Volume 15 (2020): Issue 2 (August 2020)

The issue of improving the energy efficiency of buildings in Romania is one of interest, both for the state authorities and for the population. The general purpose is to encourage the production of thermal energy and domestic hot water through the use of renewable energy sources. This is part of the EU's long-term objective of decarbonising the existing and inefficient European real estate park. In order to start renovating the existing buildings on the national territory, considerable financial resources are needed which the owners should have. The Romanian state, through the Agency for Environmental Protection, comes to the support the interested persons by granting financial support within the “Green House” Programs. The present paper includes an analysis of the four “Green House” programs and the public funds used to increase the energy efficiency of the buildings.

What do business and education have in common when it comes to continuous improvements? The answer is Lean Principles. Case studies and implementation challenges from some pilot PBL projects in one university, in Romania, are analysed and described in depth, while comparing the educational experience in the university to the challenges and resistance to change that facilitators in the private sector face inside their own companies. Taking this into consideration and based on qualitative data retrieved from interviews carried out in the private sector and in the educational sector, the authors of this paper will present deep insights that are meant to serve as a basis for understanding the “wicked problem” of scalling continuous improvements like Problem Based Learning throughout the entire teaching organization.

The paper addresses a topical and important issue for national economic activity, highlighting the important role that human capital has in ensuring economic development and growth. Given the increasingly dynamic and turbulent economic and social context, as a result of the expansion of the phenomena circumscribed by globalization, continuous training through education and the level of health of the population remain the main pillars in ensuring the competitiveness of human capital. Considering this reality, the paper presents a detailed analysis of Romania's position regarding the investment in education and health in a European context and the main elements that characterize the national human capital. By identifying the vulnerabilities associated with the qualitative and quantitative structure of the national human resource, a set of proposals and recommendations are formulated meant to constitute possible solutions for the reported problems. The main conclusions deriving from the study strengthen the hypothesis according to which the return of different forms of professional training is ensured by investing in education and health and represents the conditions of a competitive economic environment in which human capital is properly capitalized.

The study aims to investigate the relationship between board size and firm’s performance for a sample of non-financial French firms listed on the CAC 40 between 2005 and 2017. We estimated the firm’s performance using two types of metrics, the accounting-based measures (ROA and ROE) and the market-based measures (Tobin Q and MTB). By applying the panel data regressions (fixed-effects and random-effects), the findings show that there is a positive effect of board size on firm performance. In addition, our results show that the optimal number of the board size should be between 13 and 17 members in order to achieve good performance for non-financial French firms.

This paper develops an analysis in the field of financial spending behavior. The study will focus particularly on habits based on education level, gender and age. Towards this objective, we will present and test three hypotheses based on the education level for the respondents, the differences between males and females, and the correlation between the spending behavior and age. Unlike most of the previous studies, this analysis has a double approach. First of all, it presents several findings regarding differences in terms of spending behaviour and also conclusions in terms of explaining financial patterns. We contribute to the literature examining the concern over the spending behaviour of individuals from Romania. Furthermore, this contribution is focused on understanding and explaining the results and their influence using statistical analysis.

The subject of the study was fitness services and interaction with consumers of its. It has been identified the main criteria for evaluating the fitness service by customers in process of decisions and selection of the fitness facilities for a visit Surveys of the youth segment of fitness consumers in Kharkiv were conducted and results were processed. The fitness clubs were studied in terms of communicative components of social media marketing to improve their interaction with customers. The research goal was the development computer model for multi-criteria evaluation of fitness centers and their work from clients point of view. As a modeling methodology, we proposed use fuzzy logic. As the instrument for implementation of the model specialized software FuzzyToolBox was chosen. Originally put forward the hypothesis about the possibility, reliability, simplicity and effectiveness of such an approach to modeling of the consumer evaluation of the fitness service, was confirmed as a result of the numerical calculations for fitness clubs in Kharkiv. The developed model can be applied to thetasks of multicriteria estimation of similar services provided to the population of different categories, such as: health-improving sports activities, outdoor activities, spa, water procedures, mass physical training, health-improving, rehabilitation gymnastics, amateur sports etc.

It is well known that the extent to which the supply manages to adapt to the demands and changes in consumer behavior is key to the success of a business or, in the current economic context, to the survival of a business. This paper aims to analyze the manner in which the perception and attitude of the individual towards risk causes major changes in its purchasing behavior and, implicitly, to identify the tools of marketing with a favorable impact on the consumer, in the economic and social context generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the fear and concern generated by the current economic and social crisis are visibly affecting both social behavior in general, and purchasing behavior in particular, finding effective ways to inform and communicate with consumers to facilitate their access to up-to-date and highly accurate information is essential both to meet the growing need for information in conditions of risk and uncertainty, and to guide the purchasing decision towards the best alternative for the consumer.

Innovation is the only way to sustain in a highly competitive market, and the success of innovative products depends on the innovativeness level of the consumers. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between consumer spirituality and consumer innovativeness through the mediating role of materialism. The study also attempts to determine the moderated mediation effect by taking gender as a moderator. In this study, the data were collected from 237 consumers through online surveys and from some target locations like malls, universities, public places in Punjab and Chandigarh by adopting judgemental sampling technique. Results indicated a significant negative relationship between consumer spirituality with materialism and consumer innovativeness while materialism and consumer innovativeness are significantly positively related. Furthermore, results showed that materialism mediates the relation between consumer spirituality and consumer innovativeness among both gender categories, but there is no moderated mediation effect of gender. The implications for marketing managers are discussed.

In this study we reveal the measures taken by the Council of the European Union in the field of VAT to support SMEs and the reasons that led the Council of the European Union to take these decisions. It is also indicated the general definition of SMEs in European law as it has been taken up by various other authors, as well as the supportive behavior of SMEs that the European Commission has always had. On the other hand, we carried out a study that included variables defining SMEs in three fields of activity from four countries, located territorially in different areas of the European Union and we identified, using statistical correlation, different coefficients of correlation between the value added the number of SMEs, the number of people employed by SMEs, their turnover in that field of activity. The correlation coefficients that indicated a strong / moderate linearity link indicated that the measures taken by the European Union, through the Council and the European Commission, are welcome as the added value in many areas of activity shows a strong correlation with the number of taxable persons, the number employees of those taxable persons and their turnover.

This paper evaluates the performance of seventeen Greek equity mutual funds before and after the sovereign debt crisis. By being based on the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), the selectivity and market timing skills of these funds are under scrutiny. This takes place by assigning a linear form to the Beta coefficient and transforming the traditional CAPM equation into a second order polynomial. Results provide evidence of an improvement in selectivity and market timing skills for the majority of these emerging funds after the outburst of the debt crisis and the adoption of measures by Troika. Thereby, the potential of excess profit-making possibilities for capable fund managers in the Greek fund market is enhanced during non-conventional periods in comparison to normal times, even though the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH) still holds.

Traditional economics-based framework suggests that firm cooperates with competitors to increase its market power or efficiency in transaction for the maximization of its self-interest profit. However, nowadays growing numbers of firm engage in alliance with competitors for non-economic purpose. This paper seeks to understand the nature of inter-firm alliance between direct competitors by discussing several critical issues regarding it. The issues are chosen by the criterion that useful perspectives from either organization theory or strategic management can be applied to this phenomenon so that scholars are encouraged and can be easier to do a research on this topic in the future. In this regard, I seek to answer the question of why firm cooperates with competitor by comparatively adopting four novel approaches, which, combined together, provide an excellent complementary view to the traditional economics-based approach. Also, by understanding the distinctive feature of decision-making process when firm conduct a collaboration with competitor this study provides a practical insight on how firm structures, manages, and makes a decision when it cooperates with competitors. Overall, several conceptual ideas suggested by this paper can be an interesting starting point for the future empirical research.

The ‘Agenda 2000’ introduces the Rural Development Policy, as part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as a complex policy that can ensure a stable income and a reasonable standard of living for the rural population. Rural development is a major CAP objective since over 50% of the population lives in rural areas and accounts for 80% of E.U. Territories. As a concept, the ‘rural area’ is defined both at a national and European level following specific criteria; however, these criteria differ from one country to another. A complete definition can be found in the European Charter of Rural Areas. Between 2014-2020, the development of rural areas in Romania is supported by the National Rural Development Program. It provides non-reimbursable funds from the European Union and funding from the Government of Romania. Convergence with the Europe 2020 Strategy is ensured through the Partnership Agreement with the European Union, which covers a number of challenges and thematic objectives. In order to achieve them, well-founded investment programs are needed. These programs must have a direct impact on increasing the living standards of the population residing within rural areas. Over 19 billion euros were allocated to Romania for the 2014-2020 period; these funds were used for agricultural policy and rural development. The total budget of the NRDP (2014-2020) is 9.4 billion euros, of which 1.3 billion euros comes from national funding. We believe the achievements recorded in rural areas, up to 2020, are modest and do not reflect the proposed objectives. Thus, projects were drawn up at national and local levels seldom support rural development and do not reflect development needs; sadly, these projects are often drawn up without focusing on efficiency.

Nowadays, with the daily expansion of marketing attractions to create different experiences in the restaurant & fast food industry, unconscious stimuli attracting the major senses might be an effective way to attract the consumers. Understanding these environmental stimuli suggests a correct perception of feeling and perception which is in harmony with consumer behavior. Moreover, knowing these factors can also be essential for marketers and owners and managers who are active in this area to develop strategies to create positive experiences for customers and increase the sales. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to focus on customer experiences and their possible effects on purchase intention of consumers through mediator variables of mental engagement and visual perception. The present study is an applied study in terms of objective and correlational type of descriptive-survey study in terms of data collection. The research population consisted of those people using the services of restaurants and fast food stores of Shiraz. A total of 385 samples were selected by using convenient sampling method. Questionnaire was used as tool to collect the data. The questionnaires were distributed in person and they were collected after being completed by the subjects. Its validity was examined through content validity and its reliability was examined through Cronbach’s alpha. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and Smart PLS software. The results of this study showed that customer experiences had a positive and significant effect on mental engagement and visual perception, and these two variables had a positive and significant effect on consumer purchase intention. The indirect effect of customer experiences on consumer purchase intention was also confirmed through the mediator variable of mental engagement and visual perception.

A growing interest is surfacing toward the non-linearities in tourism demand forecasting. This paper aims to construct a tourism composite indicator to anticipate the cyclical movement for the tourism demand in Fiji. The time duration tackled in the current study is under the span of approximately two decades from 2000 to 2017. Apart from an indicator construction approach and turning point dating algorithm, we proposed a two regime Markov switching model to analyse the Fijian tourism cycle. The empirical results revealed the composite leading indicator accorded a signalling approach for Fijian tourism demand with an average lead time of 2.75 months. Furthermore, the prior-recognition of the tourism economic transition with adequate dating evaluation of the tourism cycle is obtained from the filtered probabilities through the Markov switching models.

Although approaches to manage change dated back to as early as human history, managing effective change is still the topic of today’s debates. One of the undeniable facts about this is that change per se keeps changing, and so does its management methodology. While this fact comes, on the one hand, to validate the reason why none of the early theories stands relevant across time, it, on the other hand, proofs that change methodology is certainly fluid, giving no room for an approach to really last. An effective change is achievable [not] by a prescription, but by a thorough consolidation of the various aspects relevant to change. This paper aims therefore at identifying those [managerial] aspects of change, in hope that they could be used to construct a common base to deal with change. To that end, relevant change management hypotheses, approaches, theories dated back to the 50s are taken for thorough reviews. Results from this digest confirm that to manage change, one must factor in change type, change process, and change elements, and yet, to manage it effectively, one must go further to ensure that all the above factors work well together as they are all symbiotically related.

This study investigated: 1) the impacts of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on gender inequality (2005-2015) in the service sector of South Asia; 2) the factors that moderate the impacts of FDI on gender inequality in the service sector. The study was approached as a quantitative study using secondary data on Greenfield FDI and women employment. It employs a fixed-effect model: panel regression with and without interaction terms. The study finds that: first, gender inequality in the service sector of South Asia has increased over time. Second, FDI inflow share a significant negative correlation with female employment. Third, women’s human capital and institutional settings moderate the impact of FDI on gender inequality in the service sector of South Asia.

Estimating accurately demand both at market and company level for specific goods and services can be considered a necessity for every organization. Traditional demand estimation methods may not be relevant for estimating the demand for new destinations to be introduced by a regional airport. The present paper proposes to fill this gap and to develop the demand estimation literature by presenting a novel demand estimation method. Two research objectives are developed in this regard: (1) determining the catchment area of Sibiu International Airport (a regional airport in Romania) for destinations operated by competitor airports and not by Sibiu International Airport and (2) estimating the demand for new destinations based on the identified catchment area.

Environmental sustainability, employees’ green behavior, and socially responsible human resource management (SRHRM) are now becoming the key focuses for many organizations all over the world because of the increasing pressures on them to reduce negative environmental impacts of their activities and to maintain environmental issues. Nowadays, organizational sustainability or competitiveness is also depending on how far an organization is responsible for environmental issues. Hence, the study is an attempt to explore the impact of SRHRM and voluntary green behavior (VGB) on organizational competitiveness (OC). We followed the deductive reasoning approach and applied the second generation regression model, such as a structural equation model (SEM) via AMOS. The result shows that SRHRM significantly explains VGB. Further both SRHRM and VGB are significantly predicting organizational competitiveness. One of the critical implications of the study is to use the SRHRM to stimulate the employees towards VGB for enriching their organizational sustainability leading to its competitiveness. The most important limitation of this study is its sample size (N<200), which prevents the generalizability of the results. Thus, the future studies are directed to use more replies for delimiting the causality of the study.

The first case of coronavirus was registered in Romania on February 26. From this moment, Romania has become “infected”, just like the whole world, and the economy has suffered milder or more severe symptoms, depending on the activity field. Four months have passed since then, during which in Romania, the effects of the health crisis overlapped with a tense political situation, in an unfavorable economic context. Once the COVID-19 hits each country, the economic effects started to become visible in all the world’s financial markets, the financial market being among the first to suffer the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. This paper analyzes how the financial market in Romania was affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

Competitiveness represents a never-ending moving target for any institution/entity, no matter the level of analysis (micro - companies /public administrations, mezzo - industries / national regions, or macro - countries / world regions); but its determinants (or key success factors) are changing, as ages go by, asking for continuous watch and strategic flexibility. With digital technology nowadays disrupting (almost) every aspect of human life, while framing a new age - of digitalization being both a source of competitiveness (for the industry leaders - whatever the “industry” might be), and (just) a prerequisite for survival (or doing business) for almost everyone else, the European Commission’s political priority for 2019-2024 “A Europe fit for the digital age” and the EU’s digital strategy aiming for a “digital transformation that will benefit everyone” are of great interest (accentuated by the new pandemic context) for all the EU regions and their institutions/entities. Within this framework, the paper (which is part of a bigger research) aims to perform an overview scan of Centru Region-Romania (mainly by comparison with Romania’s other Development Regions and with EU benchmarks) in order to broadly identify its needs for digital transformation, while setting the backgrounds for a more systematic, focused and applied analysis to follow.