Volume 12 (2017): Issue 3 (December 2017)

Great numbers of countries have made the limitations loose on the transnational goods, services and capital flows and begun to follow a policy of export-oriented growth. Total value of global financial asset flows exceeded the value of global trade over time and financial markets have experienced considerable expansions in almost every country. This paper investigates the interaction between openness and financial development in 9 Central and Eastern European countries during 1996-2014 period employing cointegration test of Westerlund and Edgerton (2007) and causality test of Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012). We reached that openness affected financial sector development positively in the long term. Furthermore, there was one-way causality from financial openness to financial sector development.

The public healthcare system is heavily influenced by the 3C trilemma - cost - coverage - choice. The paper’s argument tackles the fact that should the public decision on improving capacity be leaning towards universal coverage in would result in efficiency losses and, in an attempt to control the costs it would limit patients’ choice. Should priority be given to performance or value? The present paper deals with the compromise between the equity and efficiency, a leaky bucket that becomes more visible in the struggle to build capacity and intervene in the market by setting standards. Setting healthcare standards is a global concern, the 3rd Sustainable Development Goal is a clear proof of that the aim to emphasise and better analyse two of the most influential variables: efficiency and equity. All in all, what we argue is that the current leaky bucket is a trade-off between choice, coverage, and cost. For a complex public service like healthcare, targeting a full coverage and multiple choice would incur huge costs and, cutting costs considerably restricts both the choice and coverage. The cost is influenced by the production capacity use when the activity has large fixed costs.

Recent changes of the environment and in the society have altered consumers’ preferences and brought new concerns among local communities regarding environmental protection and organizations responsibility, the adoption of environmentally friendly strategies, as well as offering more sustainable products. Consumers tend to select retailers based on their focus on environmental friendly products and on various “green” strategies regarding waste disposal, package recycling, etc. This study aims to highlight Romanian and Slovak consumers’ attitudes towards purchasing of goods from retailers that strive a clear focus on environmental responsibility and environmental friendly practices in apparel, footwear and sportswear retail. By means of a quantitative research based on a questionnaire administered to consumers of international retail chains with operations in both countries, the authors highlight differences in their perceptions and attitudes for buying green apparel, footwear and sportswear. Whereas Millennials and Gen Xers consumers in Romania and Slovakia believe that international apparel, footwear and sportswear retailers are less concerned about environmentally responsible behavior and the need of selling green products, Baby Boomers are more sensitive to such aspects and carefully select retailers according to their green strategy. This research provides specific findings about attitudes of different consumers’ generations within two emerging European countries (Romania, Slovakia).

Risk reduction means diminishing uncertainties and strengthening the knowledge. There are many ways in which undesirable surprises can be understood and controlled, but the dominating one is the risk approach, on the basis of risk conceptualization, evaluation and risk management. Across time, many progresses have been accomplished in the field of risk, connected not only to the conceptual part, but also to the empirical procedures. Despite this, the premise of this domain is being represented to a substantial extend by theories and practices. This is why it is indispensable to search for trends in the risk framework, to reveal whether further development should be desired and if uncertainties’ consequences are measured properly. The aim of this article is to present an analysis of some fundamental breakthroughs developed in the risk field, with a particular attention on the fundamental concepts. In addition, I also pursued to provide you with new insights on how to assess, perceive, describe and manage the unforeseen situations altogether with analyzing the uncertainty component of risk. To understand the risk has to be in continuous harmony with the acknowledgement element of the same concept.

Every company has a different structure of balance sheet. Some of the companies have more liabilities than equity. Considering the industry or debt-to-equity ratio, the balance sheet structure affects the company profitability measured by DuPont system. The main objective of the paper is to analyze the structure of balance sheet and to identify some optimal levels in order to increase company profitability. The DuPont returns like ROA (return on assets) and ROE (return on equity) will be used to measure the company profitability, while the debt-to-equity ratio will be used as a measure (reflection) of capital structure. The samples consist on the most profitable non-financial companies ranked in Fortune Global 500. The companies will be grouped in clusters (based on industry or debt-to-equity ratio) in order to identify the signification of the correlation between the profit and the balance sheet structure. The main results of the paper refer to the company profitability that can be increased by using an optimal structure of liabilities and equity.

The purpose of the study is to identify the main reasons of money laundering in Bangladesh among the twenty seven predicate offences of money laundering prescribed by Bangladesh Bank and position of Bangladesh among South Asian Countries regarding anti-money laundering practices. Besides, an anti-money laundering model has been developed to combat against money laundering as 14 percent bankers think that only existing know your customer form and transaction profile of banking sector are not enough to detect money laundering. To conduct the study, 91 bankers have been surveyed to take response through structured questionnaire regarding their opinion about the predicate offences of money laundering and sufficiency of existing KYC form of banking sector to detect money laundering. From the responses, factor analysis, test of hypothesis, correlation and regression analysis have been conducted using SPSS software. The study identifies that predicate offences of money laundering can be minimized mainly through scrutinizing the activities of local criminals with foreign network and strict anti-corruption measures through automation in National Board of Revenue, strict policy adoption of criminal detection and support from foreign experts. Besides, regression model shows that only six predicate offences of money laundering explains 87.2 percent of money laundering that should get more emphasize to combat against money laundering. From the comparative analysis, it has been found that Bangladesh in holding better position just after India among six South Asian Countries according to Basel AML Index score. This study provides a complete understanding of the position of Bangladesh in case of money laundering and anti-money laundering practices. The integration of four domains, i.e. AML model development, factor analysis, econometric analysis and comparative analysis of AML index will provide insights to managers and policy makers about the money laundering scenario in Bangladesh.

A Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) is a common requirement for a new business owner in services such as utilities, communications, healthcare, and transportation. However, studies have called into question the effectiveness and purpose of these laws when applied in certain industries. This study chronicles the development of and justifications provided for the enactment of CPCN laws. It then empirically tests the effectiveness of these laws in the taxi industry. This paper finds no evidence that the CPCN laws in the taxi industry are meeting their objectives. Some evidence suggests that CPCN laws achieve the opposite of their intention.

Personality has been considered an important factor influencing trainee efficiency & organizational productivity. Similarly, work climate factors have been recognized as primary influencers in post training context influencing productivity. But research concerning the impact of personality and work climate on trainees’ learning motivation has been very scant and mostly conducted in the western context. The present study was an attempt therefore, to extend this line of research in the Indian context involving educational sector of the State of Jammu & Kashmir. A sample of 517 teacher trainees was drawn for the present study using convenience sampling method. Results indicate that personality traits (i.e., conscientiousness, openness to experience, and internal locus of control) do not influence training transfer directly or indirectly, while, transfer climate factors do affect training transfer both directly as well as indirectly via learning motivation. The implications of the results are discussed and the limitations of the study are noted, along with suggested avenues for future research.

Comparing the financial characteristics of firms in different countries has been a popular research topic in finance. However, general financial characteristics of European and Asian manufacturing firms have never been compared. In this paper, we undertake such a study with the MANOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Variance) technique. Our research uses all European and Asian manufacturing firms included in the Research Insight/Global Vintage database at the end of 2015. Our findings may provide valuable insights for financial managers and global investors. We find that Asian firms tend to have less liquidity risk but more bankruptcy risk compared with European firms. European firms have more efficient accounts receivable management and higher fixed and total assets turnover rates. However, Asian firms have higher inventory turnover and sales growth rates. Return on equity is not significantly different in European and Asian firms. However, Asian firms have significantly higher net profit margin and return on assets compared with European firms.

The changes that occur in the labour market due to the recent evolution registered in the field of accounting, led us to initiate a study in which we have as a purpose to analyse the perception that employers and students enrolled in the faculties for accounting from the Western part of our country have regarding the importance of the professional and transversal competencies when they get hired. The research tools used within this research are on the one side grounded on the quiz for data collection, and on the other side the ANOVA method for the analysis of the perception differences found in these two groups discussed upon. The results found in this work represent in the opinion of the authors an important reference mark for the university instruction of the young people who are about to enter the accounting profession, but also for the future employers who are about to interact with them.

In the medium and long term, priorities in the development of tourism aim to develop a complex tourist offer, making the most of the natural and anthropogenic resources existing in connection with the preservation of the environment and the heritage. On the long run, it will contribute to raising the living standards of the population, especially social categories with lower chances of reintegration into the labour market (people made redundant in industry, elderly people etc.). Implementation of the strategy at regional level must be achieved through an active partnership between Romanian public authorities, economic agents and private investors, with the involvement of the federation of employers in the sector and of the professional associations.

Today’s society faces major challenges in meeting future global food demands and solving biodiversity loss, and it quickly needs to find ways in addressing these issues. The places to look for solutions come from the economic sectors that employ the most powerful pressure on these issues such as agriculture. Apiculture, as a branch of agriculture is being more and more recognized as sustaining human life and contributing to sustainability. However, the sector records a progressive decline of honey bees. Therefore, a rapid restructuring needs to take place in agricultural markets, in general, as well as in apiary agribusinesses. Although important, technological progress is insufficient in providing the necessary changes to achieve long-term economic, social and environmental sustainability, which should be considered both within and between generations. Consequently, sustainable business models encourage sustainable development through a triple bottom line approach and provide an analytical tool for firms into assessing the different aspects that are combined in order to create value. Since literature has paid little attention to the sustainable development in the apiary agribusiness, the present paper aims to link the two using a business model perspective and bring arguments in favor of moving to a sustainable business model.

The Romanian banking sector, predominantly governed by the capital of foreign banks, is, as well as other international banking sectors, under the sign of the necessary balance that should exist between risk and performance. This is a result of banks trying to take risks that they can control, given that they need to generate financial results that are satisfactory for all categories of bank creditors, namely shareholders, depositors and other lenders. In this paper, I wanted to analyze the risk situation assumed by the main banks in the system versus the performance gained in recent years. This article is part of a wider research, so I will refer only to the main risk assumed by a bank, namely the credit risk, I will highlight the evolution of the indicators of this risk, so that I can finally analyze their degree of correlation with indicators for measuring bank performance. The situation of other financial risks in banking activity will be addressed in other works.

Nowadays companies are dealing with large amounts of data, not only for an important decision but also into their day-to-day activity. In order to handle properly these large volumes of data, from different sources without missing the opportunities, companies need to figure out how to manage big data to their advantage. Embracing the advantages of big data is not enough because in order to face the challenges of the business environment, investing in digital technology is no longer seen as giving a competitive advantage, is seen as a standard. Also in the path of evolution, the interest of companies (profit) on one side and the interests of society (social and environmental) on the other side should find a common point in order to pursue their interests in a way that will not affect future generations. Sustainability is the approach towards this future, which allows companies to grow and make profits, but at the same time provides benefits for the society.

The evolution and evolvement of the Europe 2020 strategy in each country are subjects, which should interest all European citizens. The investigation on this subject stems from two issues: firstly, the importance of knowing the direction in which Europe is going in the future, and, secondly the wish to assess whether this is the right direction. Unfortunately, due to several possible obstacles, such as level of development, not all countries have the ability to achieve performance in all fields. Romania, just like many other countries, is one example. Being one of the least developed countries, reaching success in implementing the Europe 2020 strategy is, for Romania, a difficult mission.