the world. At the same time, both individual and organizational investors guide their acquisition decisions on information about past accomplishments of the various mutual funds and invest in funds that registered good and very good performances in the past, while trying to give up less performing funds. However, the decision is usually asymmetrical, as investors rather take into consideration the very good past performances of mutual funds and prefer to invest in those, while the pace of giving up to less performing funds is not accordingly prominent. Investors’ behaviour can differ from one country to another and the behaviour of those originating from developed countries and more mature capital markets have been studied to a higher extent internationally, while developing capital markets have been less studied so far. The present paper looks at capital markets from the perspective of mutual funds in three (rather) emerging capital markets located in Central and Eastern Europe, namely: Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. The inflows and outflows in mutual funds are analyzed for the 2007-2014 period and based on that, the investors’ behaviour in the three countries is looked at. The analysis has both a dynamic and a comparative character with the purpose to identify similarities and differences between the three analyzed countries, as well as to identify how they compare with more mature financial and capital markets. The analysis also tries to distinguish specific features of both evolution of mutual funds and investors’ behaviour, in a period that comprised two different stages of the economic cycle: financial crisis and the debut of the economic recovery period.

On a worldwide level, the dimension of tourism has been sustained and amplified by globalisation. This has facilitated not just easier travel, but also the internationalisation of food from the national kitchens. One of the interesting segments of the immaterial regional cultural heritage is the local gastronomic arts. Each destination has its own cultural vision linked to the area, region, and country which generate corresponding gastronomic identities. The link between local cuisine and national identity is deeply rooted in all ethnicities because food has forever been central to the day to day rituals. A distinctive trait of many cultures is given by the type of food and drinks we associate with them. Currently, many of these are available outside the borders, globalisation being largely responsible to the spread of food and drinks beyond the traditional cultural borders: Mexican and Italian food are very popular in the USA, Indian food in Great Britain, Chinese in the whole world. That is why local gastronomy is considered as being a vital part of culture and community and this is the reason for which it must be kept and protected. The gastronomy is an attribute of the identity of a destination: countries are usually characterised by one or two culinary plates, considered to be emblematic for the nation just like the national flag.

This paper aims to explore the entrepreneurship perception among diverse populations in Romania typically seen as vulnerable. It also aims to provide support regarding how the concept might be useful in considering and designing alternative policy interventions. The vulnerable population groups studied in the paper differ by age (seniors), gender (females), income (low income population) and residence (rural community). The paper attempts to answer three research questions: (1) how attitudes towards entrepreneurship differ among vulnerable population groups; (2) how intention of starting a business varies among studied population; and (3) what is the likelihood and desirability of studied population to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice. The data analysed in the paper are extracted from the Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report (AGER) developed for Romania, for the period 2014-2016. Analysis is conducted by taken into consideration the following dimensions of the “entrepreneurship perception”: attitude towards entrepreneurship, intention of starting a business, entrepreneurship as a career choice, and likelihood of self-employment. The paper aims to contribute to advancing research on the less addressed and less understood entrepreneurship perception among vulnerable populations. In the paper we make recommendations for governmental institutions that are meant to contribute to designing policy interventions that will nurture entrepreneurship spirit in Romania.

The paper aims to assess the propensity for entrepreneurship among rural populations in ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The entrepreneurship propensity is measured against four dimensions: entrepreneurial potential, desirability of self-employment, feasibility of selfemployment and the comfort with acquiring customers. In addition, we analysed key motivations for self-employment among rural populations in the sample countries, namely: the prospects of second income; self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own dreams and ideals; and return to job market as alternative to unemployment. The objectives of the paper are three-folded: (1) To determine how likely are the rural populations in the CEE countries studied to take on a self-employment activity; (2) To understand the perception of rural populations in the CEE countries about entrepreneurship and selfemployment; and (3) To identify the apparent similarities and differences in the countries studied among the rural populations in terms of their perception about entrepreneurship and motivations for self-employment. The study interprets the data collected in 2016 through the Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report. The research is meant to foster and popularize the rural entrepreneurship career model among rural communities in the sample CEE countries. This is important in order to know what can be done to encourage the business continuation and growth of rural entrepreneurs.

In this paper, the authors aim to realize an in-depth analysis of the current characteristics of the globalization phenomenon from the viewpoint of the European Union and Romanian economy. The study will pursue some of the globalization indicators published by Eurostat, their status and a multidimensional perspective on their evolution. Namely, the foreign trade, the foreign direct investments, the employment, value added shall be subjected to analysis. The authors will apply statistical and econometric techniques to outline the behavior of economic globalization, depending on the values and dynamics of the support indicators. The structural and dynamic evaluation shall consider the main aspect of the multi-dimensional perspective, the geographical dimension. Both statistical and econometric tools applied lead to a set of conclusions, either general or subject-oriented, which show the present impact and trends of globalization in the European Union and Romanian economic activity. The research question was focused on how strong is the influence of globalization indicators on the economic growth for European Union and Romania. The results outline the behavior of the globalization indicators in the recent period, with focus on the effects of the economic crisis. The main indicators considered were the net export, import, export and the foreign direct investments, and their impact of the Gross Domestic Product is also revealed.

The relation between the personality of consumers and their buying behavior has been a very much debated topic in the field of marketing researches. Several studies have shown that personality has a significant influence on the way consumer behave in their social and economic environment, in the way they approach and accept innovations and new developed products or even in their shopping behavior. This paper presents the influence of the Myers-Briggs personality dichotomies on the impulsive consumer behavior and the openness to buy newly launched products. Discriminant analysis was used to evaluate primary collected data and the core results show that extroverted, feeling-based decision-makers and perception oriented persons have more frequently an impulsive buying behavior at shopping sessions. Extroverts and intuition based consumers are more open to new products. The temptation to buy attractive unplanned products is higher for extroverts, feeling based decision makers and perceiving persons. Despite of this, none of the personality dichotomies influences the amount and care for spending in stores, this being influenced by other independent factors, mainly economic ones.

Leadership, organizational culture and knowledge conversion are sufficient concepts in contemporary organizational development. Thus, there are variety of concepts, methods and instruments in the literature, employed to examine either the current situation or the relationship among those categories. However, these methods are so diverse, that they could confront to one another if composed in a common survey. What is more, leadership, organizational culture and knowledge conversion are soft areas of study, which implies specifics that ought to be taken into consideration, especially when it comes for public administration. The objective of the paper is tocompile a framework of models, instruments and data manipulation techniques to revel current structure and the relationships among leadership, organizational culture and knowledge conversion in an organization. The survey focuses on managers in public administration (officers with subordinates). However, it is applicable in business environment as well. The concepts examined are as follows: Full range of Leadership Model, Hofstede Cross-cultural Model, Revised profile of Organizational Culture and SECI Model. The methodology employed composts of Descriptivеs, Preliminary data analysis, Outlier analysis, Exploratory Factor Analyses (Parallel analysis including), Pearson Correlation and Standard Linear Regression. As a result, there is a framework outlined to describe the current structure and the relationship among leadership, organizational culture and knowledge conversion practices.

Medicine and the pharmaceutical industry have a long and rich history of events. The transition from magic to modern medication was gradually achieved over thousands of years of evolution. Ambroise Pare, a French anatomist and surgeon from the 16th century, stated that it was very simple: “The doctor cares, God heals.” The medical-industrial complex appears to grow much faster than the economic power. And this is because the system is oriented not only by the demand, but also by doctors who play a double role. They offer medical services and, at the same time, they control their need (demand). Along with human and technological evolution, in some countries of the world, medicine can be inaccessible, perhaps untouchable or it is even considered to be a luxury. In this case, luxury is presented in the form of rationality that draws the medical world at various congresses, where the only words that can characterize the event are: the performance, high-class, luxury and international reputation of the doctors or of the speakers. This article briefly outlines the results of a qualitative marketing research among medical congress organizers-social events where high-quality marketing blends nicely with the quality of modern medicine news and perspectives, thus forming a clearer picture of the tradition and the priorities of topics chosen for medical events. The result of the research is reflected in the sketch of a program of such an event in Romania, combining the high scientific performance with social elements that can significantly increase the attractiveness of such a manifestation. In order to obtain a conclusive feedback, a useful tool is also developed and accessible to the organizers. The bibliography supports theoretically the concepts with which it operates (event marketing, the significance of high-class professional performance and the specific coordinates of the medical sector).

The brand of a university is the result of the interaction between the vectors it uses to position itself in relation to its stakeholders. Among these, high school students who aspire to become students play a key role. The way in which the university is perceived by its main recruitment base (the high school environment) is crucial for the capacity of the university to recruit the best qualified candidates. Considering there is a lack of a coherent project by either the higher education system or the secondary education system that looks into the high school students’ choice of an educational trajectory, there is a need for in-depth research about the motivational mechanism that drives future students to opt for a certain university. In order to fill this gap, the present study aims to research the vectors that drive the high school students’ choice of a university programme. It is a quantitative, sample research conducted on high school students in the last year of their programme, in representative high schools in one of the districts of Bucharest. The method used is the survey, the technique is that of face-to-face interviews, and the instrument used was the semi-structured questionnaire. The second research is an exploratory qualitative study conducted on the class tutors of the high school students; its purpose is to describe, with the help of some hypotheses, their preoccupations throughout the pedagogical process of career orientation. By changing the perception of the academic environment, this can help promote social cohesion and a synergy between the processes of accumulating knowledge and those of stimulating creativity and innovation in the university environment. The present study aims to contribute to this project and is based on the literature that reflects the experience of some of the most important schools in the international context, as far as the recruitment of future students is concerned.

The paper reveals how lean instruments and metrics applied in transportation translates the importance of logistic visibility and shared information between shippers, brokers, carriers and customers along the supply chain management. Recreating a new transportation network emphasizes the idea of discovering practical strategies and actions of reducing muda in terms of efficiency and costs. Transportation cost has to be focused on frequency of trips, shipping size, distance travelled, guide routes and deficient rates. One of the objectives of the research was the analysis of the transport efficiency using the Value Stream Mapping as an important lean tool used by many practitioners to identify sources of waste and to propose alternatives of improvement. As a first conclusion of the study, transportation cannot be analyzed like a distinct part of the supply chain, therefore, VSM had to be considered, structured and visualized as linked processes of wasteful activities that need to be measured and improved. The transportation network design reflects the geographic distribution conditions, the frequency and size of the orders, the gaps between the in-transit activities and non-intransit activities. Waste identification research was focused on elaboration of Transportation Visual Map starting with main activities such as: shipment loading, transporting goods to destination, unloading processes, and transportation back to the base and handling the paperwork. MOVE Measure was the new metrics that determined the transportation efficiency in terms of availability, performance and quality, all the factors being expressed in percentage. The results of the research showed the importance of using the VSM tool in transforming the transportation segment of the supply chain from a non-value- adding activity into an optimized value- adding process.

Faced with increased competitive pressures from online businesses and rapidly changing consumer behaviors, traditional businesses with an online channel as well as a brick and mortar presence increasingly turn to data science and artificial intelligence to make better decisions and enhance their operations. The changing market dynamics are heavily influenced by the overwhelming adoption of mobile phones and data connections. As a result, consumers are better informed, make more real time purchase decisions, and share their experience through review sites and social media. Businesses leverage this large amount of user generated content by extracting the most useful pieces of information from it with text analytics and machine learning algorithms that identify patterns and consumer sentiment at scale. They use the critical pieces of customer feedback to market their products and services better, attract more customers, and offer them a better experience. Four uncertainties and challenges that these business encounter are the following: (1) how to improve online reputation; (2) discoverability and engagement levels of online traffic; (3) how to measure and improve the customer experience; (4) monitoring and benchmarking against competitors. The direct benefits of using Data Science and Artificial Intelligence to address those challenges are: use of standard metrics to measure strengths and weaknesses in online reputation; understanding patterns of customer behavior; listening to customer feedback at scale and extracting actionable insights directly applicable in improving operations; taking corrective actions to avoid losing customers to competitors. This paper will also analyze the competitive landscape in the field of Data Analytics and Insights solutions based on consumer generated feedback. Additionally, it will illustrate a series of case studies across multiple industries, with the purpose of exposing best practices that can be leveraged by businesses in their decision-making process.

This paper investigates the challenges raised by the “datafication” of the business environment and its role in reshaping future managerial behavior. These challenges arise specifically from new drivers of performance improvement and strategic development, such as cloud computing, big data, and data analytics. We analyze the factors that significantly change the potential influence that information and information asymmetries (“insight”) - resulting from analyzing huge volumes of data - have on organizational competitive advantage. This paper develops a framework to strengthen the value of this insight in an organizational context, and identifies potential areas of future research. The study highlights the conceptual need for, and the role of, analytics as an essential component for deriving the enterprise’s value and performance - from both structured and unstructured data. It also advocates for repositioning knowledge and human expertise in the new data-driven organizational model. It highlights the need for an increasing role for human skills and judgments (“Big Knowledge”) as opposed to a “dictatorship” of data in the new quantified world.

Diversity, sustainability and change are words nowadays commonly encountered in business practice and theory. Businesses face multiple challenges in regards to complexity, innovation, creativity, digitalization and out of the box thinking. However, what underlies these challenges is dealing with a very diverse workforce comprised of multiple generations with very different takes in regards to employment, career development, team work, authority and many other organizational aspects. Basically, business continuity nowadays depends in a large degree on the ability to manage the workforce comprised of employees belonging to the Silents, the Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y, and to prepare for the entrance on the labor market of Generation Z, the first generation that grew up in the digital world. Classification into generations is not without its contestations, but it continues nonetheless to be an important determinant of the way in which businesses design their human resources strategies. Based on a quantitative survey of the opinions of employees from various backgrounds in regards to intergenerational dynamics and conflicts, the present research uncovers the relevancy of the classification into generations for the human resources practices. The research also provides an insight into the main challenges that arise from the existence of differences in the points of view of these four main generations and concludes with a series of recommendations for human resources managers and leaders in general. The article’s innovativeness lies in the fact that it emphasizes the need for the development of human resources strategies which take in consideration all the generations in an equal manner, thus criticizing the current trends in human resources practice which rely on the development of programs specifically targeted to certain generations.

In today’s business world people have to face complexity, unpredictability and continuous change. In a worldlike this, time is the most requested resource and, apparently, everybody blames time for non-accomplishing business objective and good relationships between colleagues. Thus, feedback becomes a requested instrument that might help people within organizations to achieve the desired performance. When speaking of feedback, we will refer to its definition and perception about it within organization, but also outside organization between, different actors on the commercial processes, therefore several levels will be approached. On vertical, the transfer top-bottom and bottom-top (different hierarchical levels) and on horizontal, the transfer between peers but also between clients and providers and vice versa.More and more companies are looking for development programs that develop team cohesion. In order to createa performance culture and feedback to be practice as a development tool, we will identify a series of competencies to be developed, so that in the end to have an answer to the question: Can a feedback culture build a performance culture? The proposed article’sobjective is to bring your attention to what leaders and members of an organization can do in order to ensure a proper culture of performance based on feedback. The article is based on a critical analysis of literature and a qualitative analysis of the opinions investigated by the author into practice.

The banking sectors of the Central and Eastern European countries performed better than other developed European sectors during the crisis, due to their sound capitalization and a high profitability before the crisis. However, some of those banking systems were very hit in terms of the non-performing loans ratio or cost-to-income ratio. That is why we consider that it is interesting to see how they performed in terms of the banking performance ratios during the last years in the light of the new international capital adequacy regulations and in the light of the latest national macroeconomic developments of those economies and what are the main threats for these CEE banking sectors in the present.

The entrepreneurial activity has been recognized as a major source of jobs and economic development. Entrepreneurial minded persons are passionate, dedicated, optimistic. They are never satisfied with status quo, so they take action in order to address opportunities, rather than over analyzing situations, and waiting for permission. They are ambitious and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, they take calculated risks, and focus on what it matters. They know how to use own resources and how to secure those they lack, and they pay attention to cash flow. They are confident that their investment in time and money will pay-off. They love challenge, welcome change, and know how to listen. They do not strive to please everybody - being rejected motivates them to work harder. Despite much research into explaining what makes entrepreneurial initiatives successful, the answers are not clear, most studies presenting conflicting findings. The need for developing entrepreneurial competencies is more urgent than ever before, since they are recognized to be the main driver of the entrepreneurial success. It is important to know and understand how to achieve this goal. Are there specific competencies that make an entrepreneur successful? And are these born, or learnable? Based on literature review and on quantitative and qualitative analysis, this paper aims to identify motivators and competencies important for entrepreneurial success, as well as actions, learning and development programs to be developed in order to improve them. Conclusions based on surveys and interviews undertaken by the authors will also be presented. The paper might be of interest for government, education and training providers, employers, potential and practicing entrepreneurs.

Widespread belief posits that a relationship exists between results obtained in European football competitions and live attendances at domestic league games. As part of the Europeanization process, international tournaments increasingly attract fans’ attention, often at the expense of national competitions, yet research up to date has focused on a wide array of explanatory variables for game attendance (spectator demand), but less on variables concerning how domestic teams perform in Europe. This article aims to fill the research gap by asking whether match attendances in national leagues can be predicted based on the results obtained by the domestic club teams in international competitions. UEFA team coefficients and domestic attendance figures for 74 European cup participations of Romanian teams spread over seventeen years from the 2000/2001 to the 2016/2017 season serve as input data for a regression model with an F-test and a p-value test. The Null Hypothesis instinctually claims no relationship exists between the variables, yet research results invalidate it for the good of the Alternative Hypothesis. The Discussions section presents what effects winning or losing in European cups can have on fans’ motivation to come and watch matches in the national league.

In recent years, at the European level, electronic sales have gained major importance in the whole commodity trading process. After 1994, for the first time, commercial websites appeared, which brought about the expansion of electronic commerce. Therefore today, the notion of the market has become a global network as a result of improved payment systems, cost reduction, after-sales service development, and significant direct marketing influence.Therefore, a concerted effort is needed at national level to increase information and knowledge resources, including by allocating additional funds to the IT infrastructure, as well as by educating and training the population in the field of informatics. In this paper, we focused on the description of electronic commerce trends in Romania, based on the secondary data provided by the National Institute of Statistics. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to make a comparative study of the different statistical techniques: the graph method, the structural modification method, as well as the regression and correlation methods (ANOVA), used to describe the new trends of the Romanian commercial technologies. The main conclusion of the paper was that there is a significant correlation between the macroeconomic indicators that characterize the electronic commerce in Romania. Thus, the evolution of the average number of employees in the ICT sector as the resultant variable is influenced at the level of Romania by the macroeconomic indicators that characterize the electronic commerce as the component of the IT market.

The Energy Union is an important issue on the agenda of the European Commission, which is addressed in the package “Clean Energy for All Europeans”, adopted by the European Commission in November 2016. The present paper deals with the role of the Energy Union in ensuring an optimal framework for a common energy market at the level of the European Union, aimed for the benefit of the consumers in the European Union and of a modern and functional business environment. Which perspectives opens this possible win-win situation is a topic to be analyzed in the present article. The Energy Union is a stronger form of integration within the European Union, related to the internal market of the European Union, which brings more than harmonization of standards and mutual recognition: it brings a common policy and shared values. The goal of this project is to ensure consumer protection through common rules and harmonization, which is a trend at the level of the European Union occurring in various fields of activity and business sectors, such as the Energy Union, the Banking Union, data protection and the competition framework. The main focus on the consumer is new, compared to former attempts of harmonization in specific fields. The challenge rising from this project is to achieve a union in a strategic sector, such as energy. Possible aspects that could hamper the building of the union will be analyzed, for example the fact that some member states of the European Union still rely on fossil fuels, such as the coal industry. The switch to renewable energy sources is related to high costs, as well as to social turbulences on the labour market, that have to be taken into consideration. When drafting measures for the Energy Union, the effects on climate change as well as socio-economic parameters have to be weighed, in order to find the proper balance. It is therefore important to draft appropriate measures ensuring a smooth transition from fossil fuels to Clean Energy. The present paper focuses on these measures proposed by the European Commission. The key elements of the Energy Union will be analyzed in the measures drafted by the European Commission in the package “Clean Energy for All Europeans”. Case studies will illustrate the debated aspects and will provide best practice guidelines as a result. An interdisciplinary approach will be used in the present paper, combining economic and legal issues in a comparative manner.

Recent years have seen a burgeoning interest in social enterprise across Europe. In Central and Eastern European countries, the transition to a market economy stimulated civil society initiatives, and opened new pathways for entrepreneurial initiatives, including the pioneering establishment of the first social enterprises. Eight of the Central and Eastern European countries studied acknowledge the functioning of approximately 24000 social enterprises ‘hidden’ among a variety of existing legal forms, out of which 15172 associations and foundations undertaking some economic activity. Relatively little consideration has been given to the longer-term growth and performance of these hybrid organizational forms. To succeed, these ventures must adhere to both social goals and financial constraints. It implies that common forces from multiple actors - government and other public bodies, banks, corporations, investment funds as well as individuals join efforts. Business failure among social enterprises has been attributed to various difficulties related to size, a lack of resources, and finance and funding issues. It is essential to understand which revenue streams ensure financial sustainability in the case of the social enterprise. This paper analyzes the entrepreneurial dimension of social enterprise activity in eight Central and East European countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, addressing the question of social enterprise revenue streams. Most social enterprises examined are aware of the need to insure financial stability to their social mission and are actively securing and combining a blend of income streams, in order to avoid overdependence on one source of income and insure sustainability. None of the countries are solely depending on market sources. Research limitations were encountered when analyzing the variety of revenue streams due to the fact that some country reports presented also the dimension of a specific revenue, whereas others do not comprise specific numbers.

Cryptocurrencies have experienced an exponential growth trend in the past 24 months, followed by a big crash. In the early years of the Internet, inspired entrepreneurs such as Jeffrey Bezos realized that, when something grows exponentially, it becomes ubiquitous within a short time span. Similarly to the Internet in 1994, cryptocurrencies have recently been growing at a dazzling rate, thus one can expect them to be used on a global scale very soon, in spite of the last bubble which has already burst. Alternative currencies are greeted with great enthusiasm, due to their potential to return financial power back to the people, especially in the context of general dissatisfaction and disappointment with the banking sector. They bring about several advantages, such as financial innovations, lower fees as well as increased availability to developing populations. At the same time, their high volatility and lack of supervision might imply that they only serve as complementary financing and not as a substitute of traditional banking. This article discusses the development of cryptocurrencies, including aspects related to Bitcoin, financial technology and the blockchain. Using historical data from Coinmarketcap.com between April 2013 and February 2018, I run a quantitative analysis of the distributions and evolution over time for all listed cryptocurrencies with known market capitalization. I look at the interplay between number of cryptocurrencies and market value, at growth rates, cumulative shares and volatility. I find a phenomenon of exponential growth and violent volatility, which I explain in light of cryptocurrencies’ strengths and weaknesses, as identified in the literature. I emphasize the importance of cryptocurrencies in the context of the global digital economy and I discuss future implications.

Using Prospective Evaluation Synthesis (PES) - a theory based evaluation method - and spatial distribution analysis of the young NEETs population in correlation with demographic and economic indicators at European, national, regional and county level, the research is looking for evidence on the factors influencing both the labour market (request and demand) and the success of active labour market policies (ALMPs) in increasing young NEETs employability and decreasing their number. Taking into account that Romania has the lower rate of registration of young NEETs to the Public Employment Services and that most of the active labour market measures are targeting only registered NEETs, the article reviews all Romanian policies designed to target young NEETs and finds they have limited impact. It also analyses the number of young NEETs, the regional disparities and county level disparities and it finds no correlation between the economic strength of the county and the presence of the NEETs. Considering the characteristics of young NEETs in Romania: their education level, their previous work experience (in average), their family responsibilities, the percentage of registered young NEETs and comparing Romanian policies with successful policies in other countries with similar profile of young NEETs the article concludes that in order to be effective, the tools planned and applied need to be highly customised and their success is still dependent on natural economic dynamics. However, further research is needed to determine the economic indicators with a positive effect over the young NEETs employability.

The paper analyzes the activity of the National Network for Innovation and Technology Transfer (ReNITT), identifying the problems it faces in the innovation market. The methodology for the analysis implied the consultation, by responding to a questionnaire, of the accredited entities from ReNITT. On the basis of this analyze it were formulated some development recommendations, in order to accelerate the transfer of research results to the market and to increase the level of innovation in SMEs.

We live today in a world irreversibly and comprehensively impacted by the digital economy, either by its ability to transform traditional markets into digital ones or by creating new ones altogether. In such a digitized environment, agility, speed, adaptability and innovation through disruption are key attributes for organizations to maximize, in order to enable their workforce to be effective and efficient and achieve the organizational goals. The paper aims to outline that organizations have, as part of their digital transformation journey, opportunities to embrace the benefits that the new tools of the digital economy, such as cloud, mobility and big data analytics bring. The most immediate advantage of such a change is the ability to reduce the total IT spend, making the organization more frugal and allowing resources to be diverted into other ( potentially revenue generating ) parts of the business. As a method of proving that, we’ve taken several case study examples of enterprises both achieving savings by implementing new tools into their business. However, businesses often do not settle just for that but instead use part of the newly freed up resources to enhance their digital environments. Digital tools enable teams to work easily together and allow the workforce to access any and all of the organization’s resources from anywhere and at any time they wish. This “consumerized” demand model, where IT service is customized every step of the way is what lead enterprises to change their internal IT work frame and thus migrate from the legacy “one size fits all “ model, to the new, flexible, scalable and customizable model, through the usage of new capabilities like Cloud, Big Data, Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), Mobility.

A new approach, called “business excellence”, has emerged in the business world and scientific literature in the past decades. Facing an increasingly turbulent and chaotic environment, more and more companies have implemented business excellence strategies and made quality a key element of their business philosophy. Modern measurement frameworks were created and developed by national or international bodies such as the excellence business models. These models provide guidelines and criteria for evaluation and are used by companies across the world as groundwork for continuous improvement. The paper aims to present and compare three well-known business excellence models in the world: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the Australian Business Excellence Framework and the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model. In this respect, the authors have displayed the key elements of each business excellence model, followed by their comparison. In order to achieve the previous goals, the paper uses two methods: analysis and comparison. The information were obtained from multiple secondary sources of data- books and academic journal articles from the domains of total quality management and production economics found in libraries and electronic databases- through a desk research based on a significant literature review. The paper contributes to a better understanding of the business excellence models and may help managers to design and implement business excellence strategies. The paper shows that business excellence models provide a holistic approach to continuous improvement for any type of organization. These models are based on sound values, concepts and principles and have proved their viability during the time. Consequently, they gave birth to frameworks that allow organizations to benchmark their performances and demonstrate best practices in their field of activity. Also, the research findings indicate that the American model constituted a landmark for other business excellence models around the world.

This paper is a comparative study on the findings regarding the connection between a person’s energy profile and that person’s professional performance. As the performance predictors that are used within Human Resource Management may provide a company with important information regarding the future performance of an employee, it is of great importance that these performance predictors be kept up-to-date, both in what regards the precision of each predictor, and by including new performance predictors to the present array of HR predictors should such new predictors be found. This paper is an empirical examination of two such predictors, stress and energy, and argues that, based on the available empirical material, it seems to be possible to expand the present selection of HR predictors with these two predictors as well. This study is based on the ontological framework set forth by academics such as Einstein, Hawking, Tiller, Hunt, Motoyama, regarding the possibility of assessing the human being based on their energy profile. The part concerning Human Resource Management is based on the scientific framework put forth by Hunter & Hunter. Their study shows the validity of the vast majority of the performance predictors used within Human Resource Management, and discusses their practical validity. Then, there is the trans-disciplinary approach, where it is shown based on the empirical studies conducted by Torp et al. if, and how, the present array of performance indicators that are used in the field of Human Resource Management may be improved. Here, different and complementary scientific studies are included to document that the proposed Human Resource Management performance predictor is in reality more than just a predictor, it is an assessment tool that can both predict, and at the same time help quantify a series of the most modern initiatives within Human Resource Management, such as integrating sport, mindfulness, diet, etc. in the workday in order to improve performance.

In the last four decades, as the nuclear industry grew and got mature, the importance of adequate risk evaluating tools became decisive. Therefore, the Probabilistic Risk Assessment (also known as Probabilistic Safety Analysis) became a cornerstone of the decisions in such high energy and high-risk industry. PSA has an internationally recognised standard, and it is supported by a group of highly trained experts, (no more than a few hundred worldwide).This work can be used as a guide for the improving the required individual and teamwork skills needed in a Probabilistic Safety Analysis - PSA Team. The necessity of such a moment in a PSA Training was imagined by Dan Serbanescu, doctor in science, nuclear energy expert, risk and safety analyst, in May 2017. After few discussions and according to recognised international standards (Probabilistic Risk Assessment procedures guide, 1983), a first time delivery was possible in the PSA Training delivered in Centrala Nuclearoelectrica Cernavoda / Nuclear Power Plant Cernavoda (2017).This article presents a systematic approach for team improvement skills, consisting of the observation, presentation of the skills required, the skills practised in the proposed exercises, the techniques used during this module (coaching included), and results. The Purpose of the newly proposed combination of training and coaching methods with the specific traditional one oriented mainly to the technical and procedural skills is to raise participants’ awareness about how soft-skills can be used in the PSA Teamwork. As Nuclear Power Plant can be easily compared with a complex organisation, soft skills are vital to be developed within the teams. PSA is becoming more required not only in nuclear but also in the aerospace industry (it was adopted by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration for all future space program and by some hazardous chemical industries, as also stated in international documents (of the European Commission for instance).

Successful accounting convergence Program was outlined in September 2002 when Norwalk Agreement was issued. US FASB and UK IASB agreed to develop high-quality financial reporting standards and pledged to use their best efforts for achieving fully compatible standards. Once achieved, this compatibility is maintained through future work programme’s coordination. The seventh Roadmap’s 2006-2008 objective was establishing Revenue recognition as one of the most complex convergence process’s topics. In this context, in May 2014 appeared IFRS 15 Revenues for contracts with customers. The implementation was set on or after 1 January 2018. Based upon the IFRS Foundation desideratum to advance an exclusive high-class, comprehensible, globally applicable and acknowledged set of financial script guidelines for the public benefit, based on clearly articulated principles, the present study attempts to analyse the role and the place of IFRS 15 related not only to convergence programme’s objectives. Consistent with this approach, we find some opportunities and challenges, also research perspectives in the scope of accomplishing a better understanding of this processes.

The body of knowledge related to the impact of IT on project management (PM) acknowledges the driving and restraining forces for PM software implementation. However, the peculiarities of such kind of approach have received little research attention at the level of Romanian public institutions. This paper addresses this research gap in the attempt to outline how PM software becomes the key enabler of solution to level the resources involved in multiple projects managed in the same time by a public institution from higher education system. The methodological approach involves a case study, which highlight the value of IT support in the process of identifying and leveling the overallocated resources within multiple project management.

Like all other human activities, nuclear activities inherently produce waste. Even if the amount of radioactive nuclear waste is small compared with every other waste generated by human, this is a real danger and may produce devastating effects. Radioactive nuclear waste requires a safe management, a very good classification and limitation of releasing of radioactive effluents into the environment. The anticipated big impacts that any nuclear activity releases involve the environmental impacts, human health and safety. Public's perception represents a big challenge mainly when people are asked about harmful activities or technologies, such as radioactive nuclear waste. The aim of this study is to find out the public's perception of the impacts of radioactive nuclear waste. The main research instrument for this analysis is based on questionnaire. This research represents a new approach for the study of people's perception of radioactive nuclear waste in Romania. Public's perception is one of the key factors with influence on the development of nuclear waste technologies. The perception is crucial and may mean more than reality. The impact of radioactive nuclear waste seen through public perception shows the degree of development of storage conditions, both in the short and long term. The study revealed that the public perception regarding radioactive nuclear waste is divided in two major concerns: the potential impacts on the environment and people's health.

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 Innovation Audit is a component of the analysis of innovation capability potential of SMEs and R&D Institutions together with TO - Technology Offer, TR - Technology Request in the field of economy, technology transfer. We created a methodology and a tool that will support the entities that work in the field of technology transfer and innovation to analyze the company’s capacity to be innovative, to create competitiveness. The Innovation Audit tool developed will be available online for all the users interested, in the conditions described above, which makes them accessible beyond the members of the consortium and their home regions and countries. Also, since the development process will be part of the financing project, all the consultations, reports, analyses, inputs and feedbacks will be available to any interested party which can replicate the process in other fields or in other regions. Actually, this would be highly desirable, as it would lead to building a stronger network of support for innovation and technology transfer that can lead to an increased competitiveness of European enterprises (especially SMEs) in domains important for the future life and welfare of European citizens. The Innovation Audit tool developed is readily transferable to the organisations from all the countries along Danube, involved in the “Made in Danube” project that are active in the domain of bio-economy. This is due to the fact that they will be conceived starting from the real needs of these organisations and in line with European level guidelines and international best practices and come to fill a know-how niche that is under populated at the moment.

This paper looks at the opportunities and constraints of the private healthcare sector in Europe today. Using the case study of Romania, I explore the attractiveness of foreign and domestic private capital investments in companies that supply healthcare services. In the aftermath of the economic crisis, the private provision of healthcare services has been growing steadily, and there are clear signs in the common market that the liberalisation policies will only increase the attractiveness of such investment still. As large-scale investment projects like general hospitals require large amounts of upfront investment, it is only natural to assume that at least part of this capital will be obtained through internationalisation decision of foreign companies. This paper also presents in depth a comparative overview of the two most developed private healthcare provisions in Romania: dialysis centres and medical laboratories. Part of their success is due to their longstanding relationship with the National Health Insurances House. These medical services generally benefit from large scale public subsidies that support the delivery of private health care provision in Romania. The private providers of medical services in Romania have recorded a steady annual growth dynamics over the past years. In the case of private medical laboratories, the geographical distribution shows a heavy concentration on the main municipalities in Romania. This gives us a perspective on the limited ability of private providers to penetrate smaller markets without the incentive of public subsidies. The Romanian market has proved to be an attractive destination for foreign investors in the medical sector. This is driven in part by the quantitative limitations of the public sector that is struggling with an overload in urban areas, but also by the attractiveness of private health insurance packages offered by many private health care providers. The main international health care providers in Romania that constitute the case studies of this paper are: Medlife, Regina Maria, Medicover, Sanador and Gral Medical.

Employability of graduating students is a main precondition for successful university to work transition. Discrepancies on the labour market in terms of demand and supply of highly qualified specialists, increasing requirements and expectations of recently university graduates towards their future jobs, high speed of technological changes resulting in new jobs for which educations is lagging behind and increasing demand for well-developed transferable skills are some of the main challenges which universities are facing nowadays. Thus, their main priorities shall stress on collaboration that is more effective with industrial companies, resulting in contemporary curricula and development and implementation of new forms of cooperation for encouragement of graduating students’ employability. There are some good practices in Bulgaria for common initiatives leading to better professional orientation and further job placing but there is a lack of overall strategic approach in this field. Therefore, there is a necessity of identification and introduction of new forms of cooperation, which will boost partnership and could provide the labour market with more adequate specialists, matching employers’ recent requirements. The purpose of the paper is to provide a methodology of evaluation of problems in university-industry cooperation for encouragement of graduating students’ employability.The main elements of research of cooperation between universities and industry in Bulgaria include (1) description of possible forms of cooperation, (2) evaluation of industry attitudes for cooperation based on 4 criteria - importance, application, interest for participation and awareness of the forms, (3) comparison of opinions of industry and universities in Bulgaria.

Given the intensification of the regional economic integration, innovations in the digital technology and transportation infrastructure, the business environment has become highly globalized. In the globalized marketplace, there is one tool that helps countries distinguish themselves, namely nation branding. Nation branding plays a crucial role in attracting investments, boosting exports and increasing the number of tourists and foreigners (workforce and investors alike). Having in mind the importance of understanding the course of history’s new challenges and opportunities, posed by the increased internationalization of the marketplace, the paper looks into efforts made by some European countries in nation branding. An adequate policy of nation branding becomes even more important for certain countries that have passed through important political transitions. Enacting coherent and comprehensive nation brands is essential for the benefit of such transitions. The study explores European countries who transitioned form state-dominated to market economies. As a result, their branding strategies had to be consolidated, while being confronted with important political gambits. The processes undertaken in the quest for nation and place branding and the challenges met by these countries represent the focal point of the analysis. This study overviews the salient challenges, together with inherent mistakes in the attempt of nation branding, at the same time with highlighting the positive facets of the process. Branding countries in the part of Europe that has been shaken by political transitions has been evolving for more than two decades and their practices allows us to pinpoint communalities, challenges and paradigms of nation branding in Europe.

The scope of this paper is to explore if the free market and its corollaries - private property and the freedom to trade both nationally and internationally - are compatible with the conservation, search and optimal use of heritage goods. Our argument starts from the fact that culture is not a free-floating wraith but a set of tangible and intangible elements that are attributed special spiritual signification by the present generation and that are dependent on scarce material means to be expressed and passed on to our heirs. By taking scarcity as our starting point, we will provide an economic analysis of the implications that follow from the alternative approaches that can be employed to manage heritage goods, namely, a private property order coordinated through prices or a public property form of organisation coordinated through orders and interdictions. After tracing the implications of these two general principles of allocating resources, we will briefly look at how heritage goods are regulated, both on a national and international level, to gain a better understanding of the spirit that permeates the "rules of the game." Finally, we are going to see how the two general principles (market vs command and control) apply to the debate raging between the cosmopolites and the nationalists regarding the international trade in heritage goods. After carefully scrutinising some of the arguments put forward in this dispute over the appropriate means to be used, we conclude that free markets and free trade are the only adequate ways for reaching the objective sought by those on both sides of the debate.

We have arrived to a moment in history when the society we are living in is confronted with different sets of problems: hunger, crime, economic crises, natural disasters or cataclysms, and various human rights violations. At the moment the most appropriate way to solve these problems still lies with the organisms of the nation state. As such, the lack of civic sense and the increasing political apathy will only allow these problems to grow out of proportions. We are of the opinion that most of them can be counteracted if we try to educate the civic sense in people. By civic sense or engagement we understand a type of orientation towards being involved in social groups according to democratic principles. It is said the post-socialist countries are particularly threatened by the lack of civic engagement on behalf of their citizens that have reached the point where they take democracy for granted. This is why we explore the role played by universities in developing and shaping this civic attitude amongst young people. In order to do so, we resorted to questionnaires applied in liberal arts universities in Romania. These universities have a special relation to democratic principles, national pride and the perpetuation of the nation state as an ideal for its citizens and because of this we believe they represent a proper starting point for the current investigation. The areas that are targeted through the questionnaire are the following: the academic environment, the methods through which civic values are instilled in the hearts and minds of the students, and the institutional and personal factors that determine faculty to introduce civic values in their academic environments. Using the results we create the Civic Engagement Index (CEI) that can be used as a valuable benchmarking mechanism for those universities that are trying to enhance their civic engagement activities. Finally, we test the hypothesis that certain universities fail to create civic-oriented graduates and we propose ways in which the organizational culture could be transformed into a more supportive one: civic participation guides, civic responsibility classes, and service learning classes for faculty members to increase their openness towards the promotion of civic values.

The topic of corporate governance and the quality of internal auditing have increased the importance in the light of fast economic changes. The financial systems of many of the world's largest companies face decreasing trust of the company's stakeholders and beneficiaries in the financial information they present. Iraq is considered one of the emerging countries in which the private sector suffers from the same problems as other international companies. At the same time, the indicators of financial and administrative corruption are increasing in the Iraqi economic and financial environments. The Iraqi environment requires the implementation of the principles of corporate governance, quality control and internal auditing. The aim of current study is to analyze the relationship and effects between the principles of corporate governance and the quality of the function of internal auditing in private companies in Iraq through statistical analysis of the survey data from a sample of internal audit managers and accountants. The recommendations presented aim to improve the quality of internal audit and support corporate governance to ensure the credibility of financial information disclosed in the financial statements by the executive departments in those companies, contributing to the decision-making process. The study reached several conclusions. The most important of these is that the effective and proper implementation of the principles of corporate governance in the private sector companies in Iraq will contribute to the improvement and development of the internal audit function in the company reflected positively on the performance, survival and continuity of corporate activity while safeguarding the interests of those involved.