Volume 16 (2021): Issue 3 (December 2021)

This study explores the impact of investment, financial, and trade freedom on banks' risk-taking and stability of US banks by employing two-step system GMM approach over the extended period from 2002 to 2018. The findings provide evidence that financial freedom decreases risk-taking, while investment and trade freedom increase US larger banks' risk-taking. The results show that investment and trade freedom is beneficial for the stability of banks in the US. The heterogeneity in results indicates that financial freedom reduces the risk-taking, whereas trade and investment freedom increase the risk-taking of well-capitalized and high liquid banks. In contrast, in the case of undercapitalized and low liquid banks, the impact of financial, trade, and investment freedom on risk-taking is insignificant. The result demonstrates that the government's intervention is decisive in developing the degree of economic freedom for the financial system's stability. The finding of the study has practical implications for banks manager, regulators, and policymakers.

Nowadays, because of the advancements in technology and the spread of globalization, information about game / player statistics or demographics of local and national workforce is only one click away. Information, or data, plays a very important role in basketball as it can make a difference in the selection process of players. On the other hand, human resources departments from various businesses can analyze big data from an internal (ex.: talent analytics) and external (ex. local and national demographics) perspective. Big data analysis is an activity that has gained more and more importance throughout time as it proved that it could help organizations make not only better decisions but also to better prepare for future games / negotiations. That is why, the purpose of this paper is to identify if and how basketball clubs and businesses - through their human resources department, use big data in order to attract and select the right people for their teams. More so, how big data is used in order to provide basketball clubs and businesses with a competitive advantage in the championship / on the market. By comparing how organizations such as basketball clubs use and interpret big data and how human resources departments of various businesses do it, some similarities but also big differences have been identified. Furthermore, the results also show that big data analytics can help basketball clubs and businesses to better identify the best-suited candidates for their teams. In conclusion, through the use of big data, basketball clubs and businesses can make more objective decisions regarding the people they recruit and how to develop them.

The current umprecedented time that the business environment is going trough, due to the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic, has generated in the last year and a half an economic and social crisis that forced the companies to change the way they operate and even think. An economic crisis and in this case a medical crisis, is also a facilitator for change within a company and by this paper, we aim to understand the factors that generate change, the concepts of crisis and crisis management along with the dimensions of crisis, along side the presentation of Kotler’s Chaotics model, applied on the current crisis. But at the same time, we are presenting some statistics and management strategies and actions that have and must be taken in order tro reduce the impact of the pandemic and also to benefit from the opportunities generated by said crisis, while concluding on the need for change and improving the business strategic objectives trough increased resilience and the implementation of actions that lead to operational and organisational resilience.

Portugal is one of the world’s largest footwear exporters and a leader in the fashion footwear segment However, these exports are mostly under private level brands, and not own brands. The aim of this work is to analyse strategies for the implementation of own brands within the scope of International Trade, pursuing international recognition. The exploratory investigation is based on a questionnaire to companies, owners of own brands and with international experience. Most of the companies studied are growing, family-based SMEs. The results indicate that Portuguese brands exhibit at European fairs, with little international recognition (contrary to what happens with the footwear industry). With the application of the Principal Component Analysis, it is concluded that the classic means of promotion and the new means of communication via social networks are not seen in an integrated, complementary way. Analysing the interdependence of the main components, it is concluded that when the industry's action is relevant in the business perspective, it appears that there is a significant number of companies that follow these initiatives. Only companies with development/innovation work show motivation to create their own brands. International recognition is explained by the promotion of the sector and the export dynamics of companies.

Today's society framework is linked to qualities that might impact corporate organizations, such as competitiveness, globalization, market economy, and even economic crises, on both national and international scale. In this environment, a private business must follow current trends by seeking continual quality improvement of its operations to prevent stagnation. The goal of this research is to examine the organizational culture of Romanian private-sector businesses, as this is a unique feature that, if not managed effectively, can have a detrimental impact on a company's quality and competitiveness. The tool used for this research to diagnose the dominant direction of Romania’s private companies was the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). Results indicated that employees would prefera clan culture, more specifically, a place where people share the same values, and loyalty and traditions are key fora friendly work environment.

In recent years the redistribution of economic activities due to the volatile economic and business environment has led to the return of part of the urban population back to the countryside. This resulted in a renewed interest by consumers in authentic local products and services related to tradition, heritage and culture. The rise of local products characterized by some peculiarity in their ingredients can be an essential advantage in developing the agricultural economy, as there will be an improvement in farmers' income, whilst attracting visitors if combined with actions to highlight a place's natural and cultural elements. The present study investigates local products' dynamics in urban markets and explores the socio-demographic characteristics shaping consumer attitudes towards local products. Primary data, collected through a quantitative survey to a sample of 503 consumers, were assessed through exploratory factor analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis and Cluster Analysis. The results indicate that the consumer's education, the products' marketplace, the product labelling and the consumer information about these products define their purchasing behaviour. The study's findings may help formulate policy proposals to increase the demand and consumption of local products, thus creating a greater penetration of local products in the market.

In today's globalized world, the challenge of the state economic security ensuring is particularly relevant as a priority for the national interests protection from various threats. The analyses of the experience of the European Union and other countries revealed that national economic security ensuring plays a crucial role In securing for the state its geostrategic significance and potential. The article provides a critical analysis of modern threats and risks to economic security from the geostrategic perspective. The paper develops the methodology of the economic security index calculating based on a unified comparison of parameters of economic and social development of all countries, which allowed to move away from signaling approaches and eliminated subjectivity in assessments and following policy recommendations. In contrast to existing methods, the authors’ approach uses geopolitical factors. This tactic allowed taking into account the directions of change in the world and identifying external threats and risks to state economic security. The analysis and comparison of the index of economic security of European countries based on the offered concept are carried out. The countries are clustered based on the economic security index.

This research presents the findings of a content analysis of comment letters submitted to the International Accounting Standards Board in response to the second Comprehensive Review of the IFRS for SMEs. It is being investigated whether the parties' interest has increased since the first Request for Information was issued, whether the respondents are in agreement with the IASB regarding the alignment of IFRS for SMEs to full IFRS Standards, and what their arguments are in order to gain further insight into this review process. The study is based on comment letters sent directly to the IASB between January and October 2020. The analysis revealed that the main stakeholder groups that contributed were Professional organizations, Accounting Regulation Bodies and Accounting, audit and consultant firms, the same groups that also had a high response rate to the first request for information. Regarding the jurisdictions, there was a high interest from Europe but also from the countries that have already adopted the standard in South America.

In this study were presented the most important directions to which management accounting -adapted in the last decades in the developed countries and the Romanian management accounting regulations in force now were analyzed to see whether their formulation is unclear, as some researchers stated before. This paper’s authors made a multi-method study through it combining a literature review with an ethnographical content analysis and argued that the wording of Romania’s management accounting regulations are, in part, or unclear or unnecessary and, because of that, presented the proposals made by them for the reformulation of the provisions of the regulations they consider unnecessary or unclear. The data from the accounting regulations were analyzed by a qualitative analysis. The authors concluded that management accounting is mandatory in Romania, according to the actual regulations, but can be organized and managed, according to their provisions, “as appropriate”. The vagueness of the regulations, the necessity of some legal rules and the fact that the role of the accountant involved in external financial reporting, taxation, audit activities, it is much better established by the Romanian law, overshadow the management accounting and the management accountant’s role. By this study, the authors are filling the gap.

The increasing interest for (the topic of) digital transformation – fueled by the synergies between technological developments (in terms of business-related applications of digital technologies) and businesses’ search for (new determinants of digital technology-based) competitive advantage, while accelerated by the covid-19 pandemic – is an undeniable reality of nowadays (which is here to stay). Through a bibliometric analysis - built on data extracted from SCOPUS database and using VOSviewer - the paper aims to: make an overall assessment on the subject (and the ways it was addressed by academia); identify the main topics that configures the research on digital transformation (while being critical for the practice); assess the validity of digital transformation as strategic shift.

The intensive use of resources and the environmental impacts associated with the growth of the world's population have made it clear that the traditional twentieth-century way of doing business is not enough for a sustainable future. Thus, businesses are forced to make a transition towards new forms of management, adapted to the reality of the global - social, political, economic, ecological and technological - context, which is becoming more and more unpredictable and raises more challenges than it did a decade ago. Thus, stakeholders expect and demand improved products and services, made with a low negative impact on the environment and society. The requirements end up being applied not only to every facet of the business, but also to its partners. Overall, changing the way we do business today is undoubtedly not only complex, but also exciting for many managers who need to integrate sustainable development and sustainability into their strategic approach. In addition, a new sense of responsibility is developing for future generations as the effects of resource overexploitation and pollution increase. The sense of responsibility also evolves in the relationship between stakeholders and companies, which is why the latter are moving towards adapting their own strategic orientation. me one of the starting points for sustainable development. Under these circumstances, the question arises on how managers are supposed to integrate sustainability into their strategies. Consequently, this paper aims to explore the understanding of managing sustainability and provide a generic clarification for it.

This research examines important firm specific characteristics for the expansion of innovative IT start-ups through strategic partnerships and affiliate networks in the emerging markets of South East (S.E.) Europe. The case of a Greek IT start-up currently seeking to expand in S.E. Europe through partnerships is investigated. The case study analysis reveals that the existence of codified knowledge and the establishment of formal systems and processes enhance successful knowledge transfer in business partnerships and contribute in alliance success. Furthermore, firms should pursue partnerships with reputable firms, while working simultaneously in developing their own reputation that will enable them to more efficiently attract potential business partners. They should also seek for partners with prior collaborative experience in order to increase the development of trust in their alliances which is a critical success factor in business partnerships. In addition, firms should build a team with a diverse academic background and business experience, in order to increase the chances for successful international partnerships. This analysis further enhances the understanding of company characteristics that better position IT startups to form meaningful and successful alliances in emerging markets. Lastly, it provides useful insights on important parameters that startups need to consider and develop in order to more efficiently form strategic partnerships.

The paper explores the association between corporate governance attributes and the extent of accounting conservatism apparent in Chinese listed companies’ financial reporting. The findings demonstrate that significant positive association exists between board independence, board size and accounting conservatism in Chinese information technology companies. Conversely, CEO duality, management shareholding and the shareholding ratio of the largest shareholder significantly negatively correlated with accounting conservatism. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the first empirical papers revealing the evidence on the relationship between corporate governance attributes and accounting conservatism in China. Overall, the author’s findings match up with the assertion that accounting conservatism assists directors in reducing agency costs of firms.

Factors such as globalization and demographic changes have led to major challenges in the processes of human resource management. Based on the literature review, we found that these factors affected the purpose of the HRM processes, leading, at the same time, to a stronger strategic management and to new HRM practices. A major challenge facing companies today is based on generational diversity, which means that more and more generations have joined the labor market and a lot of companies. The interest of researchers and practitioners for this topic has increased considerably because they try to find ways to better understand the characteristics of each generation, which enters the labor market with new needs, values and motivations. The overall purpose of the paper is to identify which are some of the most important characteristics of each generation and also to analyze the impact that the new generation which entered the labour market in the last years or will enter it in the foreseeable future, Generation Z, has on the HRM processes. The methodology used in the study consisted in analyzing secondary data, which arose from international databases and journals, using the methods of analysis, comparison, classification and synthesis. Also, in order to provide an overview of the researched topic, a series of studies, surveys, interviews conducted by specialized companies were reviewed. Through the conducted research we want to show that each new generation that enters the labour market brings certain changes. Also, we want to analyze why it is important that the HRM processes be elaborated and implemented, while taking into account some ways of optimizing and adapting them to the challenges created by the most indispensable resource of a company, the human resource.

This is a critical paper (based in knowledge review & constructivist proposal), under the global economics & cross-cultural management approach, as a comparative research to have an overview of the complex issue, with a bootstrapping method of analysis and some singular cases to illustrate. It offers a balance of the labour relations development into the welfare state economy and the current fall in post-globalization and digital economy. There is a diagnoses of the transition in progress (with the 4^th industrial revolution in digital era), from the human resources departments for replicate-workers in traditional bureaucratic corporations, to the emergence of the talent development areas for creative-collaborators in agile business organizations. Also, there are complementary explanations about the transitional context from the gig economy to wellbeing economics (the new stage of digital economy and new challenges for the collaborators).

This study gives an insight into the agriculture sector in Romania, over the last 10 years (2011-2020). The analysis draws on secondary data recorded in different databases and reports. An aggregate assessment of main agricultural macroeconomic indicators has been carried out at a wider scale. The country-specific analysis aims at identifying and evaluating main insights impacting the supply and demand side of agricultural or agriculture-related products and services and serves as a basis in quantifying the need for different interventions and mechanisms to support the agricultural sector. The target group consisted of agricultural holdings dealing with the primary production of agricultural products listed in Annex I of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The main purpose of this paper is to fill the gaps in the literature regarding the main determinants of banking system performance. Thus, we studied the banking systems of some EU member states by analyzing the links and influences of women's involvement in the top management team (TMT) on economic performance. We studied the impact of gender diversity (especially the variation of women's involvement in top management) on financial key performance indicators (KPIs) for 134 selected banks from 8 countries, a total of 1060 firm-years, based on data obtained from Bureau van Dijk (BvD) Orbis and World Bank Database. We estimated for each country a regression model, using PLS (panel least squares) empirical setup, based on unbalanced panel data for period 2009-2019. We've determined statistically significant links between the presence of women in the top management team and and the banks' financial KPI (ROA, ROE and NPL). However, we found clues that there is a level of femininity at which there’s an inflection point in terms of the influence on defined KPIs. The empirical results contribute on the literature regarding gender segregation and economic performance of banks, concluding that a more gender-balanced TMT can generate superior banking outcomes.

The dynamics of the competitiveness in today’s economic environment has received increasing attention focusing on continuous and consistent consideration, requiring more in-depth scientific research. This topic highlights new challenges for competitiveness, at any level, by identifying and analyzing its own determinants. The present paper aims to develop a proposal model for the international competitiveness, starting from the determinants identified in the literature review. The 8-D model of international competitiveness integrates investment, economic freedom, corruption, global knowledge, culture, business performance, innovation and digital economy, and sustainability at the country level. Considering this conceptual model 8-D, the study aims to present an in-depth analysis of the top 5 most developed countries on each determinant proposed during 2019-2021 according to the international reports and ranks.

The 21st century is certainly the century of SMEs which represent, according to the Annual Report on SMEs for the years 2019-2020 prepared by the European Commission, over 99% of non- financial businesses at EU level, and which provide 66% of total jobs and 57% of value added in the EU non-financial businesses sector. SMEs are considered to be” vectors of innovation that contribute significantly to increasing long-term labor productivity and sustainable economic development. ” (CCE, Raport special, 2020). The need for permanent support for the development of the sector is recognized at EU level, especially for newly registered micro-enterprises, the support being decisive for the socio-economic changes that take place in society. The reality has unequivocally demonstrated the interdependent relationship between the activity of SMEs, economic development, and the creation of new jobs. In our country, the size of the sector and its importance are indisputable. Thus: Romania (Vasiliu, 2021) has around 500.000 SMEs, which account to 99% of the total companies in the economy – nonfinancial sectors. The general objective of the research that we present in this paper is to offer an overview of the current state of the regional economic environment of The Central Region (Central Region), the tendencies and external factors that act upon it, providing at the same time an analysis of the impact of de minimis funds on the companies financed through the Start-UP Hub: the Entrepreneurs’ Laboratory, following the interpretation of data collected through questionnaires for identifying the requirements and challenges that the entrepreneurs encountered. A specific objective of this research is to identify the solutions suggested by the entrepreneurs involved in the program Start-Up Hub: the Entrepreneurs’ Laboratory for overcoming the difficult challenges for the start-ups registered in the past two to three years which could apply to the entire SME sector.

The aim of this research is to investigate the corporate governance frameworks of listed Swiss bank, to evaluate their performance across several indicators and identify strengths and weaknesses of their internal guidelines and code of best practice. More specifically, we use the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, the Basel Committee Guidance on Corporate Governance for Banks and the Swiss Code of Best Practices for Corporate Governance to develop a framework to evaluate the corporate governance of Swiss banks relative to factors such as board structure, board composition, transparency, compensation and risk management To meet the aim of the research, we collect qualitative data from publicly available yearly reports, corporate governance documents and codes of conduct from a sample of listed Swiss banks. We find that, overall, Swiss banks have a sound corporate governance framework. However, board gender diversity is low. Also, there are differences between smaller and bigger banks in board composition. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the corporate governance structure of listed Swiss banks and they can be a useful tool for the banks, which can use our findings to implement enhancements to their corporate governance frameworks.