2nd Issue/ December 2012 – The Annals of The University of Oradea. Economic Sciences, Tom XXI – 2012
FULL ISSUE – 2nd Issue/ December 2012 – The Annals of The University of Oradea. Economic Sciences, Tom XXI – 2012
Title: EVERYTHING MOVES NOTHING STANDS STILL. SOME ASPECTS ABOUT THE MEGASYSTEM EARTH ECO-SOC-ECO
Author(s): Negucioiu Aurel
Abstract: One of the most important moments of the start or restart of the academic activity has always been the opening of courses in each subject (discipline) that would be studied. On these occasions each professor shows to the students the subject of the discipline, place and role that intellectual seizure of that object in the formation of their professional competence required by the exigencies of the time. Most teachers stop on the most important sources, sources of knowledge that young learners can turn to and would be better to turn. They indicate written sources, books, magazines and other publications available in classical libraries and add, especially now, the world’s largest library: the Internet. However, teachers advise students to seek permanently another source, a “book” – permanently opened, the book of reality that contains the most truth and what is very important – many problems waiting to be discovered and resolved. Leafing over “the first pages” of one of the “volumes” of this huge established “book”, I found that the paradigm “Everything moves. Nothing stands still” as the paradigm “movement is absolute, and the repose – roughly” is far from having exhausted full knowledge of “everything”. But knowledge can enrich through investigation of the unknown aspects. Substantially reducing the size of the unknown we have subscribed to communicate, stopping on several sides and objectives of the issues:
- Further examination of the main contents of the concept of development;
- Nominate a limited number of forms of movement in the “kingdom” of the Megasystem Eco-soc-eco;
- Further investigation of the causes of motion;
- Pace to and rhythm in which the different forms of movement develop;
- Which are the directions in which evolve different directions of movement forms.
Keywords: moving, economic movement, environmental movement, eco-economics movement, economic expansion, growth and economic decline, local economy, microeconomics, Mezzo economics, Mondo economics, globalization, industrialization, deindustrialization, accumulatio
JEL: e
Pages: 17 – 29
Title: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CORPORATE TAX ASSESSMENT IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE G7
Author(s): Abrudan Leonard Călin
Pages: 32 – 39
Title: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE G7
Author(s): Abrudan Leonard Călin
Pages: 40 – 45
Title: ROMANIA’S EU ACCESSION. GAINS AND LOSSES (II)
Author(s): Caba Stefan
Abstract: This paper is a continuation of “Romania\’s EU accession. Gains and losses (I)” where we have been presented statistics on Romania\’s trade with major trading partners to whom, before, or after EU accession, the legal status has changed. In this paper we try to identify the benefits and costs of accession to the EU in terms of trade. In the first part we analyze the dynamics of trade with new partners, resulting from the accession. The last part is devoted to conclusions. The main idea that emerges from this work is that, unfortunately, Romania governors, did not know to take advantage of the opening to the biggest economic market although the financial and institutional support offered by the EU.
Keywords: bilateral agreement, comparative advantage, international trade, EU accession, EU integration
JEL: F13, F14, F15
Pages: 46 – 51
Title: THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN IMPROVING THE SERVICES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Author(s): Banciu Viorica, Silaghi Simona
Abstract: In the eyes of the whole world, the European Union had and has a huge influence upon the economical, commercial, legal, social and cultural conditions of the member states and now it represents a reality and a certainty. In this society of globalization and technology the young generation plays an important role in building the Europe of tomorrow. Due to the political social and economic changes that have occurred in our lives in the recent decades doubled by the tremendous development of the digital technology the academic education must take important steps towards a united Europe, a unity achieved mainly through the means of education. “The best school is the one, where above all, you learn to learn†said the Romanian historian and philosopher Nicolae Iorga. Nowadays the best school gives students the opportunity to learn at least a foreign language, offering them the possibility of academic or professional mobility.
Our paper aims to present the role of foreign languages in improving not only the students’ quality of life but also the services in higher education.
Keywords: higher education, services, foreign languages, mobility, quality of servicies
JEL: I23, D83, A29
Pages: 57 – 61
Title: TOGETHER OR APART? STRUCTURAL FUNDS AND REAL CONVERGENCE IN THE NEW MEMBER STATES
Author(s): Alexe Ileana, Tatomir Cristina Flavia
Abstract: The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between the structural funds provided by the European Union (EU) and the real convergence of the New Member States that joined the EU in 2004. We also assess the effect of the crisis on this. According to the empirical studies in this area, the impact can be both negative and positive. Furthermore, in the latter case, the correlation is not very strong and depends on several factors. To meet the research objective, we have structured this paper into five parts. In the first part, we make a short presentation of the Cohesion policy and its evolution in time. In the second part, we explore the importance of the subject in the economic literature. In the third one, we explain the methodology used in this paper. We contribute to the literature by creating a Real Convergence Index (RCI) and by assessing the evolution of this index and of the structural funds payments from 2004 until 2010 in five New Member States (Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia). The fourth part describes the results obtained. The structural funds payments reached a maximum level in 2007 in all the countries, with the exception of Slovenia. After this point, they recorded decreasing levels, mainly because of the economic and financial crisis. Within this group of countries, Poland and Slovakia recorded an increase in RCI during 2009 and 2010, even though the amounts of payments started decreasing. The highest level of structural funds payments and the maximum level of RCI are not synchronized, with the exception of the Czech Republic. This could come as a result of the lagging effects of structural funds on the economic convergence. The fifth part of the paper summarizes the conclusions of our research. The analysis confirms the previous work in this field. Specifically, it does not provide us with a clear result regarding the relationship between the absorption of structural funds and the real convergence. The implications for Romania are not very encouraging. This means that the efforts for increasing the absorption rate of EU funds will not necessarily lead to a faster real convergence process. Consequently, the effectiveness of the Cohesion policy remains under question.
Keywords: Structural Funds, Cohesion policy, Real Convergence Index, New Members States, European Union
JEL: F15, F43, O47
Pages: 63 – 69
Title: THE GEOPOLITICS OF OIL AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Author(s): BENEA Ciprian-Beniamin, BACIU Adrian
Abstract: This paper aims to present the role of oil in today’s world, society, and economy. It is important because anything nowadays is about oil, from economy, and society, to international politics. Since the development of air and road transportation, but especially after World War II, the transfer of wealth from some countries (the consuming countries) to another countries (the producing countries) is unique in human history; and the influence of the second group of countries in world politics is very high due to this situation Furthermore, past and present pattern of oil consumption have negative impacts upon environment and humans wellbeing. Oil used in energy generation, and especially its use in transportation makes it a resource with a strategic character. In the literature of international affairs, and international economy, oil is found in almost in every article, and book; but of course, there are books and articles focused especially upon this resource, and upon its role in world politics. in last decades, there appeared another element which fight to capture world public opinion, and political agenda: this is climate change. The best reference in this context is the First report for the Club of Rome (Limits to Growth, 1972), which signaled the unsustainable way of how society works Taking account of this alarming signal, we intended to show (using research methods based upon numbers) that there are very negative effects of using oil in the future in the same way as in the past. There is needed another type of economy, and society, based on other types of resources than oil But in the same time this situation creates hardships for oil importing countries, many of western societies being vitally dependent in their mobility by oil. In the same time, transportation is responsible for some one third of oil consumption, generating huge quantities of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, bringing what can be called climate change. Put shortly, the paper presents the negative impact of oil using from geopolitical and climate points of view, and which could be the solutions for escaping this situation. The added value of our endeavors is connected to present the negative implications from geopolitical and climate changes points of view, and which are the actions which could put in practice
Keywords: oil, geopolitics, energy, climate change, oil transportation routes
JEL: F1; F5
Pages: 70 – 74
Title: GOVERNANCE MEASURES PROPOSAL FOR ROMANIA TO ACCOMPLISH THE EUROPE 2020 TARGETS AT NATIONAL LEVEL
Author(s): Berinde Mihai, Chirila Lavinia Florentina
Abstract: Europe 2020 is a very ambitious strategy adopted by the European Commission for the coming decade. Its main target is to make Europe’s economy become smart, sustainable and inclusive. The Lisbon Strategy was first adopted in 2000, but during the 2005 mid-term review, the Lisbon Strategy was revised and new targets for economic growth and employment were established. This change integrated the Cohesion Policy into Lisbon Strategy’s implementation. In 2010, the European Commission published a new strategy, known as Europe 2020, a strategy that includes priorities meant to help the European Union and the Member States to defeat the weaknesses that they have experienced in the last period. Although the targets set are impressive and might seem very attractive, the results acquired so far, both at EU and Romania’s levels are not very encouraging. Even though some progress has been made, it is too unassertive to be considered the expected result. The article presents the results obtained up to this stage by Romania in achieving the national targets set through Europe 2020, using the time-distance method to calculate the time advance or delay in implementing the Europe 2020 targets in Romania. It formulates governance proposals that must be taken into account by the Romanian authorities in order to reach the targets set at national level.
Keywords: time distance, Europe 2020, EU headline targets, Cohesion policy, governance measures
JEL: F15, O38
Pages: 75 – 80
Title: ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF DEVELOPING INTERMODAL TRANSPORT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Author(s): DărăbanŃ Simina, Stefănescu Patrick, Crisan Radu
Abstract: Transport plays a crucial role in economic and social development and its contribution goes beyond what is normally captured in traditional cost-benefit analyses. Transportation investments can have large long-term economic, social and environmental impacts.
The European Commission when developing transport policy, focuses on the intermodal transport, which is seen as a sustainable mobility solution, environmentally friendly and efficient in terms of resources, especially in terms of freight. European transport policies promote co-modality – combining different modes for a single supply chain – as a solution to the adverse effects of transport: pollution, traffic congestion, energy consumption.
Intermodal transport is found to be consistently cheaper than all-road solutions, and its external costs significantly lower, thereby confirming the high potential of intermodal transport in increasing the sustainability of the transport sector. So, freight intermodality is increasingly considered as major potential contributor to solving the sustainability problems of the European transport sector.
This paper addresses the pricing issues specifically related to intermodal transport. The focus in on the main economical advantages of developing intermodal transport, but also on the usage limits brought by particularities of transport modes. Special attention is given to intermodal transfer terminals with solutions for activity efficiency increase, with major implications on the quality and cost of transportation.
The theme discussed in this paper is of great importance, many authors and specialists developed it in their studies. Some names are needed to be mentioned: Todd Litman, Dr. Yuri V. Yevdokimov, John J. Coyle, Kenneth D. Boyer and few more. But, a special attention for this subject is paid by the European Commission and its subordinated institutions, that are interested in developing sustainable strategies and promoting concrete solutions for economic efficiency in the transportation field.
The methodology used for this subject is based on the statistics data from the official documents and on the research made by the authors of the paper regarding the advantages from the economical point of view derived from the development of intermodal transport.
The results we have reached show that the intermodal transportation is rapidly gaining acceptance as an integral component of the systems approach of conducting business in an increasingly competitive and interdependent global economy.
The information on this paper have implications on other related fields: social, environmental and even political and the authors brought significant contribution raising the problem of the total costs of investments in the intermodal transport infrastructure and the long-term economical benefits if it.
Keywords: intermodal transport, economic advantage, investments, costs, infrastructure
JEL: L91, R41
Pages: 81 – 87
Title: INVESTMENTS VALUES AND EU FOUNDED PROJECTS
Author(s): Ilies Liviu, Muresan Ioana Natalia, Salanta Irina Iulia
Abstract: Being value based is one of the principles project management has to respect in order to be sustainable. Values are guidelines for human behavior that are shared by a large group of individuals. As projects can be differentiated from investments, also projects’ values can be differentiated from investments’ values. Connecting projects with investments’ values contributes to projects’ success, to a sustainable project management process and to a sustainable investment. The article explains the differences between investments and projects and presents how the investment’s values can be related to the project. The topic is applicable when dealing with projects in general and can have benefic effects on investments initialized through projects financed by the European Union.
Keywords: project, investment, value, project management
JEL: M10
Pages: 88 – 93
Title: SOME REFLECTIONS ON FLEXICURITY-THE EUROPEAN APPROACH TO LABOUR MARKET POLICY
Author(s): Ionete Anca
Abstract: The notion of “flexicurity†promises to overcome the tensions between the labour market flexibility on the one hand and social security on the other hand, by offering “the best of both worldsâ€. In this review the development of the concept will be set against the background of changed economic circumstances in the last two decades. Flexicurity is seen as a way to preserve the European Social Model while maintaining and improving the competitiveness of the European Union. It is argued that, in the context of globalisation and technological change which place greater demands on business to adapt continuously, high levels of employment security will not depend only on protection of workers’ specific job, but mainly on the means for workers to stay on the job market, manage smooth transitions between jobs and make progress in their careers. At the end of the day, the aim of flexicurity policies should be to ensure the welfare and well-being of our societies and all their members, now and in the future. It can therefore be argued that flexicurity is ultimately about security and sustainability. At the same time, the European ideas and principles on flexicurity first and foremost need to be seen as a framework which may offer inspiration and guidance to Member States to review and improve their labour markets in terms of establishing a sound balance between flexibility and security. Member States can and should come up with their tailor-made policies and regulations that are geared towards their specific history, starting-position and political, institutional and cultural context. As quasi prototypes of flexicurity, policies pursued particularly in Denmark and the Netherlands have been portrayed as having successfully achieved new combinations between (greater) labour market flexibility without compromising social protection. At this point in time, it remains to be seen whether flexicurity will be more than a buzzword which has outlived its temporary political purpose or an enduring component of particularly European approach of combining employment and social policies. The current paper is realized in the doctoral programme entitled “PhD in economics at the standards of European knowledge-DoEsEcâ€, scientific coordinator Prof. PhD. Gabriela Drãgan, institution the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, Faculty of International Business and Economics, period of research 2009-2012.
Keywords: flexicurity, labour market policy, unemployment benefits, employment protection, European Union.
JEL: J08.
Pages: 94 – 99
Title: ROMANIA ON THE PATH TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Author(s): Kardos Mihaela
Abstract: Nowadays, the issues of sustainable development are of great interest and importance, as countries, organisations, institutions worldwide are still searching for the right solutions leading to human well-being and life quality in a society socially acceptable, economically viable and environmentally sustainable, in an integrated vision between states and generations. Due to the difficulties of measuring such a complex, multi-dimensioned concept, one of the main questions refers to necessity and the possibility of determining countries’ progress towards sustainable development. In this respect, there are a very large number of initiatives and efforts to develop the appropri¬ate indicators; yet, there is no one agreed method.
In this generous context of analysis, the paper aims to offer some answers regarding Romania’s progress towards sustainable development, based on a comparative analysis within the European Union, using data provided by three of the most widely used indicators for measuring sustainable development: Human Development Index, Environmental Performance Index and Ecological Footprint. The research methodology uses the comparative analysis and synthesis of data, followed by a dissemination of the results in order to express a personal opinion on the topic.
The research results are far from being optimistic, highlighting a serious gap between Romania and the other member states in terms of progress towards sustainable development. Therefore, they call for immediate action and increased efforts, so that European Union’s objectives of real cohesion and of becoming one of the global leaders in supporting sustainable development can be reached. The merit of this study is its contribution with an original research to the efforts of assessing Romania’s progress on the path to sustainable development, which may be particularly important for both researchers and policy makers. Due to some limitations induced by the methodology, the research opens the way for future studies, using complementary data and methodology.
Keywords: sustainable development, sustainability indicators, human development, environmental performance, comparative analysis
JEL: Q01, R11
Pages: 100 – 106
Title: DOES THE MAASTRICHT CONVERGENCE CRITERIA WORK?
Author(s): Karsai Zoltán-Krisztián
Abstract: During its 13 year history, the euro area experienced the most severe economic downturn in the late 2000s as a result of the 2007 financial-economic crisis stemming from the US banking sector. The crisis in the monetary union, besides posting a significant economic and social cost, revealed several weaknesses not just of the currency block as a whole, but also of its constituting members, which were masked by the prosperous economic environment characteristic for the 2000s. These conditions have put to the test the solidarity among the euro zone members, or in other words the existence of the currency block. One important problem of the currency block is the lack of harmony between the fiscal and economic policies of the member states, creating several and occasionally very divergent parts of the currency block. The aim of this research is to enhance the Maastricht convergence criteria’s and the Stability and Growth Pact’s role as a monitoring mechanism, allowing them to become more informative tools for the policy makers.
For this, based on the relevant literature, we propose new potential explanatory variables which could enhance the role of the Maastricht convergence criteria and the Stability and Growth Pact. Some of the studied variables, like indebtedness of the private sector, capital flow compared to the size of the economy, government revenue compared to total public debt and current account balance help in enforcing the nominal convergence, while others (real labour productivity) contribute to the real convergence. The explanatory power of the proposed variables are investigated in the case of France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain for the period comprised between 2000Q1-2011Q4.
Results of the research show that with the exception of government revenue compared to total public debt, all proposed variables have significant explanatory power regarding the evolution of the state of the economy in all seven countries analyzed. France and Germany, characterized by healthy fiscal and economic policies is also exposed to risks stemming from the evolution of the private debt. In case of Greece, Ireland and Spain the high current account deficit represented a significant explanatory variable, while the outstanding loans to the private sector proved to be significant in the case of Ireland, Italy and Portugal. The significance of real labour productivity for Greece and Italy proves that real convergence should also be obtained beside nominal convergence by economies in the currency block. All significant variables had explanatory power through their lagged value, hence counterbalancing policies can be elaborated in a timely manner in order to stabilize the economy if signs indicate a potentially unsustainable economic path.
Keywords: Maastricht convergence criteria, real convergence, macroeconomic processes, private sector
JEL: E61, E63, H12, H3, C51
Pages: 107 – 114
Title: IMPACT ANALYSIS OF LEGISLATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ON THE POLICY FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE LIGHT OF THE REGIONAL OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME
Author(s): Munteanu Nicolae – Eugen, Popescu (Stîngaciu) Ana-Maria
Abstract: The analysis of the administrative capacity of institutions in the regional development starts from the analysis of the existing framework for the implementation of regional politics in Romania and studies the extent to what the structures and competencies were regionally enlarged as to contribute in the regional development.
The basic hypothesis considered for such analysis had in view the fact that the differences recorded with respect to the implementation capacity of the regional development policy are caused by the various levels of the administrative capacity of the national, regional and local institutions existent in Romania.
Although the regional development activity is, both centrally and regionally, dominated by the Regional Operational Programmme 2007-2013 (ROP) implementation, significant activity also exists outside the ROP, but only regionally.
The regional strategies incorporate to a great extent the strategic objectives established nationally, being coordinated with the national financing instruments for economic, social and territorial development. The undertaking degree of responsibilities regarding the objectives fulfillment of the regional development policy is relatively low both regionally and locally, and the main indicator which contributes in sustaining this conclusion is the absence of an adequate level regarding the property holding on certain strategies and also the methodological lack of strategies. Nationally, the current activity of Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism in the field of regional development totally overlaps the management activity of ROP.
The management of structural funds 2007-2013 granted through ROP deals with various situations in which, due to the fact that the Law of regional development remained behind the legislation for the structural instruments implementation in Romania, additional resources are necessary to be granted in order to be found solutions through other types of regulations.
The Romanian legal and institutional setting allowed a centralized top-down approach for the regional development process and brought forward the approach of the type “local development which falls among certain priorities of regional development established nationallyâ€Â. Definitely, the local development is important for the regional development, but it is not self-sufficient in this respect. Therefore, the centralized approach should be completed by a decentralized approach, as a natural next phase.
Keywords: regional development, institutional and legal framework, region, management of structural funds
JEL: O18, R58, P48
Pages: 121 – 126
Title: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ASPECTS IN ROMANIA-REPUBLIC OF SERBIA IPA CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION PROGRAMME
Author(s): Popescu (Stîngaciu) Ana-Maria, Munteanu Nicolae-Eugen
Abstract: This research paper is based on the analysis of the sustainability aspects in cross-border cooperation programmes. The importance of this research topic consists in presenting if the implementation of the activities of the projects submitted under cross-border cooperation programmes is based on the sustainability aspects. In this matter, the article will present theoretical aspects of sustainable development, territorial cohesion and cross-border development and focuses on practical questions related to sustainability aspects in the case of the Romania – Republic of Serbia IPA Cross-border Cooperation Programme. One of the main challenges of the cross-border area is also environmental challenges. Sustainable development is represents the fundamental objective of the European Union and refers to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development. Countries cannot develop without existing cooperation between them, therefore EU policy is based on economic, social and territorial cohesion. Methodologically, the research is based on identifying of appropriate theoretical concepts corresponding to the chosen theme, collecting and processing data. The paper concludes with answers to key questions related to the integration of sustainable development aspects in cross-border cooperation programmes and projects. The results of the research have implications that could contribute to the current problem of absorption rate of EU funds, offering information about IPA cross-border cooperation programmes and increasing the capacity of potential applicants to elaborate and implement projects for obtaining and using financial EU funds. The added value of the paper results from the fact that EU financing is a topical issue of great interest to European and national level. To the best of our knowledge, this topic has not yet been researched within the national literature. The author contributed by performing methodology of qualitative research, a study case regarding the Romania-Republic of Serbia IPA CBC Programme, which can be very useful for a better understanding of the European Union financial allocations through cross-border cooperation programmes.
Keywords: sustainable development, cross-border cooperation, IPA, territorial cohesion, environmental impact
JEL: F 15, H 77, O 38, R 58
Pages: 127 – 132
Title: ECONOMIC POTENTIAL RECOVERY – A EUROPEAN CHALLENGE IN THE MEDIUM TERM
Author(s): Rãdulescu Andrei
Abstract: The waves of the worst global financial and economic crisis since World War II have seriously affected the economy of the Euro Area. The first wave of the global crisis determined the worst recession in decades for the member states of the region. At present, the Monetary Union is confronted with the second wave of the crisis – the public debt problem. Despite the efforts adopted and implemented by the European policymakers over the past quarters, the sovereign debt crisis is far from over. Spain has recently become the “favourite target†of the financial markets.
Among the consequences of the waves of the crisis for the Euro Area one can mention the potential output decline and the economic divergence (asymmetric evolution of member countries). In this context, the potential output recovery and the relaunch of the real economic convergence process represent the main challenges for the policymakers in the medium run.
This paper analyses the evolution of potential GDP of the member countries of European Monetary Union (12). I employ the Hodrick-Prescott methodology on data from the World Bank Database.
According to the results, the economic potential of the member states of the Euro Area (12) decreased to the lowest level of the past decades. At the same time, the analysis presents the differences exiting across the member states in terms of potential output. Some countries suffered an important potential output loss over the past quarters (it seems that Greece and Portugal have become asymmetric shocks in the Monetary Union). For these countries, the first wave of the global crisis transformed in a permanent shock. The decline of investments and the depreciation of human capital over the past quarters express a huge probability that potential output is going to maintain at a low level in the Euro Area over the following years.
The recovery of potential GDP towards the pre-crisis levels is dependent on a higher participation rate of active population, strong reforms of labour markets and, importantly, the return of investment flows. Other measures in order to attain the objectives of Europe 2020 (smart, sustainable and inclusive growth) would also help the process of potential GDP recovery in Europe.
Keywords: potential output, Hodrick-Prescott, Euro Area, public debt crisis
JEL: C32, E32
Pages: 133 – 140
Title: ROMANIA’S FIRST FIVE YEARS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION. A SHORT ASSESSMENT
Author(s): VADASAN Ioana
Abstract: It’s been more than 5 years since our country has joined the European Union, on January the 1st 2007. It’s been a long road, as fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria had not been an easy task.
But was it all worth it? Are we better off today, five years after? Did we know how to take advantage of European Union membership? Did we know what to do and how to do it, in order to benefit from (all) the advantages of the Single Market?
These are some questions we will try to answer in this paper.
In this paper, we will present data regarding: the evolution of Romania’s foreign trade, overall, as well as with the rest of the European Union countries; the evolution of Romania’s economic growth, in comparison with European Union’s average economic growth; the evolution of foreign direct investments in Romania; the absorption degree of structural and cohesion funds, in comparison with other countries of the European Union.
We will analyze these data, and we will make comparisons between Romania and the European Union, in order to see the similarity between Romania’s evolution and EU’s evolution. We will also analyze the structural and cohesion funds absorption degree, in comparison with other European Union countries.
Finally, we will try to assess whether we knew how to take advantage of our European Union membership, as being member implies both advantages and disadvantages. Knowing how to fully benefit from the advantages and how to diminish the disadvantages is the winning strategy.
Did Romania know how to maximize its advantages?
As we will see in the conclusions of this paper, the answers to these questions are not always in our advantage. There are still some lessons to be learned, especially regarding the absorption of structural and cohesion funds, and attracting foreign direct investments.
Keywords: foreign trade, economic growth, foreign direct investments, structural and cohesion funds
JEL: E24 Employment, Unemployment, F11 Models of Trade, F15 Economic Integration, F21 International Investment, O47 Measurement of Economic Growth
Pages: 141 – 145
Title: KULTUR UND INTERKULTURALITÄT IN DER WIRTSCHAFTSKOMMUNIKATION
Author(s): Maghețiu Anca-Raluca
Abstract: Intercultural communication is, especially for the younger generation, nothing extraordinary anymore. Wether they are at their job, on a business trip abroad or shopping online, they communicate in an intercultural context. The target is to find a common ground which is plausible and understandable for all parties involved in the communication process. This is of course not always easy to obtain because they start from different conditions. Each partner comes with a background of different experiences, out of which different expectations develop. Each and every one of us lives, thinks and acts in a different system of ideas, which continues to exist, even though we communicate in a formally common Lingua franca (the English language). The purpose of the paper is to show some ways in which culture is reflected in the business environment, to illustrate some functions and purposes of the intercultural business communication and to explain the importance of intercultural skills in business communication.
In such an intercultural context we certainly have to face misunderstandings, stereotyping, conflicts and communication errors, which cannot always be avoided, but their number can be minimized, if we know and understand the way in which they emerged. Intercultural communication should not be viewed as something problematic, but as something that opens new horizons, encourages the willingness to learn and leads to further education. Difference should be perceived as a new chance, a chance to develop together new and forward-looking ideas.
The ability to communicate in an intercultural context is an important skill that should also be taught in a foreign language class. It is of utter importance that students, besides knowing the foreign language, learn about the cultural background, the work ethics and the habits of that particular foreign country and thus can interact in a pleasant and easy manner with their foreign counterparts.
Keywords: intercultural communication, business environment, culture, intercultural skills, stereotypes.
JEL:
Pages: 147 – 151
Title: MANAGING THE TRANSLATION OF ECONOMIC TEXTS
Author(s): Sim Monica Ariana, Pop Anamaria Mirabela
Abstract: Theoretically, translation may pass as science; practically, it seems closer to art. Translation is a challenging activity requiring a set of abilities and posing few difficulties that appear during the translation process. This paper investigates the extent to which sub-technical vocabulary can constitute a problem to Romanian students of economics reading in English, by looking at the translations produced as independent or pair work during English classes and analyzing the various errors which may appeared. The exigencies required by the efficient business communication have increased in the past few decades because of rising international trade, increased migration, globalization, the recognition of linguistic minorities, and the expansion of the mass media and technology. All these led us to approach the topic of translation which is actually a job that requires skills, stages of research necessary for disclosure of transfer characteristic into the target language, training, experience and a good sense of languages. The paper defines the theoretical issues and terminology: translation, types of translation, economic texts and then focuses on the presentation of the practical work carried out throughout the academic year of second year students. Considering that only 28% of the entire European population can read English, and even less people in South America and Asia can, it is obvious that an effective communication of business matters relies on an accurate understanding of terminology. Economics is a field of knowledge in accelerated scientific and technological development. As there is a permanent and ever increasing need to quickly update their knowledge, economists read and learn directly in the original language of the publication and stick to it in daily usage, including conferences, scientific events and articles written in Romanian. Besides researching properly the markets, finding distribution channels, and dealing with legal issues, a successful business person should not neglect the language aspects, be it spoken or translated. These are some of the main reasons why we consider that our students as future graduates should be well-equipped with some of the skills necessary when reading and translating technical texts, be it for personal progress and development or for the job requirements.
Keywords: translation, terminology, skills, problems
JEL: Y 90
Pages: 152 – 157
Title: DETECTING VERTICAL INTRA-INDUSTRY TRADE IN CULTURAL PRODUCTS
Author(s): Affortunato Francesca
Abstract: The European integration process has always since markedly characterized by the increasing incidence of Intra-Industry Trade. This has been theoretically justified on the grounds of the new approaches emerging in international trade literature, based on imperfect competition and differentiated products. In recent years another distinctive economic feature of European Union is the importance gained by the so called “cultural and creative sectorsâ€, which are often studied and monitored by reports for their great growth potential. We provide here a systematic decomposition of world trade in “cultural/creative goods†for the year 2009 (using harmonised bilateral flows for some 213 products defined as “cultural products†by UNESCO, 2009) into three trade types: inter-industry, intra-industry (IIT) in horizontally versus vertically differentiated products. We show that the world trade in cultural goods is significantly characterised by two-way trade of vertically differentiated products. Moreover we specifically focus on the Italian peculiarities in the “cultural tradeâ€: therefore we first work out which ones of the world countries are the “top exporters†of these categories of products and then we compute an indicator of the Italian goods’ quality relative to each of these competitors.
Not surprisingly, we find that the most important bilateral IIT intensities in cultural products are observed in Europe. However the presence of developing countries is not unimportant. This can be explained partly to as a consequence of the increasing level of trade integration among some Asian countries and as a consequence of an increasing despecialization of firstly industrialized countries in the production and trading of these products. Finally, with reference to the relative quality of Italian cultural products compared with that of the other top-exporters in these sectors, we find that Italian performance are good relative to those of emerging countries (such as China and India), but not as much if compared to other European countries (such as Germany, France and United Kingdom).
Keywords: cultural and creative goods, relative quality, intra-industry trade, vertical differentiation
JEL: F1, F59, D4, Z1
Pages: 159 – 164
Title: DECOMPOSING THE GAP IN SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT BETWEEN FINLAND AND ROMANIA – SOME METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS
Author(s): Botezat Alina
Abstract: This paper analyzes the advantages and shortcomings of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. Using PISA data for Finland and Romania, we focus on the drawbacks of the detailed decomposition, when the explanatory variables are categorial. From the best of our knowledge, this kind of analysis is performed for the first time using PISA data.
We show that, using covariates which are categorial, the partial characteristics effects can be different when we use different reference categories of the respective variable. However, the overall characteristics effect of a categorical variable does not depend on the omitted category. The more critical aspect of the interpretation of detailed decomposition, when explanatory variables are categoricalregards the unexplained part of the gap. As we empirically show, the both components of the unexplained part are sensitive to choices of the reference category.
These aspects should be taken into account when we perform detailed decompositions with categorial variables.
Keywords: decomposition, categorial variables, test score gap, PISA
JEL: J24, I21, C14
Pages: 165 – 171
Title: POPULATION MOBILITY ACROSS REGIONS AND COUNTIES DURING DEMOCRACY IN ROMANIA
Author(s): Bunea Daniela
Abstract: As an introduction to a more comprehensive study about internal migration determinants, this paper investigates on the main trends in the evolution of this phenomenon within Romanian borders for the last two decades, 1990-2010. For this, I compute indicators such as gross migration and net migration, and I display some illustrative graphic representations of the main patterns. Thus, my focus will be on: arrivals, departures and balances of migration, both numbers and rates; highest and lowest rates; intra-flows and inter-flows; and the favorite destinations to migrate from county to county.
The main findings of this quantitative statistical analysis reveal low levels of migration, oscillatory flows and rates with sharp falls in 1991, two regions (Bucharest-Ilfov and West) with exclusively positive balances and one (North-East) with only negative balances, only 11 counties registered net inflows (especially from Centre and West), intra-migration strongly dominated inter-migration, inhabitants from almost one third of the counties have chosen the capital as their favourite destination, and almost half of the counties showed no temporal change in their preferences.
Keywords: internal migration, regions, counties, destinations, Romania
JEL: R23
Pages: 172 – 178
Title: FROM SOCIAL CAPITAL TO FIRMS NETWORKS: SOME EVIDENCE FOR EUROPE
Author(s): colantonio emiliano, crociata alessandro, perrucci antonella
Abstract: The concept of development is not only referred to the level or to the growth rate of GDP of a country, but it concerns different aspects of individual and social life. Development leads to a changing of values, culture, behaviours and attitudes of people interested in it. That is to say that not only quantitative dimensions, but also qualitative ones became relevant in fostering development trajectories. Reasoning in these general terms a long and rich intellectual debate grow up in social sciences within which we focused the social capital and firm network debate. Social capital is a multidimensional determinant at base of the industrial district framework as the “network capital†represent a driver of firm’s network framework.
By moving from social capital, as a local development driver, to network capital, as a global development driver, the present paper analyzes the firms’ networks determinants by identifying the conditions for some European countries. The methodology through which the results are obtained is the multidimensional scaling method which allows to define relations between countries in terms of proximity/distance with respect to the considered determinants providing a spatial representation of them.
Keywords: social capital, network capital, firms’ networks, multidimensional scaling
JEL: D71, R23 Z1, Z13
Pages: 179 – 184
Title: A PROPOSAL OF MODEL OF ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO ACTIVE LIFE OF ECONOMISTS BASED ON INTER-REGIONAL LABOUR MARKET PARTNERSHIP. STUDY CASE OF PRACTEAM PROJECT
Author(s): Dodescu Anca, Pop Cohut Ioana, Chirila Lavinia
Abstract: In the last years, the integration of young people into the labour market has become more difficult, being accomplished in a gradual, complex and less uniform way comparatively to the years prior to the crises. The rate of youth employment is much lower than among other categories of population, and the insertion of young people on the labour market has become a difficult process, both in Romania and in the European Union, process that is characterised especially through raising the period of time passed from the moment of graduating from school to the moment of finding the first ‘significant’ workplace (for at least six months and with a length of at least 20 hours of work per week), preferably, from qualitative point of view, in accordance to the qualification obtained. In this context, in order to analyse the way in which the integration of young people into the labour market is done in Romania, the present paper makes, in the first part, a short theoretic incursion regarding the main theories referring to youth employment, transition from school to active life and, more specific, transition from higher education to employment, the main determinants of the transition from school to active life and the way in which the process is affected by the tendencies on the labour market, the ways of measurement and evaluation used up to the present etc. In the second part, the paper tries to propose a research methodology of the transition from higher education in the field of economics to employment, analyse that will be carried out in the project called „The practice of economist students. An inter-regional partnership on the labour market between universities and the business environment” (PRACTeam) in the purpose of creating policy and strategy recommendations for diminishing the difficulties felt by young people in the process of transition from school to active life.
Keywords: transition from school to active life, transition from higher education to employment, integration of young people into the labor market, youth employment, labor market
JEL: J01, J08, J18, J21, J44, J64
Pages: 185 – 191
Title: DYNAMICS OF FOOD SECURITY IN RECENT DECADES
Author(s): Florea Adrian
Abstract: By food security we understand the people’s access, at all time, to food, needed for a healthy and active life. It can be thought at global, regional, state or local level, but only as a strategy with relevance only to the family, to be able to buy, thanks to its own production or purchase, sufficient food to meet the needs of all its members. Diet must be quantity sufficient, variety and of good enough quality and each family member should be healthy to take full advantage of consumed foods.
Keywords: food security, demographic aspects, dynamics of food prices, purchasing power
JEL: E01, E25, I38, Q18, Q22
Pages: 192 – 196
Title: EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT ORGANISATIONAL ABILITY OF PUBLIC ORGANISATIONS
Author(s): Florescu Margareta
Abstract: The quality of the results of a project or a public programme, as well as the quality of project management consist in management process performance.This analysis tool promotes the idea of initiating a new organisational/functional policy – organisational tools regarding project management, a new standard concerning the complexity of the project and the associated risk, as well as a new standard concerning the project management organisational/functional ability. Political decision makers, public organisation managers, but project managers as well are the main people in charge of elaborating and taking responsibility for these standards and policies within the organisations they manage and represent.
Keywords: project, evaluation, management, process, decision makers.
JEL: E
Pages: 197 – 206
Title: MAIN ASPECTS CONCERNING INTELLECTUAL SERVICES PRODUCTIVITY WITH FOCUS TO EDUCATION
Author(s): Jivan Alexandru, Weisz Janeta
Abstract: Part of a larger research, this paper aims to point out several key elements of the productivity in the field of services, with application to the intellect-intensive ones: the main concern is for educational services.
Methodologically, the paper starts with the framing in the context of the knowledge based economy and its requirements concerning scientific approach on productivity. Customizations are made to educational services, followed by certain extensions of the issues discussed and synthetic correlations.
Conclusive results underline the intellectual core of most productive efforts of human mankind: investments in human capital.
Keywords: productivity, knowledge, technological progresa, education, economic growth
JEL: I25, J24, O15, P36
Pages: 214 – 218
Title: JAPANESE MONOPOLIST COMPANIES – INSTRUMENTS OF THE ‘NATIONAL POLICY’
Author(s): Mihut Marius Ioan
Abstract: As the title suggests, this article discusses the problem of monopolistic Japanese companies, unique features among advanced countries, and perhaps worldwide. The japanese most ardent desire was always to reach and to overcome the Western, and, as a balanced development of all companies would have taken a long time, japanese policy makers decided to support only those with good performances, around them being concentrated all energies in the east Asian archipelago. Following these important efforts (from the State, small and medium companies, people, etc.), as it is well known, Japan has succeeded, precisely by those holdings, to become a tough opponent for developed countries and even to overcome them, becoming the second global power behind the United States.
The importance of this article derives precisely from the fact that these companies (Zaibatsu and later hondings) were the driving force behind Japan\’s economic development, whether we talk about the period preceding the Second World War or the next one. Even if after the American occupation, it was wanted with at all costs their liquidation, holdings being considered as close to prewar militaristic power, after the American withdrawal from the archipelago, they were rebuilt as a Japanese principle, the foundation of Japanese reconstruction.
The paper aims to embody the main dimensions on which these companies have arrived, as well as their structure, the relations between them, their organization.
On the topic discussed, the literature contains more general issue of the Japanese economy, without being paid (at least in the contemporary period) consideration to these main pillars of Japanese capitalism development. The main work in which they are giving increased attention is written at the end of the Second World War, thus the need for the additions concerning the next period is important. The authors’ contribution lies precisely in the synthesis of information that he provides, from the appearance of Zaibatsu in the mid-Meiji era, until the Great Depression of the 1990s.
Keywords: Keywords: Japan’s economy, zaibatsu, monopolist companies, keiretsu, Japan challenge
JEL: O15, O25, N15
Pages: 232 – 236
Title: AN EXAMINATION OF OKUN’S LAW: EVIDENCE FROM EUROPEAN TARGET COUNTRIES
Author(s): Mattoscio Nicola, Bucciarelli Edgardo, Odoardi Iacopo, Persico Tony Ernesto
Abstract: In this paper Okun’s law is tested for six European selected countries in order to compare the responsiveness of unemployment to economic growth over the period 1981-2010. In the first section there is a survey of scientific works that have observed the empirical relationship between growth and unemployment. The countries selected are representative of different socio-economic contexts today existing in Europe, i.e. EU member countries, countries that adopt the Euro, and others which are candidates to join the EU or that although EU members have chosen not to adopt the Euro. Finally, we also refer to the U.S. and Canada, which are country-systems where the regularity of Okun’s rule of thumb was conceived. In particular, we intend to represent the data of the macroeconomic variables GDP and unemployment rate in their annual variations for a time series sufficiently long to show the occurrence of the supposed regularity, and then to investigate specific cases, which represent changes compared to the expected variations. In addition to any changes occurred over time in the studied relationship, these empirical observations, along with the reported literature, will help to draw conclusions about the differences regarding the inflexibility and responsiveness to changes in the aggregated output by the labor market of the countries involved in the study.
Keywords: economic growth, unemployment, European countries, estimation models
JEL: B22,C13, E24
Pages: 237 – 243
Title: A REGIONAL STUDY OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES INVOLVED IN RDI SECTOR IN ROMANIA IN THE LAST DECADE
Author(s): NICOLOV MIRELA
Abstract:
Keywords: Educational Finance, Higher Education and Research Institutions , Education and Research Institutions, Management of Technological Innovation and R&D , Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes; Monetary Systems; Standards; Regim
JEL:
Pages: 244 – 249
Title: REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES INVOLVED IN RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION (RDI) SECTOR IN ROMANIA IN THE LAST DECADE –STUDY DONE ON MACROREGIONS
Author(s): NICOLOV MIRELA
Abstract: The present paper present a study done on the Financial Resources in Research Development and Innovation (RDI) sector in Romania during 2000-2010 . The present paper analyze Regional Systems of Financial Resources of the research development and innovation sector in Romania in the last decade. In the present paper is done an analysis on the Macro Regions and Regions in Romania.
The present study is part of Doctoral Grant “Implications for innovation, research and development role in the development of Romania\’s economic competitivenessâ€, during 2010 and 2013 and having Director: Prof. Dr. Alina Badulescu in Oradea University, Faculty of Economic Sciences.
Keywords: Educational Finance, Higher Education and Research Institutions , Education and Research Institutions, Management of Technological Innovation and R&D , Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes; Monetary Systems; Standards; Regim
JEL: I22 ,I23 , I2, O18, O32, O33, E42,H61.
Pages: 250 – 255
Title: THE MARKET VALUE OF HUMAN CAPITAL: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
Author(s): NEAGU OLIMPIA
Abstract: There is a general consensus that human capital is a major determinant of economic growth. Reflections on how human capital is related to growth can be extended by viewing on the market value of the human capital.
The concept of the market value of human capital reflects the efficiency of allocation and utilisation of the human capital in the economy. To measure this efficiency the concept of the market value of human capital is explained and developed in the present paper.
The aim of the paper is to introduce the concept of market value of human capital and the specific objectives are targeted to define his contentto propose a method for estimating it and to provide calculations of it for OECD countries.
The concept of human capital is complex and multifaceted one, consisting of: native human capital (biological), educational capital, health capital and social skills (Neagu, 2010). Clearly, human capital is intangible, a stock that is not directly observable as physical capital. Therefore, the estimation of human capital must be constructed indirectly. The stock of human capital in economy creates economic value, expressed through the economic output per capita. In order to estimate this economic value we have to find an appropriate proxy for the human capital stock producing that value.
In the purpose of our paper, we consider that the economic value of human capital can be estimated by calculating the aggregate value created by the active human capital in the economy. In this view, GDP per person employed is a relevant estimation of value created by the employed labour force. The aggregate value is created by the employed persons with different educational level.
The market value of human capital is calculated by dividing the GDP per person employed to the human capital stocks active in the economy. The human capital stock depends on educational costs ( on primary, seconadry, tertiary education) as a the share of GDP per capita weighted by the employment rates. For OECD countries, the market value of their human capital was calculated for 1999-2008, showing their efficiency on utilisation of the human capital stock. The most efficient OECD countries are Australia Austria and USA and the less efficient are Mexico, Czech Republic and Hungary.The market value of human capital has a ascending trend in all OECD countries, reflecting the results of their efforts to valorise their human capital in employment.
The originality of the paper consists on introduction the concept of the market value of the human capitaldefining his content and providing estimates for OECD countries.As a concept, the market value of human capital of a country shows the ability of the economy to use the existent human capital to produce economic output. The market value of human capital reflects an aspect of the economic efficiency, by relating the economic output per person employed to the human capital per capita employed in the economy. It expresses the economic output per one unit of human capital, reflecting the aggregate perfomance of that economy.
Keywords: human capital, market value of human capital, employment, education costs
JEL: J 24, J 21, E24, I 22
Pages: 256 – 264
Title: STRUCTURAL FUNDS ABSORPTION GROWTH BY IMPROVING THEIR MANAGEMENT
Author(s): Pautu Sorina
Abstract: Grant project management is now a trend in the institutions of various types in Romania due to the opportunities offered by the EU through structural Instruments. Absorbing European funds is a challenge for Romania. The Managing Authority for Structural Instruments, together with the subordinated institutions present deficiencies in their coordination and implementation, the effect being a slow process of absorption of structural and cohesion funds. Taking action to enhance absorption of Structural and Cohesion Funds was done later; some measures are neither effective nor efficient. One of the major problems in implementing the Structural Funds is the continuous change of their national legislation. Therefore it is necessary to take measures to increase the absorption of structural funds and also the national adoption of a stable legal framework applicable to Structural Funds, guides of the applicant and clearly established project calls, without any latest changes, creating a transparent system of project proposals assessment and results communication of assessments to their beneficiaries, the payments required by the reimbursement requests within 45 days specified in the contract and not just their validation, terms compliance in approval notifications and addenda to the contract funding, proper training of the personnel from the intermediate organizations and linking information provided by their staff.
Keywords: project management, structural and cohesion funds absorption, deficiencies in the implementation of structural and cohesion funds, measures to improve structural instruments management
JEL: R11, R58
Pages: 265 – 270
Title: ENERGY CRISIS IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA
Author(s): P̣rean Mihai РOlimpiu
Abstract: If during the interwar period Romania has managed to move from an agrarian economy to an industrial-agrarian one, after the 2nd world war in Romania, as in other communist countries, has monitored the further development of the industry. It wanted to be a true industrial revolution.Over time one can identify several types of industrial revolutions, each giving impetus to a given development cycle, which had its beneficiaries and the losers. At first it was steam power, and then use the internal combustion engine, which used oil instead of steam. While other countries developed would increase of production capacity of nuclear power, a higher stage of economic development, in Romania continued the industrial development on the same grounds as in the inter-war period. This has had very serious tracks for the Romanian economy and society, since before and during World War II, the German war machine operated within the national resources of energy. The time and manner in which each country is part of this race are defining the social welfare. Unfortunately, Romania has failed to take advantage, each time losing the start. Creation of some production capacity and the development of industries (metallurgy, chemical industry, iron and steel industry), which consumed significant energy amounts was the wrong decision for the future well-being of the country. Oil impacts which have affected the world economy, hit also Romania. The first oil shock (impact) was more easily broken because of the continued use of internal resources (oil, coal, natural gas), but the second shock was catastrophic. It was too much for Romania after being forced to use those resources in the last decades (including the interwar period). Romanian leaders probably had in mind that Western countries were developed by enhancing industry of this type, but they did it in a different historical period when also the prices of such resources were much smaller and the lack of them was not a possibility. The outphasing of economic policies have resulted in a major negative impact on the population. In order to cope with the shortage of energy has been passed to the rationalization of energy products for the population consumption (from public lighting and restaurants program to heat and hot water rationalisation).
Perhaps the crisisof energy resources necessary to support an antiquated economic system was one of the major causes that resulted in social complaint from the Communist Romania.
Keywords: energy resources, communism, Romania, oil shocks (impacts), rationalization of domestic energy consumption
JEL: N 54, P 26, Q 32, Q 34
Pages: 271 – 276
Title: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING OR OUTSOURCING?
Author(s): Pellicelli Michela, Meo Colombo Carlotta
Abstract: This article will analyze the logic behind the adoption of Business Process Reengineering and outsourcing. The first part analyzes Business Process Reengineering as a technique for analysis and for defining the business processes implemented by organizations in order to make the achievement of corporate objectives more efficient and effective. Nevertheless, this approach has some limits when the reengineering project aims solely at cost reduction. In any event, for several activities management must constantly evaluate the alternative to turning to outsourcing. In the second part we thus observe what should be the evaluations of management in order to pursue the objectives of maximum efficiency, economic efficiency, and productivity. Starting from the methodological assumptions that aid our understanding of the outsourcing of processes and that represent the operational and conceptual framework for the existence of this approach, several models will be analyzed held to be significant for determining those processes that can be outsourced, from a “strategic” point of view, and that are useful for deciding on the shift from BPR to outsourcing.
Keywords: business process reengineering, outsourcing, organizational change, change management, innovation.
JEL: L24, L25, L26
Pages: 277 – 287
Title: CRITERIA AND FACTORS USED BY MANAGERS IMPLEMENTING THE KNOWLEDGE-BASED MANAGEMENT IN TOURISM SMES
Author(s): Popescu Dan, Ciocarlan Chitucea Alina, State Cristna, Petrus Catalin
Abstract: Knowledge-based economy requires both in Romania and internationally, the presence of intelligent organizations, with advanced management capabilities of their collective skills, as sources of performance. As a result, worldwide, more than ever, knowledge is accepted as one of the main sources of competitive advantage.
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are the most dynamic and vital factor of progress in the contemporary society, main generator of economic performance and substance in any country, employment opportunity provider for most of population, major contributor to the national budget, and engine to improve the living standard of the population.
SMEs represent 99% from all enterprises, drawing up the main human resource agglomeration. In this context, knowledge-based management approaches are inevitable, arising from systemic complexity that goes beyond the rigid hierarchies and traditional practices and entails the emergence of non-hierarchical organizational structures.
Keywords: knowledge-based management, small and medium enterprises, managers, tourism
JEL: M3, M31, L81
Pages: 294 – 301
Title: INFLUENCE OF THE INVESTMENT DECISIONS ON THE RETURN OF THE COMPANY
Author(s): Pop Mugurel Gabriel Sorin
Abstract: We propose in this study, to make an analysis of the influence of the investment decision on the return of the company. The goal of our research is the quantification of the influence of investment activity on profitability. Fulfilling such a goal has forced us to research the existing literature in this field, both in our country and abroad, ascertaining the existence of a unitary meaning of the criteria for investment projects’ evaluation.
Of course, the realization of such research was possible only after close consideration of the opinions expressed in the relevant literature on this area.
Our research aims to be a theoretical-applied one. It is based on comparisons we make between the two criteria for assessing investment projects namely: that of net present value (VAN) and internal rate of return (RIR). By creating a suite of phase calculations, based on information from economic and financial documentation of corporate investments, we separated the influence of the policy investment decisions on profitability. We are convinced that the most accurate determination of the influence of policy investment decisions on profitability helps the financial management, facilitating the process of adopting the most appropriate policy decisions that ultimately leads to the objectives formulated by the financial policy.
The result of our research is the quantification of the influence of investment policy decisions of the firm on profitability.
Keywords: politics, investment decisions, evaluation criteria, updated net income, internal rate of return, influence
JEL: G31
Pages: 302 – 307
Title: THE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND THE OPTIONS BETWEEN EQUITY AND DEBT CAPITAL. CONSIDERATIONS ON ACCESS TO CREDIT IN ITALIAN REALITY (PART II) )
Author(s): Rangone Adalberto
Abstract: to the new and numerous challenges that the market requires.
These challenges are economic, but not only. A continuous and steady development involves actually the need to go beyond the limits, not only in the case of traditional companies, but also of those in the start up phase.
To be in a multilateral and global economic system – as the present one – supposes a continuous upgrading of production technologies within companies, sometimes by undergoing serious reengineering processes.
The updating of the company, however, cannot and should not be perceived as a simple and sudden initiative that is applied superficially just to conform to a market trend. It involves a certain difficulty, and especially the demand for new and ongoing investment in the sector of competence, therefore, it requires a careful process of analysis to relate multiple aspects of the company, including the availability of equity or the need to resort to foreign capital, such as to the bond market, to national or European facilitating tools or to foreign intervention of banking nature, on short or medium-long term, calibrating these interventions based on business needs.
It is this delicate “step” in the life of a company – which requires a coherent, appropriate and stable organization of the governance of the company – that we want to tackle within this paper, as well as its interaction with the banking system, which in our specific case is the Italian one, all these by a brief empirical analysis of the relationship that links corporate governance to the access to finances, in the current banking context.
Keywords: Corporate Governance, Banking System, Reengineering, Start up, Management
JEL: E
Pages: 308 – 317
Title: WOMEN IN BUSINESS. THE NEED FOR POLICIES TO FOSTERING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ROMANIA
Author(s): Badulescu Alina, Borza Adriana
Abstract: In developing economies, the issue of overcoming the gaps in public policies regarding gender is closely linked to the ability of governments to identify policies that have worked successfully in regions with similar economic circumstances. Equally, there is a need for innovative data solutions that have the capacity to determine a real change of socio-economic relations. For now, as far as the Romanian context is concerned, female entrepreneurs do not enjoy as much government support as it is really needed. What literature refers to as the “glass ceiling” seems to be doubled in Romania by collective suspicion towards the discrepancy between the ambition and the skills of women who find themselves in the position of decision makers at top management level. This crisis of confidence faced by women makes their management tasks even more difficult. Not incidentally, literature mentions opinions according to which a woman must work twice as hard as a man to reach a certain position. The crisis brought about by the lack of models is confirmed by numerous studies and researches, all highlighting the urgent need for mentoring. Given such gender related constraints, it is only natural to expect that decision makers at government level would show a special interest for policies designed to encourage female entrepreneurship, and, in general, to support increase of employment of women in economic activities.
Keywords: gender policies, women entrepreneurship, women in business
JEL: M13
Pages: 319 – 324
Title: ARE SMES MORE CONFORTABLE WITH SMALL DOMESTIC LENDERS? (II –EVIDENCE FOR ROMANIAN SMES)
Author(s): Badulescu Daniel
Abstract: Based on a consistent literature presented in the previous part of our paper, and analysing our research results, carried out on a significant number of SMEs from Romania in 2011, the purpose of this paper is to examine how SMEs are affected and how they perceive the bank involvement in financing SMEs needs, in terms of the nature and characteristics of organizational structure of these lenders. We have found that, despite of the recent development of the crisis and the decision of the most of important European banks to reduce theirs involvement in Central and Eastern Europe, the mostly of the Romanian SMEs considered they are not ignored or under-privileged by large, international banks operating in Romania.
Keywords: Romanian SMEs, survey, bank lending, lenders structure
JEL: G21
Pages: 325 – 331
Title: TOURISM – AS A DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Author(s): Borma Afrodita
Abstract: Third year PhD candidate at the University of Oradea, under the guidance of Professor Mrs. Alina Bădulescu in the doctoral research project entitled: “Doctoral studies and Ph.D. candidates for competitive research on a knowledge based society”, a co-financed project by the European Social Fund through the Sectoral Operational Program for Human Resources Development 2007 – 2013, Priority Axis 1. “Education and training in support for growth and development of a knowledge based society” I chose to present this subject in order to demonstrate the connection that exists between tourism and development. Having as research topic “Tourism and development in the Euro regional context†I dedicated a subchapter of this thesis in presenting tourism as a development strategy.
Thus we have analysed a series of specialised papers encountered at national and international level in order to achieve a synthesis about the addressed topic. Authors like Sharpley and Telfer (2002) found that the specialised literature in the tourism domain contains few articles on the relationship between tourism and development despite the fact that tourism remains an important area of the economic policy regarding development in most regions of the world.
Writings on tourism, that debate development, are often written in terms of the impact of tourism on the environment in which it unfolds.
Following statistical data collected on Faits saillants OMT du tourisme, 2011 Edition I found that indeed tourism is an important element in the development strategies.
The research methodology that was used consisted in documentation from the specialised literature and the site http://mkt.unwto.org/sites/all/files/docpdf/unwtohighlights11frhr.pdf in order to gather representative data on the evolution of international tourism for the 1950-2010 period, also highlighting the potential success of tourism in the economic development.
For this study to be more representative I presented the evolution of international tourist arrivals in the main tourist regions of the world. The graphical representation shows that Europe is the main destination for tourists from around the world.
Projections made by UNWTO (2011), confirm the fact that international tourism is continuously expanding, in 2020, the number of international tourists arrivals is approaching 1.6 billion.
Keywords: tourism, economic development, development strategy, international tourism
JEL: O16
Pages: 332 – 336
Title: HUMAN CAPITAL’S IMPACT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF ROMANIAN KNOWLEDGE BASED COMPANIES
Author(s): Burja Camelia
Abstract: To meet the desiderata expressed by the implementation of knowledge-based economy, companies must reconsider development strategies and must facilitate the shift from a management largely based on resource consumption to knowledge-based management. In this view, the importance of the human factor increases, becoming a precious resource that creates value and competitiveness. This paper shows the interaction between company performance and human capital, exemplifying this aspect through a case study based on a regression model in Romanian software companies. The obtained results show the strong connection between company performance, expressed by net income, and the quality of the human capital, synthesized by labour productivity.
Keywords: human capital, performance, labour productivity, knowledge assets
JEL: L25, M54
Pages: 337 – 342
Title: SECTORAL RISK AND RETURN FOR COMPANIES IN ROMANIA
Author(s): Lala – Popa Ion, Buglea Alexandru, Anis Cecilia, Cican Simona
Abstract: probability that cash flows or return will vary from expectations. Standard corporate finance theory supposes that a company chooses a capital structure that maximizes company value. A fundamental idea in finance is the relationship between risk and return. The greater the amount of risk that an investor is willing to take on, the greater the potential return. The reason for this is that investors need to be compensated for taking on additional risk. Why put capital at significant risk for a return that is no higher than the return on government bonds? Or expect higher than averages returns from low-risk activities? It is impossible to separate measuring the performance of a company from the risks that the management takes to achieve it.In most aspects of company operations, risk assessment plays a different but equally important, role. It is an integral part of informed decision taking in achieving performance. Risk assessment is involved from the highest level in strategic choices about what activities to undertake, what assets to buy or what markets to serve all the way to detailed operational decisions about whether to accept payment in foreign currencies and the adequacy of safety measures in the workplace. It plays a part whether or not an organization is aware of managing risk and many managers feel that their instinct and judgment are enough – a behavior risk. The danger is that this leaves company risk unplanned and unmanaged. This paper proposes a framework where we realized a study cases: we test if return on assets and return on equity has influence on the risk, both on long and short term. For this purposes, we conduct an empirical research that covers 59 selected companies traded at the Bucharest Stock Exchange within the time period 1999-2010. For this study our results reveal that dynamic global risk can be associated to a low intensity with total assets performance of the company’s. Investments efficiency and the adoption of certain financial positions appear to be key factors in the dynamics of risk.
Keywords: global risk, return on assets, return on equity, GMM system, net profit, sectors
JEL: M21, G30, C58
Pages: 343 – 348
Title: ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE TOURISM THROUGH CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Author(s): Marinescu Roxana Cristina, Ispas Roxana
Abstract: In tourism, hotels play an important role and contribute to the economic growth in cities and other places endowed with attractions which are universally recognized.
Two elements are essential in the tourism industry system: product quality and human resources.
In terms of quality of the hotel services, that is the one that allows to the tourist enterprise to own a competitive advantage, gain competitive differentiation and reputation among customers by achieving a high degree of customer satisfaction.
Hotel customer satisfaction would be impossible if the hotel management does not perform periodic evaluations on customer satisfaction and quality, which are the focus of this paper. Therefore, this paper focuses on customer satisfaction measured by the SERVQUAL model.
Keywords: tourism, hotel industry, quality, satisfaction, client
JEL: M100, M190
Pages: 349 – 354
Title: SURVEY ON THE USE AND THE INTEREST OF INDIVIDUALS IN ONLINE STORES
Author(s): Vlad Miranda Petronella, Corina Rusu
Abstract: In Romania, most products sold in online stores are technology and communication ones. Best sold products through the Internet, globally speaking (games, toys, flowers, watches, tickets), are only 30% of the online products offered in Romania. Culture (books and information) only represents 10% of all products, as well as clothing and grooming products.
In recent years electronic commerce has had an explosive increase, starting to gain more and more ground on the traditional trade. In what follows, we will analyze the factors that favoured the development of electronic commerce, both in terms of consumers as well as vendors.
Keywords: electronic commerce, online store, customers, loyalty, Internet
JEL: M10, M15, M31
Pages: 355 – 363
Title: A REVIEW OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY INNOVATION RESEARCH
Author(s): NAGY Andrea
Abstract: Innovation plays a vital role in a company’s development and in helping it keep up with new technologies and customers’ highest expectations. A large number of publications on tourism innovation reflect the interest of many authors in this topic. In the past few years several authors have approached tourism innovation, developed models of innovation in tourism, analyzed innovation types or the factors that influence innovation in this field. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on tourism innovation and to identify the main research tendencies in this area of interest. Therefore, we searched for keywords like “tourism innovationâ€, “hospitality innovation†or “service innovation†in several databases such as Science Direct, Emerald, Sage Publications and The Center for Hospitality Research of Cornell University. Because this study focuses on tourism and hospitality innovation, there were analyzed 17 research papers regarding these aspects. Relevant findings such as factors that influence innovation in tourism and hospitality (hotels’ size, category and chain structure, introduction of ICTs, employee involvement and commitment, customer or guest requests etc.), types of innovation implemented in this area and correlations between innovations’ success and hotel performance were highlighted.
Keywords: innovation, service innovation, tourism, hotel, hospitality industry
JEL: M10, O31, L83
Pages: 364 – 370
Title: RURAL DEVELOPMENT, TOURISM BUSINESSES IN VADU AND CORBU’S
MUNICIPALITIES
Author(s): Safta Dan
Abstract: Scopul principal al acestui articol este de a prezenta transformarea turisticã de care are nevoie o zonã de litoral ruralã, pentru a o face competitivã pe plan internaþional. Zonele Vadu ºi Corbu sunt localitãþi rurale care doresc sã se dezvolte, transformându-se într-un nou oraº: oraºul Orion. Prin urmare, localitãþile Vadu ºi Corbu doresc sã devinã o regiune de tip cluster în cadrul industriei turismului ºi, prin urmare, sã se transforme într-o staþiune, unde turiºtii pot trãi ºi conduce companiile lor, furnizând în acelaºi timp activitãþi de turism. Motivul pentru care este interesant sã creezi o regiune cluster este cã, clusterul oferã beneficii companiilor ºi ajutã la dezvoltarea economiei regionale, deoarece barierele mici în dezvoltarea de noi afaceri a clusterelor sunt cele care îmbunãtãþesc mediul pentru productivitate. O investiþie care trebuie sã fie fãcutã în scopul transformãrii într-o staþiune splendidã este fondarea unui centru de Studii Avansate Profesionale de Turism Rural în regiune, denumit Antreprenorul Orion.
Acest program ar trebui sã înceapã cu doar 20 de elevi, cei calificaþi, care trebuie sã doreascã toþi sã îºi deschidã o afacere proprie, în termen de 10 de ani, ºi poate chiar unii dintre ei plãnuiesc sã îºi stabileascã sediile companiilor în oraºul Orion.
De asemenea, cele douã consilii municipale ar trebui sã investeascã în atracþii turistice pentru a atrage companii.
Cu toate acestea, o tendinþã poate fi estimatã de la bun început. Zonele unde se desfãºoarã cele mai multe dintre afacerile de turism din România sunt zonele rurale situate în apropierea zonelor populate, aºa-numitele zone semi-urbane. Cu toate acestea, nu existã oraºe în apropierea municipalitãþilor Corbu ºi Vadu, cu excepþia unui oraº mai mare, Constanþa. Acestea ne face sã credem cã, în cazul în care cele douã zone rurale doresc sã devinã staþiuni turistice, ele trebuie sã investeascã, de exemplu, sã creeze noi locuri de muncã ºi noi zone rezidenþiale. Prin urmare, ideea pe care aº dori sã o promovez ar fi aceea de construire a unui oraº sub forma unui Las Vegas al României, oraº ce ar deveni recunoscut pe plan internaþional ca un oraº de vacanþã de 5 stele, cu hoteluri ºi locuri de odihnã, magazine ºi faimoase cazinouri, acces atât la Deltã, litoral, site-uri istorice pentru pasionaþi, dar ºi accesul la tratamente balneo pentru doritori.
Aceste investiþii sunt necesare pentru a atrage locuitorii ºi oamenii de afaceri cãtre municipalitãþile lor, înainte ca companiile de turism sã se se dezvolte. Investiþiile fac acest tip de clustere atractive.
Keywords: Cluster, turism, rural, investiþii, antreprenor
JEL: L26, L 83
Pages: 377 – 384
Title: DEVELOPMENT POSSIBILITIES OF THE HUNGARIAN-UKRAINIAN
Author(s): Pasztor Szabolcs
Abstract: Thanks to the all pervasive globalisation trends previous state borders have become more permeable and subject to change. As borders disappear previously separated borderlands can unite and form a spatial unit where more increased economic interactions could integrate both sides to the global economy.The European continent is such a case which previously had been puctuated by strong state borders. Today the continent sees the physical and intellectual disappearance of borders. Regional integrations – like the European Union – spur this process and helps the integration of borderland inside and outside of the common market. The creation of a common market was a huge success and still a great deal of benefits are anticipated from the fulfillment. We are not taken by surprise when we see a massive increase in the number of border related studies and researchers. This field is very popular today.
However the difference between Western and Eastern Europe is huge because eastern state borders are still strong or they link peripheral regions. There – under the communist times- border crossings were restricted and trade links were quite poor. No wonder that the tendencies of the past are still determining.
This paper focuses on of one the most peripheral external borderland of the Schengen zone: the Hungarian-Ukrainian borderland. Expectations are running high and the disappearance of the border is a long-awaited hope. First I take into consideration the relevant economic theory in connection with more intense borderland dynamics. In the literature the trade theory, new economic geography and the traditional location theory approach this question. The approaches do not give coherent and clear-cut answers so I have to turn my attention to different empirical approaches. These show huge heterogeneity depending on the nature and character of the borderlands. In the mentioned case, settlement-level data are not fully available so I conduct a questionnaire-based survey. With 432 cases collected from 6 micro regions from the Ukrainian side I can measure the possible cross-border dynamics of the borderless situation. With this method I follow the empirical approach of other regionalists who have come to the conclusion that the opening-up of borders can lead to different dynamism.
In this way I try to shed new light on the development possibilities and more increased economic interactions the Hungarian-Ukrainian borderland. The most important conclusion of this paper is the fact that with more intensive cross-border interactions not the neighbouring borderaland benefits but centrally located or larger towns in Hungary. In this way I can point to the fact that borderland dynamics could be quite limited in the research area. With this paper I could confirm previous studies and point to the fact that empirical analysis is needed to understand the local dynamism of a borderless space.
Keywords: globalisation, spatial impact, borderlands, Hungary-Ukraine
JEL: F22, J61, R12
Pages: 385 – 389
Title: AN OVERVIEW ON THE DETERMINANTS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS WAVES
Author(s): Vancea Mariana
Abstract: This paper concentrates on the presentation of the economic dimension of the mergers and acquisitions from a macroeconomic perspective. Thus, the objective of this paper is to reveal the main drivers of merger and acquisition activity. These operations take place in waves, which enters the context of changing the competition game marked by economic changes, technological evolutions, changes generated by the phenomenon of globalization, and by regulating changes. On the other side, a series of studies in the literature argue the existence of a connection between evaluating the securities and the merger and acquisition activity. This research is based on a systematic, logical and comparative analysis of scientific literature regarding the macroeconomic determinants of mergers and acquisitions.
Keywords: external growth, merger and acquisition waves, macroeconomic determinants, neoclassical hypothesis, behavioural hypothesis
JEL: M10, M20
Pages: 390 – 397
Title: THE MOTIVATION AND WAYS OF MOTIVATING THE HUMAN RESOURCES – BEST WESTERN HOTEL CENTRAL ARAD
Author(s): Vlad Silvia
Abstract: On one side, this paper aims to define the motivation and study the methods of approaching and motivating the human resources and on the other side, we take a more closer look in analyzing the motivation and its means by applying a questionnaire to the hotel’s human resources. In every enterprise, the core of the motivation reflects the management and economic concepts adopted within its walls. The wide variety of these concepts along with the extreme diversity of the personal and managerial situations available in each firm, reflect in the underlined dissimilarity component of the managerial theories and practices.
Keywords: motivation, motivating, bonus payment, job stability
JEL: M12, M20, O15
Pages: 398 – 403
Title: MONETARY STABILITY AND UNEMPLYMENT IN AN EMERGING ECONOMY. THE CASE OF ROMANIA
Author(s): Boldea Bogdan Ion, Burz Razvan
Abstract: A typical feature of an economic crisis, as is the case of the last economic and financial crisis, is the rise in the unemployment. This phenomenon represents one of the most serious aspects of an economic recession implying additional constraints for the policy makers and increased social and economic distress. In this paper we approach the issue of unemployment dynamics for Romanian economy. Modern economies must cope with the challenge of achieving financial stability, given that the globalizing financial environment is becoming more complex due to globalization, to theintersection of the monetary and financial market, and to the financial industry innovativeness. Although this evolution of the markets encourages more efficient allocation of global capital resources, allowing the ways of financing to adapt more quickly to the needs of the real economy, “the financial sector is not exempt from tensions and destabilizing movements, which generate risks not only for the players of the financial sector, but also for the economy as a wholeâ€.
Keywords: monetary stability, unemployment, emerging economy, Phillips curve
JEL: E52, E58, E61, G01
Pages: 405 – 409
Title: THE EXPENDITURES ANALYSIS OF ORADEA MUNICIPALITY’S LOCAL BUDGET
Author(s): Delcea Lavinia Sidonia
Abstract: The quantity, evolution and destination of local expenses are particularly important in public management because they sustain the local economic development policies supported by the local public administration. In this paper we conducted an eight years analysis on the evolution of Oradea’s municipality expenses. The used research methodology was both analytical and empirical, by constructing and analyzing selected indicators. We concluded with observing an improvement in Oradea’s expenditures policy efficiency during 2005-2012.
Keywords: local expenditures, local development, public finance
JEL: H72, H76
Pages: 410 – 415
Title: STYLIZED FACTS OF ROMANIAN BUSINESS CYCLE. AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION (II)
Author(s): Mester Ioana
Abstract: If the more or less regulate moves of the macroeconomic variables are accepted by the economists as a reality, the problem of measuring the aggregate level of the economy in direct correlation with these fluctuations is much more difficult due to the numerous variables involved.
The way these variables move in time is very different from a period to another as well as from a country to another. While some variables have already reached their maximum level, others are on their descendent slope. This is the reason why the measurement problem of the aggregate level of the macroeconomic activity deserves our attention. Finding the patterns macroeconomic variables move together and influence each other is important both as a theoretical challenge, but for its practical utility as well.
Depending on the result of the measurement process, the authorities are able to conduct their economic policies. More precisely, the monetary or fiscal authority will act differently if the economy is in recession or in expansion.
These are the reasons for which a very important phase in the study of the cycle is its descriptive analysis, which is realized by focusing on certain aspects, such as: the length and magnitude, the correlation of the economic variables with the reference series, the study of the cyclical indicators, the analysis of the relative variability of economic series, the diagnose and prevision based on the cyclical indicators.
Keywords: business cycle, GDP, indicators
JEL: E32
Pages: 416 – 419
Title: THE IMPACT OF INVESTMENTS, EXPORTS, AND OPENNESS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH. A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Author(s): Simuţ Ramona
Abstract: The study of the economic growth process has older implications. The preoccupation for the study of the economic growth has existed beginning with the representatives of the Classical School and continuing with the Keynesians, Neokeynesians, and Neoclassics. A series of empirical studies have tested the correlation between the dynamics of the different factors and the process of economic growth. \\r\\nThis paper examines the role of investments, export and openness in relation to economic growth for the East European countries and also has the objective to estimate the long-run relationship between economic growth, investment and export in Eastern European countries using trimestrial data from the Eurostat as well as National Statistical Institute. We used Johansen cointegration test to estimate the nature of relationship and Granger causality test is used to determine the direction of causality in the model.\\r\\n
Keywords: economic growth, export, investments, East European countries
JEL: C32, E52
Pages: 420 – 425
Title: METHODS OF FUNDS ANALYSIS IN THE SALAJ COUNTY
Author(s): Bechis Liviu, Batrancea Ioan, MOSCVICIOV Andrei
Abstract: In this paper the authors present methods of analysis of budgetary resources in territorial, the example of Salaj County. We analyzed this county revenues and expenditures during 2007-2010, using a system of indicators related
Keywords: resource allocation, income, expenses, results
JEL: G18
Pages: 427 – 431
Title: THE ENVIRONMENT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
Author(s): Bechis Liviu, Batrancea Ioan, MOSCVICIOV Andrei
Abstract: The paper presents the difference between the two concepts regionalism and regionalization. It also presents the three types of regionalism analysis depending on the dimension and the nature of the relations: regionalism at national level, transnational regionalism and international regionalism analysis.
Keywords: regionalism, development, regionalization
JEL: G18
Pages: 432 – 435
Title: HOW CAN ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT BOOST ECONOMIC GROWTH?
Author(s): Campeanu Emilia, Gyorgy Attila
Abstract: Restoring economic growth is a challenge for the Romanian government that have to apply fiscal and budgetary measures in order to restore the positive path of the GDP without deteriorating the public finances sustainability. Therefore, it is necessary to identify based on historic data the impact of fiscal and budgetary policy on economic growth. The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of fiscal and budgetary policies on economic growth based on Romania case. The results are useful for identifying the instruments to boost the economy and propagation mechanisms of their effects on growth. Therefore, the economic growth is sustained by governmental measures involving increases for taxes on production and imports and cut for current taxes on income and wealth. Meanwhile, compensation of employees, subsidies and interest have significant statistical effects on growth.
Keywords: fiscal policy, budgetary policy, growth
JEL: E62, H20, H50, O23
Pages: 436 – 442
Title: GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS AND UNIT-LINKED INSURANCE MARKETS EFFICIENCY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Author(s): Ciumaş Cristina, Chiş Diana-Maria, Botoş Horia Mircea
Abstract: This paper empirically investigates the impact of the Global financial crisis on the efficiency of four Central and Eastern European emerging unit-linked insurance markets, applying the automatic variance ratio (AVR) test of Kim (2009) and variance ratio tests using ranks and signs by Wright (2000) for entire, pre-crisis and crisis periods. This study contributes to the existing literature on efficient market hypothesis with several distinct features: it provides a systematic review of the weak-form market efficiency literature that examines return predictability of the daily ING unit-linked funds prices; also the article aims at monitoring any improvement in the degree of efficiency in time and also examines the relative efficiency of unit-linked insurance markets in pre-crisis and crisis periods. Unit linked insurance are life insurance policies with investment component. In the literature there are few studies investigating the effects of a financial crisis on the potential of predictability and implicitly on the degree of efficiency of financial markets. The occurrence of a market crash or financial crisis is a possible contributing factor of market inefficiency. Most of the studies are focused on the Asian crisis in 1997: Holden et al. (2005) examined the weak-form efficiency of eight emerging Asian stock markets using VR tests before, during and after the Asian crisis; Kim and Shamsuddin (2008) used three different types of multiple VR tests for nine Asian stock markets; the findings reported by Lim et al. (2008) are consistent with those reported by Cheong et al. (2007), in which the highest inefficiency occurs during the crisis period. Todea and Lazar (2010) investigated the effects of the Global crisis on the relative efficiency of ten CEE stock markets, using Generalized Spectral test of Escanciano and Velasco (2006). Wright (2000) proposes the alternative non-parametric variance ratio tests using ranks and signs of return and demonstrates that they may have better power properties than other variance ratio tests. Kim (2009) found that the wild bootstrap AVR significantly improves the size and power properties of the AVR test. Using the bootstrapped automatic VR test developed by Kim (2009) and Wright’s test, the statistical findings show that the degree of the markets’ inefficiency varies through time and surprisingly the empirical results suggest that the Global crisis led to a decrease of predictability and hence to an improvement of relative efficiency for five of the eight ING funds.
Keywords: Global financial crisis, unit-linked insurance markets, market efficiency, martingale, variance ratio test
JEL: G22, G23, G14, C58, C87
Pages: 443 – 448
Title: LOCAL BORROWING AUTONOMY AS PART OF FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION PROCESS
Author(s): Crasneac Alexandru Octavian
Abstract: Beside the usual fiscal instruments like taxes and intergovernmental grants, sub-central governments have access to additional revenue through borrowing. When assessing the fiscal decentralization process, a key issue is the local borrowing autonomy, even though the fiscal decentralization literature has devoted surprisingly little attention to this topic. This paper examines the implications of sub-central government borrowing and the reasons behind the borrowing constrains they face. Based on the methodology developed by IADB, we have calculated a Borrowing Autonomy Index for Romania and compared the results to other countries providing a valuable insight on the fiscal decentralization specific features.
Keywords: fiscal decentralization, sub-central government, local borrowing, borrowing autonomy
JEL: H71, H77
Pages: 449 – 453
Title: ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE RATES IN THE IT INDUSTRY
Author(s): CSEGEDI SANDOR, MOSCVICIOV ANDREI, TODEA ANGELA, MOLNAR ANDRA
Abstract: Abstract.In the paper the authors show a modality of performance analysis based on ratios which are useful tools of analysis that synthesize large amounts of data in a form easier to understand, to interpret and compare. They underline in the same time certain limits to be analyzed for each case. When comparing rates from different periods should be considered the operating conditions of the economic entity and the impact of certain changes to the financial statements such as: changes in economic conditions, the production process, the various product lines or geographic markets served.
Keywords: Key words: liquidity, leverage, assets, equity
JEL: JEL Classification: D22
Pages: 454 – 458
Title: THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY,THE CORRUPTION . A WAY OF MANIFESTING THE FISCAL EVASION
Author(s): Din Alina Valentina
Abstract: Fiscal evasion is mainly found within the underground economycame to the specialists’
attention within the 1960s, moment in which it took a great extent. The main cause which leads to activities within the underground economy is represented by the increase of direct taxes, which has the largest influence, followed by the intensity of the regulations and the complexity of the fiscal system. The imposed taxes determine more and more countries to act within the underground economy, as long as there is not a proper offer of public goods and infrastructure. In his study, Vito Tanzi indicated as the main cause of the underground economy the level of taxes.(Tanzi,1983:11-15) He adds the instability of the legislative framework, legislative restrictions imposed within certain states, corruption and bureaucracy. Corruption and the activities specific to the underground economy are realities all the states confront with. Gathering information about the dimensions of corruption and the connection with the underground economy proves to be a task which is impossible to achieve, because all the people involved within these mechanisms prefer not to be identified. Even if the underground economy and corruption are considered as being twins, the questions which appear are: who needs them and who fights against them? Theoretically speaking, corruption and the underground economy can be complementary or substitutable.The anticorruption efforts have to focus on a real reform of the administrative system, whereas the citizen’s perception on corruption is mainly based on his personal experiences in direct connection with the state institutions. Both the public sector as well as the private sector should become more responsible, so that the public institutions to be able to carry out their obligations under integrity conditions and without external pressure or implication. Corruption attracts the economic agents to the underground economy, which leads to a reduction of taxes collected by the state, finally materialized in the increase of the fiscal burden for a less and less number of tax payers.
Keywords: fiscal evasion, underground economy, corruption, taxes, fraud
JEL: G
Pages: 459 – 463
Title: FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS BASED ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE COMPANIES LOCATED IN THE BIHOR – HAJDU BIHAR EUROREGION
Author(s): Droj Laurentiu
Abstract: This paper will be later used within the Doctoral thesis: “The Mechanism of Financing Investment Projects by Usage of European Structural Fundsâ€, which is currently under development at the University Babeș Bolyai Cluj Napoca, Faculty of Economics and Business Management, under the coordination of the prof. univ. dr. Ioan Trenca. This paper comes also as a result of the European Funded project PERINPRO “Cross-Border Research Programme – Performance Indicators of the Economic Entities from Bihor-Hajdu Bihar Euroregionâ€. The goal of the project was to identify of a set of common indicators that characterizes companies in the Bihor-Hajdu Bihar Euroregion and which will be used to analyze the financial health of the economic entities in the Euroregion of Hajdu-Bihar- Bihor.
The first chapter of the paper will introduce the research and also will present the literature review and the methodological framework: by establishing a common set of indicators for the financial analysis of the companies located in the Bihor-Hajdu Bihar Euroregion. Seven of these indicators considered to be highly important will also briefly described and defined. Some of these indicators are used for the first time in a trans-national analysis over companies located in the Romanian-Hungarian cross border area. In the second chapter the research will be focused over establishing a common ground for usage of the financial reporting documents as basis for the analysis. Several characteristics which differentiate the financial reporting documents from Romania and Hungary will be identified and measures for correction of the values of the indicators will be proposed. This comparative study can be considered an innovation, as well, in the cross-border area since in the past no other studies of this types were performed between Romania and Hungary. The third chapter will be focused over the application of seven identified common indicators to companies based in the cross-border area. In the last part of the paper these results will be analyzed and presented.
Keywords: Corporate finance, Financial Statements, Performance Analysis, Performance Indicators
JEL: G30, G32, O16, C63, C61
Pages: 464 – 470
Title: AN INTRODUCTION TO BEHAVIORAL CORPORATE FINANCE
Author(s): Dedu Vasile, Turcan Ciprian Sebastian, Turcan Radu
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to reflect the behavioral aspects that govern corporations. The paper briefly presents some of the main pillars of behavioral corporate finance: management, closed – end funds puzzle, dividends and the importance of aggregate earnings releases. The first pillar consists in a brief presentation of the behavioral factors related to the management of corporations, such as the fact that independent directors are not that independent as they should be, they do not have the prerequisite expertise for assessing complex financial risks, the importance of ethics and having a corporate culture that nurtures doing the right thing above anything else and the fact that CEO’s decisions reflect in good part, their personal style rather than a set of criteria determined by the company. In the second part of the paper, it is treated the puzzle why would investors buy a closed-end fund at its IPO price, knowing that it is likely to fall to a discount, when they could buy instead an open-end fund that is guaranteed always to trade at par and some mentions about the way that dividend policy may be influenced by managers “catering†to the demands of investors and also the effects of aggregate earnings announcements over the market returns.
Keywords: Behavioral finance, conflicts of interests, corporate finance, managers, dividends, closed-end fund puzzle, aggregate earnings
JEL: D22, D23, D82, G20, G32, G34, G35, M12
Pages: 471 – 476
Title: TAXATION OF FINANCIAL SECTOR AFTER THE CRISIS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Author(s): Mara Eugenia-Ramona
Abstract: Taxation of financial sector is an important issue of the actual fiscal policy, especially after the economic crisis impact. By taxing the financial sector, it is intended taxation of financial transactions, and financial activities. European Union supports the taxation of the financial system and makes proposals in this regard. This paper tries to reveal the major aspects concerning the taxation of financial sector, both theoretical and empirical aspects. It will analyze the reasons which justify the application of such taxes, but also difficulties involved in practice. Another major objective of this paper is to examine the role of taxation in the financial sector as important regulatory instrument. This subject is debated in European Commission papers and by many economists. There are underlined the necessity of such tax, the impact and the economic efficiency. Our purpose is to identify if this kind of tax is good for our economy and what can be the impact from budgetary point of view. For finding this answers the paper realize a complex analysis of the types of taxes applied on financial sector in countries which already adopted this kind of taxes, like United Kingdom, Austria, Hungary, Cyprus. We believe that the financial sector should be charged, because was responsible in great measure the economic crisis impact. A potential tax applied to financial sector is considered as an important source of budget revenues. This article tries to explore the possible tax measures for financial sector according to the major principle of public finance –equity and efficiency. Special attention will be given to the need to implement financial sector taxation in Romania. In the years before the crisis banks and entire financial sector in Romania recorded significant profits. For this reason such tax is justified given that this sector is exempt from VAT. Applying such a tax would reduce the budget deficit and on the long term will reduce the public debt.
Keywords: financial sector taxation, fiscal policy, financial transactions
JEL: E62, H25, H12
Pages: 477 – 482
Title: THE IMPACT OF MACROECONOMIC FACTORS ON COMPETITION POLICY EFFECTIVENESS WITHIN EUROPEAN UNION
Author(s): Mosteanu Tatiana, Romano Oana Maria, Dragoi Ionut
Abstract: In the last decades, more and more countries have enacted competition laws, understanding the importance of this process in providing a normal functioning of the economy. Analyzing competition policy effectiveness is important not only because of the recent extent of the phenomenon, but also because of the impact of competition policy effectiveness on economic development and, in the current economic climate, on the economic recovery process. For this reason, quantitative evaluation for competition policy effectiveness became very useful as data handling and understanding the whole phenomenon are easier this way and an international perspective is provided. This was made possible by various international institutions that have created a system of aggregated indicators for the evaluation of competition law enforcement and competition advocacy (perceived effectiveness). The purpose of our research is to identify the macroeconomic factors that influence the effectiveness of competition law implementation within the European Union Member States. We have tasted the influence of 13 macroeconomic, using panel data methodology and data from the last four years. We obtained ß coefficients statistically significant only for 11 of them. The results are consistent with prior analyzed studies and economic logic: positive influence from market division, intensity of local competition, ethical behavior of firms, strength of auditing and reporting standards, efficiency of legal framework in settling disputes, protection of minority shareholders’ interests, public trust of politicians, economic dimension and market size and negative influence from corruption level and diversion of public funds. Based on the achieved results we can perform an analysis of principal components leading to causal space reduction with minimal information loss and without informational redundancy, creating the premises for building a model that explains competition policy effectiveness through macroeconomic factors.
Keywords: competition, antitrust policy, economic efficiency, financial crisis, regulations
JEL: K21, L44, R58
Pages: 483 – 488
Title: SEVERAL MEASURES OF BUDGETARY POLICY
Author(s): Ioan Dan Morar
Abstract: Budget policy for the funding and sometimes care about the public sector, certain actions and utilities on the private sector within limits set by the strategies, tactics and operational deciyiile promoted executive.
Phenomenon budget includes both revenues and expenditure side edge contained in the public budget. Often, perhaps excessive zeal in translating domain-specific phrases are even officially speak about “fiscal policy measures”, with reference to all areas of the budget, containing and thus the budget expenditure.
Budgetary policy has several specific policy budget subdomains like Cookie fiscal policy, budget expenditure allocation Polti, policy and public loans.
Keywords: Budget policypublic sector, fiscal policy, phenomenonallocation, public loans
JEL: G
Pages: 489 – 491
Title: PENSION FUNDS AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS IN THE CEE COUNTRIES
Author(s): Milos Marius Cristian, Milos Laura Raisa
Abstract: In this paper, the authors analyze the influence of the international financial crisis on the current architecture of the CEE pension systems and their further reforms. As a consequence of the financial crisis, the very fragile pension reform has been subject of debate in the new member states of European Union, given their deep recession and registered fiscal deficits. In many of the CEE countries, which have adopted/developed later the second pillar, the financial crisis has raised questions in what concerns the benefit of moving to a mixed pension system, in comparison with the former one, which relied exclusively on public pay-as-you-go schemes. The current literature analyses the situation in each of the CEE countries, but does not make an overall analysis of the situation of the CEE countries, member of the European Union. The authors show the short-term negative effects of the financial crisis on the pension reform in these countries, but also the longer run effects, on the continuing deteriorating finances of these pension systems, in the context of the aging of population and unsustainable pension schemes. Alongside reviewing and commenting the national authorities’ responses to the financial crisis, we are proposing also some measures meant to enhance the further pension system reform and to improve the performance of the private pension funds. Pensions have a long-time horizon and it would be very wrong to produce a reversal of the past reforms since the main problems of adequacy and sustainability remain vivid (demographic challenge and population aging). It is also true though that, while shifting from an exclusively public pay-as-you-go system towards a mixed pension system, especially in times of financial crisis, authorities must pay increased attention to the management and supervision of the DC pension plans, to the risk management standards and regulations of the private pension funds, alongside other measures meant to enhance further pension system reform.
Keywords: financial crisis, pension funds, CEE countries, reform, pillars
JEL: G01,G23, H55
Pages: 492 – 498
Title: THE RESEARCH SYSTEM IN ROMANIA – REFORMING AND FUNDING IT THROUGH PROGRAMS
Author(s): Rus Mircea-Iosif, Radu Ioana
Abstract: Scientific research represents today the most important lever for improving the living standard, health, culture and, in general, the wealth of a society. Therefore, this paper attempts to present the current state of the research system in Romania, as well as several proposals for reforming this system, which would, consequently, lead to a better use of research results, as well as the presentation of ways of funding for research through research programs, both national and European. We should not omit the fact that adequate funding for the research system also has a social impact, by creating new jobs, especially if the research results are implemented in industry.
Keywords: R & D and innovation, reform, funding, programs
JEL: G28, G29, O30, O31
Pages: 499 – 504
Title: ADVANTAGES AND RISKS OF USING THE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN ROMANIA
Author(s): Sabau-Popa Liviu Mihai
Abstract: This article presents the advantages and risks of the public-private partnership in realizing the public investments in Romania. Public-private partnerships refer to the forms of cooperation between public authorities and private entities and target the regulation of the design, financing, construction, operation, rehabilitation, development, rental and transfer of any public work, asset or public service. It is a formula agreed by the public authorities by which the solving of public problems of general interest is “commissioned†by attracting entrepreneurs from the private sector.
One of the main arguments for supporting the public-private partnerships in case of public investment projects is the transfer of the managerial competencies and of the know-how from the private partner to the public one.
One of the main risks of the public-private partnerships is related to the temptation of using the private-public partnerships as a means of eluding the budgetary pressure, which may lead to their inadequate use.
Keywords: knowledge transfer, concession and joint venture, public-private partnerships, public investments.
JEL: D23, H54, E60
Pages: 505 – 510
Title: THE LEVELS OF VALUE IN BUSINESS VALUATION. THE DISCOUNT FOR LACK OF MARKETABILITY
Author(s): Sãcui Violeta, Szatmary Miclea Camelia
Abstract: This paper approaches the subject of levels of value used in business valuation and adjustments (discounts and prime) that enable professional business valuers to relate these in order to determine the value of a business or ownerships interests in a business. Marketability and control over business decision have a profound impact on the value of an ownership interest. Valuators, regularly, reduce the value of an investment interest if it lacks a ready market. In this paper, I highlight the difference between the marketability and liquidity and, the differences between the the discount for lack of marketability and discount for lack of control. A discount for lack of marketability is closely associated with, but, conceptually, distinct from, the discount for lack of control. I present the characteristics of discount for lack of marketability and the rational of applying it in valuation of minority and majority interest.
Keywords: value, discount, marketability, control, interest.
JEL: G32
Pages: 511 – 515
Title: ROMANIAN INTERNATIONAL TRADE CHARACTERISTICS DURING THE RECENT CRISIS
Author(s): SANDU CARMEN
Abstract: The present paper aims to reflect the main changes in Romanian international trade during recent crisis. Using databases from Eurostat and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development we reflect a sharp decrease in the start of 2009 and an increase during this period to nowadays. The situation is similar in the Central and Eastern Europe countries.
Keywords: international trade, financial crisis, balance of payments, Romania
JEL: F10, F32
Pages: 516 – 520
Title: ECO – FISCAL POLICY IN ROMANIA: MITH OR REALITY
Author(s): Vuta Mariana
Abstract: Fiscal ecology has become in recent years a very interesting subject in Romania and in the recent European context specialists are filling their agendas with points about the environmental policy and the environmental fiscal policy are top priorities.
But is there the Romanian stat able to use environmental fiscal instruments in order to regulate economical agents behavior or is the state just using them as fiscal instruments with no environmental purpose? In a world that is constantly moving and is facing different problems, states are trying to find new ways to create budgetary resources in a crisis situation. What is Romania’s position?
Environmental Romanian fiscal policy has to be though in the general economic context, being included in the general social and economical problems. Thus, the fiscal policy should aim at integrating into costs consumption and production externalities but his causes several effects hard to dimension.
The Romanian fiscal system needs hard coercion measures and a total rethinking of the imposing system in order to become efficient. Therefore, only after 2000 we can state that Romania had real environmental taxes but how are often modified both as way of determination and imposing base, things that have generated lack of trust and even panic among the economic agents.
In this context, the paper aims to underline the environmental fiscal policy characteristics applied in the European Union states and especially Romania, in order to surprise the role of the environmental taxes by comparison with other direct taxes, underlining at the same time the national fiscal policy modifications.
Analyzed data has been coming from different sources. Thus, for international comparisons the European Union site has been used, the Eurostat, the Romanian Finance Ministry site. The research is mainly based upon a synthesis of the reached area in the special literature. The study continues a fundamental research using deductive and inductive research mechanism in order to delimit the used concepts.
Keywords: eco-fiscal policy, environmental taxes, fiscal policy, energy taxes, fiscal burden
JEL: H23
Pages: 521 – 526
Title: FISCAL COMPETITION AND DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENTS: ROMANIA VERSUS POLAND
Author(s): Vuta Mariana, Lazar Paula, Vuta Mihai
Abstract: The European Economic Community treaty defines indirect taxation common rules taking into consideration their impact upon free merchandise’s circulation and upon international commercial exchanges.
Once the Roma treaty has been signed (1957) the established scope was creating a common market. But, how is it possible to create a common market without any monetary and fiscal instruments? Thus, these instruments have had to be created in order to achieve such an objective. If from the monetary point of view introducing euro as a common currency was a big step ahead, from the fiscal point of view things haven’t evolved in such an easy manner. Fiscal objectives are achieved only if the national market is running normally and correctly.
Indirect taxation is harmonized base upon article 113 from the European Union Treaty, while regarding direct taxation legal recommendations and regulations approval we can’t talk about harmonization but about fiscal competition. We are stating this because there are 27 states in the European Union and each one is sustaining its own direct taxation system. Furthermore, the taxation system (fiscal system) is influencing member states economical performances through economies, investments and human capital formation by affecting the revenue’s distribution, research and development expenses level and type and by fiscal competition – an effect more and more profound. In this context we aim at analyzing the way fiscal competition had had a positive impact upon attracting foreign direct investments in Romania and Poland. We also aim at underlining positive and negative points for fiscal competition taking into consideration that not only a decrease in micro or macro-economic fiscal burden will have a positive impact upon investments in-flows and there are other factors to be taken into consideration, like: infrastructure, labor expenses, research and development expenses, internet access, etc. The research is mainly based upon a synthesis of the reached area in the special literature. The study continues a fundamental research using deductive and inductive research mechanism in order to delimit the used concepts.
Keywords: fiscal competition, foreign direct investments, fiscal systems, tax rate
JEL: H3
Pages: 527 – 532
Title: CREDIT LEVEL INFLUENCING FACTORS AT HUNGARIAN FARMS
Author(s): Toth Kristof, Toth Jozsef
Abstract: In this paper we estimate the impact of different factors on creditability of agricultural farms. According to the literature the collateral (tangible assets), the farm size, productivity, and subsidies should have significant effects on farm loans. We use data from the Hungarian Farm Accountancy Data Network to test our two hypotheses and theoretical assumptions for the period 2001-2010. Because of using panel data, we do our estimations using fixed effects econometrics model to test our assumptions. The results indicate that the chosen factors have significant influence on total liabilities and short- and long-term loans as well. With specially interest of subsidies the growing level of supports decrease the need of other financial tools. At output factors (inclusive farm size) have significant and positive effect, same as collateral (tangible assets).
Keywords: credit, output, collateral, subsidies, farm size
JEL: G32, H71
Pages: 533 – 537
Title: ASSESSMENT OF CREDIT INSTITUTIONS’ OPERATIONAL RISKS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF EXTERNAL AUDIT
Author(s): Veronel Avram, Roxana Hetes-Gavra, Alexandru Avram
Abstract: Credit institution\’s operational risk should be evaluated by the external auditor cautiously because it is a risk arising from the way in which the bank\’s global strategy is implemented in practice and how the bank’s activity is followed step by step by those charged with governance, internal audit and internal control so to indicate any deviation from the standard rules and procedures and reduce the likelihood of distortions caused by frauds or errors.
International Standards on Auditing require to external auditors to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidences to support the audit opinion, therefore the auditor must first understand the specific banking activities and then identify and properly evaluate the credit institution\’s operational risks.
Keywords: external audit, operational risk, misstatements, fraud, error
JEL: G21, M42
Pages: 539 – 544
Title: PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABLE BANKING MANAGEMENT
Author(s): Dragan (Santamarian) Oana Raluca
Abstract: This paper describes one of the major challenges of the future: the sustainable development of the society. Sustainability is now increasingly recognized as central to the growth of emerging market economies. For the banking sector, this represents both a demand for greater social and environmental responsibility as well as a new landscape of business opportunity. Several years ago, the main part of the banks did not consider the social and environmental problems relevant for their operations. Recently, the banks began to realize the major impact of the sustainable development over the way of ulterior development of the society and, implicitly over the way of creating of the banking value in the future. In this context, the development of a banking management system, based on sustainable principles represents one of the provocations of these days.Starting from literature in the sustainable banking management field in this paper are presented several relevant issues related to risk management in the context of sustainable banking financing: the need to implement the sustainable management principles in financial and banking industry; the role of banks in sustainable development of society; social and environmental risk management policies, events that have shaped the role of the banking sector in sustainable development; international standards regarding sustainable banking management such us: Equator Principles for sustainable investment projects’ financing or GRI principles for sustainable reporting. Furthermore, we developed a practical case study related to the implementation of sustainable banking management at Bank of America.
Keywords: sustainable development, sustainable banking management, environmental and social risks, Equator Principles, GRI Principles
JEL: G21
Pages: 545 – 550
Title: USAGE OF ACB-MININD SOFTWARE IN THE CBA ANALYSIS FOR FINANCING INVESTMENT PROJECTS THROUGH EUROPEAN FUNDING IN CORRELATION WITH THE FINANCING FROM THE BANKING SYSTEM
Author(s): Droj Laurentiu, Droj Gabriela
Abstract: The extension of the European Union with the first “wave†of new members in 2004 and later with the second “wave†of members in 2007 brought new opportunities for the countries in Eastern Europe, being obvious that “effective utilisation of EU support can foster the success of their economic performanceâ€. Financing investment projects proposed by the SMEs can be realized through several financial sources internal and external, from which two of the most common external sources constitute from subsidies-grants and through banking system. One of the most important financing programme present in Romania, available for SMEs is SOP IECwhich awards grants for investments proposed by production companies. This financing program encourages its beneficiaries to combine the European grant with private funds mostly provided through the banking system. The paper analyzed the methodology used in Cost Benefit Analysis and also The ACB-MININD software which is compulsory to be used for the CBA analysis of these investment projects links for the first time elements of analysis used by the European Commission with elements of analysis used by the banking system. In this context the present article tries to analyze how the ACB-MININD software links the main elements of Cost-Benefit analysis such as NPV or IRR with elements of the bankability software which are mainly used by the banking system such as: cash-flow analysis, loan/interest payment and financial sustainability. Also are presented the links between the banking sector and the external financing sector in the field on investment projects. As final conclusions of this paper we will demonstrate the theoretical and practical role of cost-benefit analysis – financial component to select the best applications that will be proposed for funding under the European grant programs and to link them to the banking system in order to ensure a proper co-financing for these investment projects.
Keywords: Banking, Loans, Grants, Cost Benefit Analysis, NPV, IRR
JEL: G17, G21, F35, O16, H43, C63, C61
Pages: 551 – 556
Title: THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF CENTRAL BANK TRANSPARENCY IN ASSESSING THE MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE MECHANISM
Author(s): Dumiter Florin Cornel
Abstract: In the past, central banks used to be very reserved regarding their activities, strategies and monetary policy decisions and actions. As central banks become more and more independent, transparency gained importance based upon accountability arguments. An important fact for adopting an increasing central bank transparency lies in its importance of influencing the development of expectations. The concept of central bank transparency has emerged in the economic literature relatively later than some other key concepts. The widespread agreement of an inflation targeting regime and a more transparent central bank is desired by the most central banks around the world in the context of the need of the public disclosure of macroeconomic models, the quarterly time series for indicators like: inflation, output, budgetary deficit, public debt, interest rate, inflation expectations, the public announcement of the monetary policy decisions, objectives and targets, the publication of some key monetary tools like: inflation report, financial stability report, monetary policy committee report, annual report. These are all key issues in the construction of a more transparent and independent central bank in the context of a good global governance. Moreover, for the fruitful success of the central bank, latum sensu, and monetary policy, stricto sensu, it must be encompassed a complex monetary policy committee mechanism. This complex mechanism must by edowed with the collegial approach of the monetary policy committee, structure of the voting mechanism within the committee, the importance of the person which announces the changes within the interest rates and the public disclosure of these information’s enriched in a communication strategy. This communication strategy is very important for assessing and public understanding of the central bank’s actions but also for communicating the objectives, targets and forward looking approaches of the monetary policy in the global context of the transmission mechanism.
Keywords: monetary policy strategy, collegial entity, central bank independence, democratic accountability, transmission mechanism
JEL: E50, E52, E58
Pages: 557 – 563
Title: THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ROMANIAN AND HUNGARIAN STOCK MARKET INDICES AND EXCHANGE RATES
Author(s): Kulcsár Edina, Tarnóczi Tibor
Abstract:
Keywords: stock indices, exchange rate, financial crisis, macro-indicators, Bayesian statistics
JEL:
Pages: 564 – 570
Title: THE ROMANIAN CARD MARKET
Author(s): RADULESCU MAGDALENA, POPESCU LUIGI
Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the Romanian card market in the last decade, based on the statistic data, against other Eastern European Countries and its perspectives in the next years. The use of cards is important for banks, due to the significant interests and tax gained this way, but Romanian market is still underdeveloped because of the population behavior in the payment area and due to the lack of the card acceptance infrastructure at the merchants for a long period of time. In Romania, there are still many cards with a cash-withdrawals function, but the Romanian card industry has a great potential, because it was underdeveloped. The crisis was an opportunity on the market cards because the credit products have dropped significantly and banks had to develop other banking products, realized the importance of the cards and began to invest in infrastructure.
Keywords: payments cards, Romania, ATMs
JEL: G20, G35
Pages: 571 – 576
Title: CONTROLS ON CAPITAL MOVEMENTS
Author(s): Petris Sorina
Abstract: Until recently, capital mobility was encouraged across national borders, because it was considered that such capital can seek the highest rate of return. However, recent global financial developments have shown that, due to contagion, the mobility of capital flows can cause severe financial imbalances.
In the context of globalization, liberalization or maintaining controls on capital flows is a current topic, more debated by economists.
This topic is very important, due to the impact of liberalization decision or maintaining controls on capital flows has on the overall macroeconomic framework. The paper analyzes the relationship between capital flows’ control and the income per capita, the degree of central bank independence, democracy country, the foreign exchange regime. Also, it analyzes the effectiveness in time of capital controls, taking account of financial system development and potential risks of instability. Over time, it was observed that a period in which they have imposed restrictions on capital movements was followed by a removal of such restrictions, and vice versa. Cyclic change of capital movements regime corresponds to the cyclic evolution of the global economy.
Full capital account liberalization led to the emergence of currency and financial crises, so that the idea of maintaining controls on capital is not rejected by economists. After a full liberalization of capital flows, there is a change in the mentality of an increasing number of economists, who support the maintenance of controls, in a gradual liberalization.
Keywords: capital flows, controls. liberalization, crisis,benefits
JEL: F21, F32, F43
Pages: 577 – 581
Title: THE INFLUENCES OF INFLATION ON THE MONETARY POLICY INTEREST
Author(s): Popa Coralia Emilia
Abstract: In the context of sovereign debt crisis in Europe, a crisis entirely felt also in the direct relation between credit institutions, the National Bank of Romania (NBR) adopted a monetary policy strategy meant to determine the reinforcement of its image, by initiating in the autumn of 2011 a new series of reduction of the monetary policy interest rate and implicitly the appropriate resizing of liquidity conditions. By increasing the role of liquidity adjustment, the European Central Bank (ECB) succeeded to determine in the money market the decrease of interbank rate interests under the interest rate level of monetary policy.
The direct inflation targeting strategy used by the European Central Bank in applying its monetary policy has the first criterion of implementation the expression of inflation target in terms of „headline inflation†(consumer price index – CPI) given that the economic market in Romania is familiar with this indicator. Also, the main criterion considered by the investment segment of the market to achieve capital infusions in economic transactions is represented by the consumer price index, this one ensuring the necessary transparency related to the effects of inflation phenomenon. A strong argument supporting the use of consumer price index in monetary policy is represented by its upward flexibility towards the limited effectiveness of monetary aggregates in sizing inflationary anticipations.
The downward slope of inflation phenomenon, in whose depreciation the evolution of consumer price index, whose positive trend surprised the European Central Bank, played a significant role, determined adjustments in the monetary policy strategy of the National Bank of Romania and at the same time the achievement of the inflationary target proposed with a direct effect on the monetary policy interest rate.
The same measure to reduce the key interest rate is outlined in the monetary policy of the European Central Bank and it is mainly due to the decrease of inflation phenomenon, although at the end of 2011 important quantities of liquidities were introduced in the financial system. It remains to be analysed to what extent the inflation phenomenon will be possible to manage under the conditions of the renewal of economic instability in the euro area and to which direction this aspect will influence the monetary policy of the National Bank of Romania.
Keywords: inflation, monetary policy, interest rate, monetary policy strategy, CPI
JEL: E31, E42, E52, E58, E63
Pages: 582 – 587
Title: LENDING IN FOREIGN CURRENCY AND CURRENT CHALLENGES AT EUROPEAN LEVEL
Author(s): ROMAN Angela, ȘARGU Alina Camelia
Abstract: In recent years, most countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Member States of the EU, that we selected for the analysis (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania) have recorded a significant expansion of lending in foreign currency, which was one of the major factors of the accelerated growth of loans to economy. Such developments have led to an increase of indebtedness in foreign currency of the non-financial private sector, especially of the households and of the accumulation of major macroeconomics and financial imbalances.
The issue of lending in foreign currency, the determinants of increasing the share of loans in foreign currency and the risks generated at the level of financial stability are the subject of numerous studies, including: Basso, Calvo-Gonzales and Jurgilas (2007); Rosenberg and Tirpak (2008); Csajbók-Andras et al. (2010); Zettelmeyer, Nagy and Jeffrey (2010).
Another significant issue addressed in the specialized literature regarding foreign currency loans refers to the role of monetary policy in limiting growth of these loans. Thus, in addition to those noted studies we remark other studies, such as: Kiss et al. (2006); Sirtaine and Skamnelos (2007); Hilbers et al. (2006); Brzoza-Brzezina et al. (2010).
Our paper complements the specialized literature on the approached subject, in particular, by highlighting and discussing current issues of high interest for policymakers, both at national and European level regarding lending in foreign currency.
The extremely negative implications of lending in foreign currency on financial stability in most countries under review, outlined clearly in the context of the current crisis, determined the focus of the policymakers concern, both at European and national level, regarding the issue of foreign currency loans, which became one of the most discussed issues on the agenda of the monetary-financial authorities.
The aim of our research is to comparatively underline, based on the example of the panel countries, a few stylized facts about lending in foreign currency, and also the main factors which determined the growing share of loans in foreign currency, the risks for financial stability generated by the loans denominated in foreign currencies and the challenges that arise for the monetary-financial authorities, both at national and European level, in the current context and in the post crisis period.
The methodology used in our paper starts with an extensive literature review in order to underline the importance of the research theme approached. The analysis is based on information and statistical data provided mainly by the official statistics of the ECB, IMF, EBRD, Raiffeisen Research, different reports, studies and researches.
Through the content of our research we want to underline the crucial importance of a rigorous monitoring of the foreign lending activities undertaken by the central banks and the supervisory authorities in order to limit the risks and to ensure the financial stability at EU level.
Keywords: foreign currency loans, New EU member states, risks, tools, financial stability
JEL: G21, E44, E51
Pages: 588 – 594
Title: ACCOUNTING PRACTICES FROM FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS DISCLOSURE PERSPECTIVE – THE CASE OF ROMANIAN BANKING SYSTEM
Author(s): Stefanescu Cristina Alexandrina
Abstract: International harmonization and convergence of accounting had gradually become one of the most challenging topic of worldwide research and a very hot debated issue in practitioners’ sphere, too. Several studies have addressed both formal and material accounting harmonization along time, a wide range of instruments have been developed and various statistical tools have been used in this respect. Basing on this background, we focused our attention on Romanian banking system which is now experiencing a great challenge by finally entirely adopting IFRS after the first step from 2005 when consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS were required and the second one from 2009 when informative individual financial statements under IFRS begun compulsory.
Therefore, the objective of our paper is to empirically measure and compare the levels and progress of material accounting harmonization in Romanian banking sector focusing on financial instruments and their related disclosure requirements.
First studies conducted in the measurement of harmonization practices (Nair and Frank, 1981; McKinnon and Janell, 1984; Doupnik and Taylor, 1985) started at the beginning of the 80’s, but were merely descriptive, focused on examining how IAS had been adopted in various countries around the world. In the earliest 90’s, there were developed the first instruments for measuring material harmonization, namely the concentration indices (H, C and I Index) (Van der Tas, 1988; 1992) and various other forms of these (Archer et al., 1995), which were widely used in various research studies (Herrmann and Thomas, 1995; Aisbitt, 2001; Taplin, 2004).
Basing on these measurement tools and cconsidering the main aim of our study – to measure material accounting harmonization in Romanian banking sector – we stated four hypotheses, thus trying to answer our questions: “Are the accounting practices related to financial instruments disclosure in Romanian banking system harmonized with international requirements? Was there a progress in this respect in the latest years?â€
The research methodology used for achieving our goal is based on both static and dynamic analysis using appropriate statistical tools – concentration indices (H or Herfindahl index) for measuring the improvements in financial instruments’ disclosure practices,, thus pointing out the degree of material harmonization reached step by step as well as the overall progress. In this respect, firstly, we developed a disclosure checklist structured on three sections dealing with financial instruments’ general disclosures, derivatives and hedge accounting and risk disclosures.
The results of the performed analysis reveal that accounting practices in Romanian banking sector as regards disclosures related to financial instruments experienced a continuous improvement both at individual and consolidated level, but the level of material harmonization is still relatively moderate. In case of individual financial reporting this can be explained by the recently introduced requirement of preparing financial statements in accordance with IFRS and only for informative purposes. Thus, by now we can talk about a real material harmonization just in case of consolidated financial reporting.
Unlike prior research studies which were focused on similar goals – to measure accounting harmonization around the world, our paper provides a particular approach on a specific business field, the banking one that was not separately explored on this topic before. Thus, we considered for analysis its related accounting practices focusing on financial instruments disclosure, which is a particular issue, too, thus enriching the research literature on this field.
Keywords: disclosure, financial instruments, IFRS 7, banking, Romania
JEL: M10, G30
Pages: 595 – 601
Title: COMPARATIVE STUDY OF OWN FUNDS IN THE BANKING SYSTEM
Author(s): Tesu Ramona
Abstract: The present article has as a reserch field theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of the own funds, taking into account the line-up attempts of the romanian banking system to the requirements of the European Union, materialised in the Basel Agreement. The objectives of the research theme, presented in this paper, are mainly oriented towards own funds. We also proposed the following secondary objectives: presenting the concept approaches concerning own funds, emphasysing the tipology of own funds and pointing out their purpose in the banking activity; presenting and analyse the evolution of the own funds in Romania, for a period of 8 years (2004-2011). Even though the actual stage of the research in this field is advanced, in the romanian and foreign literature which dedicate a lot of theoretical and empiric studies concerning own funds. In our study we will use a theoretical and a practical research. The theoretical research describes the laws, reglementations and rules of application in the banking field in our country. In the practical part we will use as a research method the quality-comparative analyse by presenting details regarding bank back-ups. Despite the global financial crisis, the Romanian banking system can be considered as stable as a whole, with levels of capitalization, solvency and liquidity in accordance with consistent with prudential requirements. Tier 1, defined as the core of their sources of credit institutions through the permanent criteria, payment flexibility and capacity to absorb losses continued to overwhelmingly support a total equity. Appropriate quality of own funds is on their structure. The most important component frame our capital plus capital frame attached. The second component in terms is still represented by legal reserves. An important challenge for banks was to maintain a level of own funds accordance, in the conditions witch they were eroded by the current period losses. Tier 2 support rate of about 20 percentages of total equity and subordinated debt were the main components and revaluation reserves. Re-evaluation reserves have preserved funding contributions to Tier 2. An for evaluation of the level of capitalization of credit institutions, the central bank uses solvable indicatoras the only indicator currently regulated for this purpose. It also provides banks in Romania at the conditions for additional capital requirements related to Basel III framework to be taken by the European regulatory Capital Requirement Directive IV. As a final conclusion of the research in the own funds field we want to mention and express our opinion that the methods and techniques of managing risk, calculation of capital need permanent revision and adaptation to the changes that take place on the financial market the appearance of Basel Agreement 3, which are absolutely necessary in the actual economic and financial context. The presentation of concrete cases concerning the bank back-ups represent the personal work which completes the study concerning the analysis of managing banking risks, the role of bank back-ups in the bank capital adequacy mechanism.
Keywords: capital adequacy, own funds, Tier 1, Tier 2, Basel 3
JEL: G2/G21 – Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
Pages: 602 – 607
Title: THE ADJUSTEMENT OF THE BANKING MECHANISM FOR FINANCING ECONOMY UNDER CRISIS CONDITIONS
Author(s): Istrate Luminita Gabriela
Abstract: Development of complex financial products and necessity of reducing the costs encourages the creation of groups with multiple activities in the financial sector. Structures of financial group are also present in Romanian, and most of them are part of the international groups, provided that the financial capital is mainly foreign.
Both the benefits as well as the risks associated to the financial groups present in Romania are limited due to their orientation mainly mono-sectorial (very high weight kept by the credit institutions).
The National Bank of Romania has an intrinsic role for maintaining the financial stability, taking into consideration the responsibilities that result from its double aspect of monetary and prudential authority. The attributions afferent to the objectives of financial stability are exercised by prudential supervision and regulation of the institutions under its authority, as well as by formulation and efficient transmission of the measures of monetary politics and supervision of functioning under optimum conditions of the payment and reimbursement systems systemically important.
At the same time, it is necessary the identification of risks and vulnerabilities of the entire financial system, on the whole and separately, because the financial stability monitoring is preventive. The occurrence and development of some malfunctions, like the incorrect evaluation of risks and inefficiency of capital allocation can affect the stability of the financial and economic system.
Keywords: economic crisis, financial products, financial institutions, interest rate, foreign exchange rate
JEL: E52; E58
Pages: 608 – 613
Title: ANALYZING THE EUROPEAN MARKET OF INTEREST RATE SWAP INDICES
Author(s): Trenca Ioan, Mutu Simona, Petria Nicolae
Abstract: The interest rate risk is the most important risk that derives from the OTC transactions, taking into consideration both the notional amounts and the market value of the financial derivatives that relies on interest rate contracts. Open positions on interest rate derivatives represents more than 75% of the OTC market. In the European banking market interest rate swaps prices are strongly dependent on the interbank interest rates. In this paper we want to analyze the behavior of the Eoniaswap indices and their impact on the interest rate swaps between banks.
Keywords: interest rate risk, Eoniaswap, volatility, impulse response functions
JEL: E43, E50, G10, G21
Pages: 614 – 619
Title: THE CARD – CURRENCY WITH AND WITHOUT CASH
Author(s): Tirlea Mariana Rodica, Nicoara Mihaela
Abstract: Use by individuals and businesses resulting in reduced cash cards in circulation, the corresponding increase in transfer payments and payments accounts also limit exchange risks and make effective use of currency. As a result, we have the effect of reducing cash in circulation.
These advantages are also available for businesses and for banks and leads to favorable effects on import-export business.
Following this, banks can diversify our products, so to meet customers’ new products.
Keywords: card, bank card, debit card, credit card,
JEL: G32
Pages: 620 – 628
Title: REAL AND NOMINAL CONVERGENCE, THE SYNCRONIZATION OF BUSINESS CYCLES BETWEEN THE NEW EUROZONE MEMBERS (NEM) SLOVENIA, SLOVAKIA, CYPRUS , ESTONIA AND THE CORE EUROZONE
Author(s): Zapodeanu Daniela
Abstract:
Keywords: Eurozone, business cycle synchronisation, Hodrick-Prescott filter, Optimum-Currency-Area
JEL:
Pages: 629 – 634
Title: THE ROLE OF VALUE AT RISK IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ASSET AND LIABILITIES
Author(s): Zapodeanu Daniela, Cociuba Mihai, Petria Nicolae
Abstract: ALM is the management of risk at enterprise level, the models used in ALM can be static or dynamic: single period-static modelsmultiple period static modelsingle period stochastic modelmulti period stochastic model. While single period-static don’t incorporate the dynamic of the economical changes the multiple period-static models are an extension of the single period-static model, the most common used are multi-period stochastic which model the evolution of financial series in time and the assets and liabilities using different types of probability distributions (Student, GED). Highly correlated with ALM is the Value at Risk which can be used as and function to be minimized in ALM models. In the Value at Risk methodology the estimation models are classified as: parametric, nonparametric, semi-parametric; we present the parametric models (GARCH models) used in Value at Risk and the connections that can be established between ALM models and Value at Risk. We present the Conditional Value-at-risk and offer and example on how to calculate CVaR .
Keywords: asset-liability models, Value-at-risk, Conditional Value-at-risk, GARCH
JEL: G21, G17
Pages: 635 – 640
Title: QUALITATIVE STUDY REGARDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND CREATIVE ACCOUNTING
Author(s): Berinde Sorin, Rachisan Paula Ramona, Grosanu Adrian
Abstract: The concept of corporate governance has come into the spotlight after the big accounting scandals. Corporate governance represents the manner in which a company is managed and controlled, and this aspect is closely related to the creative accounting practice; ownership structure, the board of directors’ structure, the frequency of these bodies’ meetings, they all can encourage but also discourage accounting manipulation.\\r\\n We tend to agree with the authors who claim that certain changes within the company – including the structure of certain departments – and a rigorous control can significantly reduce the use of creative accounting techniques.\\r\\nConcerning the main objective, respectively outlining a clear image of corporate governance starting from creative accounting, in order to achieve it we conducted a qualitative study, we decided to analyze one of the main research directions, namely corporate governance, as we considered it a current issue with great impact on creative accounting.Our study is based on corporate governance seen as a possible solution to reduce creative accounting practices\\r\\nWe used as research method the content analysis which developed in three stages, namely: pre-analysis, content exploitation, respectively processing and interpretation of results. Moreover, when conducting this qualitative study, we use both quantitative and qualitative analysis, using external observation (non-participant) method in collecting the necessary data. We also used the comparative method by studying the main lines of research in different periods (1990-2010).\\r\\nThese studies refer to creative accounting techniques, to conflicts of interest between managers, directors and shareholders, to joint ownership and control rights, to the lack of transparency regarding financial reporting and auditors’ independence – as evaluators of the financial and accounting information. Not all research directions have been sufficiently explored; therefore, in the future the researches must be continued and deepened.\\r\\nWe consider that a number of independent outside directors within the board could contribute to a better monitoring of the management team, leading to a lower possibility for the company to use creative accounting practices compared to the situation in which the board would be formed mainly from inside director.\\r\\n
Keywords: corporate governance, creative accounting, qualitative study, empirical study, theoretical study
JEL: M40, G34
Pages: 642 – 647
Title: FROM ACCOUNTING REGULATIONS TO VALUATION PRACTICE – THE APPRAISER’S ROLE IN TANGIBLE ASSETS’ REVALUATION
Author(s): Crisan Sorana Adina
Abstract: Tangible assets revaluation has an impact over equity, profit and the financial indicators of the company, several being relevant for the decision making process of investor’s and company management. The revaluation process is usually done by valuation experts who have to start their mission departing from the accounting information regarding the revalued assets. A sound understanding of accounting rules and of the necessities of the revaluation process is essential for a reliable revaluation. Lack of specific accounting knowledge on the valuer’s side can lead to distorted representations of the valued assets which will affect faithful representation, have accounting and fiscal impacts and can also raise problems when auditing the company. The quality and valuation expertise of the called-in appraiser are also relevant for the outcome of the revaluation process, especially if market values evidence is scarce or the revaluated assets are highly specialised. We present the actions that the valuer and the entity have to pursue in order to ensure a reliable revaluation process, contributing thus to a better understanding of the practical approach to assets revaluation and its specific requirements.
Keywords: tangible assets, revaluation, appraisal, fair value
JEL: M49
Pages: 648 – 654
Title: CHANGES CAUSED BY COMPUTERIZATION IN ACCOUNTING MANAGEMENT
Author(s): Danciu Radu, Deac Marius
Abstract: Using financial accounting systems has a significant impact on the organization and management accounting department, accounting work , chart of accounts, management accounts information and the accounting profession.
This study is the result of research done over 25 business entities on the impact of using computerized accounting systems of organization and management accounting. With massive computerization of accounting and the development of intelligent systems work and the profession is seriously called into question, they are moving significantly to the synthesis, analysis and management accounting system.
Keywords: computerized accounting systems, management accounting, management accounts information, accounting work, accounting profession
JEL: M40, M41
Pages: 655 – 661
Title: MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING IN EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND FINANCED PROJECTS IN ROMANIA
Author(s): Tatiana Dãnescu, Dogar Cristian
Abstract: Associating spent amounts in European Social Fund (ESF) financed interventions to eligible activities could be important premises for safeguarding the sound financial management principle. Incorporating management accounting in the beneficiaries accounting systems may provide primary warranties about compliance to the above mentioned principle as described in the EC Regulation 1605-2002
This study aims to explore some facts in actual accounting management implementation, as a base for future improvements of Romanian ESF beneficiary’s accounting systems
ESF financed interventions covers a large range of labor market related services, delivered to the people to increase adaptability and occupational mobility with the aim of allowing or improving labor market access. Even if these services are diverse and delivered by various entities such as government agencies, enterprises or NGO’s, they do have something in common; they cannot generate incomes, but costs for implementing entities. But costs according to the sound financial management principle calls for tracing money with eligible activities using at least some if not all of management accounting concepts. Without some specifics from the donor or a mutual accepted best practice model, most of the ESF beneficiaries are reporting their efforts to actual researches and specialized literature regarding management accounting implementation in services delivering activities.
This study was realized in March 2012 by applying an investigation instrument, an on-line questionnaire collecting both opinions and factual data as well to a number of 962 members of a practice community for ESF interventions implementation. This technique was used to test hypotheses regarding the premises for a future improvement of the existing accounting system model by incorporating management accounting.
130 members of this community answered anonymously, revealing an important concern for management accounting usage, even if only less than 15% declared that they organize it continuously. The rest of more than 85% perceive an important concern about tracing money with budget breakdowns and activities within their projects, just about 65% of them considering also that their work is different now in an ESF project than in past situations. More than 83% of the ones organizing management accounting stated that their actual work is different than in past situations.
Analyzing all the answers, we may consider that our hypothesis is correct and there is a real opportunity for accounting system improvements, by incorporating management accounting.
Some other conclusions about interactions between the accounting and internal control systems may be drawn from the way that community members perceive communication from and to the accountant. Possible weaknesses of the internal control system may lead to unpleasant effects for sound financial management.
This study is a part of a larger research “New models of the accounting and internal control systems of ESF financed interventions in Romaniaâ€, addressing a qualitative approach of ESF absorption through improved practices. The research is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Tatiana Dãnescu and elaborated by PhD student Cristian Dogar.
Keywords: Management accounting, Accounting system, European Social Fund, communication, sound financial management.
JEL: M41 – Accounting
Pages: 662 – 667
Title: INTENATIONAL RESEARCH REGARDING CREATIVE ACCOUNTING
Author(s): Grosanu Adrian, Rachisan Paula Ramona, Berinde Sorin Romulus
Abstract: Although creative accounting practices are not at all recent, only since 2000 this phenomenon has been widely publicized because of the financial scandals that had erupted worldwide. Obviously, creative accounting practices came to be used with nonchalance at enterprise level, irrespective of their size or the industry within which they operate, fact that appears from different studies undertaken globally in recent years.Even though there are many studies based on the creative accounting phenomenon and on other subjects deriving from it, we considered both interesting and necessary an analysis of the articles that tackle different aspects concerning creative accounting, published after 1990 until now within the highest rated journals in the field of accounting.
The main objective of this study is to identify the main research areas in order to emphasize the main existent shortcomings and to outline possible solutions concerning future research directions in this field. Of course, from this main objective derive a few sub-objectives which we will try to achieve by means of the quantitative study.
The quantitative study is based on the analysis of researches performed in the filed of creative accounting and its aim is to observe their evolution within the concerned period of time, to analyze the main research directions approached, but also to study the predominant research current and the main type of research applied. Moreover, within this stage we have also analyzed the geographical areas on which the studies performed within the selected articles were based. The present study is far from being exhaustive, but it surely represents a starting point and an informative source for future research in the field of creative accounting.
We may conclude that most of the researches conducted within the creative accounting field fall within the main research current, which in our case is positivism. Concerning the type of research, we can observe that the vast majority of articles are of empirical nature, but many theoretical studies have also been published.
Keywords: creative accounting, corporate governance, true and fair view, creative acounting techniques, research curent
JEL: M40, G34
Pages: 668 – 674
Title: SOME APECTS REGARDING THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Author(s): Hada Teodor, Szora Tamas Atila
Abstract: The study is divided into four parts: in the introduction are presented the theoretical aspects of the consolidated financial statements and the consolidation methods. During the second part are shown the structure rates calculated prior and after the consolidation, and in the third are calculated the financial rates of return and the effective tax rates of fixed assets. The conclusion of this study presents that although the consolidated entity is not a tax, it presents the group effort without the internal flows between entities within the group.
In terms of the world scientific research typology used by the authors, it refers to descriptive research, explanatory research and applied research.
In terms of the novelties, brought by this study, it is specifically determined, based on the actual database, the evolution of structure indicators, indicators of balance, the financial profitability indicators of corporate companies prior to and after consolidation.
Keywords: Consolidation, financial statements, rates structure, working capital, Return on equity.
JEL: M41 – Accounting
Pages: 675 – 680
Title: ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING AND CORPORATE GOVERANANCE FOR FTSE 100 LISTED COMPANIES
Author(s): IENCIU IONEL-ALIN
Abstract: Because environmental information reporting remains voluntary on an international scale, there are major difference in terms of quality and quantity of environmental information, reported by entities from varied sectors and countries. Within this study, I have focused on internal characteristics, consisting mainly in how the entity is managed, in order to identify the existence of certain associations between the characteristics of corporate governance and the existence of environmental reporting. The literature in the field suggests various results related to the correspondence between corporate governance characteristics and environmental reporting. Within the factors suggested by the literature are the board structure, presence of the board committee, the separation between the Chairman of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer, shareholder structure. The paper represent an empirical analyze on how corporate governance characteristics might explain the level of environmental reporting. I suggest a model comprising corporate governance characteristics like: board independence, board size, existence of a Social Responsibility Committee that could explain environmental reporting. The sample comprises 48 companies listed at London Stock Exchange FTSE 100. From FTSE 100 I select only the companies that activates in sectors of activity that may have an impact on the environment such as Aerospace & Defence, Automobiles & Parts, Beverages, Chemicals, Electricity, Food & Drug Retailers, Food Producers, Gas, Water & Multiutilities, General Industrials, Health Care Equipment & Services, Household Goods, Industrial Engineering, Mining, Oil & Gas Producers, Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution, Personal Goods, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Tobacco. My results show that, from the point of view of the London Stock Exchange FTSE 100 listed companies, the presence of an environmental committee in the board help reduce the conflict of interests between the stakeholders and the company\’s management regarding the disclosure of environmental information. The environmental committee monitors the company’s activity regarding the impact on the environmental, bringing about increasing transparency, and independence inside the board regarding environmental aspects. For assuring a high transparency level of environmental performance within a company, the board should ensure a sufficiently large number of members able to exercise an independent reasoning in order to solve potential conflict of interest. The directors represent the interests of the stakeholders and have more influence on reporting information regarding environmental aspects.
Keywords: Corporate Governance, Environmental Reporting, Empirical Analyses, Companies, FTSE 100
JEL: M49
Pages: 681 – 687
Title: SOME CONSIDERATIONS OVER THE INTERNAL CONTROL IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT ACCOUNTANCY REGULATIONS
Author(s): Lenghel Dorin Radu
Abstract: Through the hereby study we set ourselves on an analysis over the internal control and the ways of implementation of it. The final purpose of our research is represented by the characteristics of the internal control system in the context of current accountancy regulations. The accomplishment of such goal has forced us to research the current literature in the area and also the legal regulations over internal control.
Of course, the accomplishment of such a research was possible only after a pertinent analysis over the opinions expressed in specialty literature regarding this area.
Our research wants to be with a theoretical and applicative character. It is based on analysing the internal control system, the methodology of internal control and the steps of internal control. We express our belief that the implementation of the internal control in a very exact manner comes as an aid to the company management and lead to the accomplishment of managerial objectives and policies.
In what it regards the result of our research there can be drawn the following conclusions: from the legal regulations (OMFP nr. 3055/2009), there is no clear conclusion over the procedures and policies of implementation of internal control applicable to an economical entity; also there are not presented in a detailed way the types (forms) of internal control, being presented in the legal regulations only a classification of them after the time in which they are exercised (before, during or after the finishing of the operations); also in the legal regulations there is developed a certain way of internal control, represented by the financial and accounting internal control, as if the other forms of internal control do not exist; in what regards the components of internal control, these are presented in another way, but similar to already known models of internal control (Coso and Coco); also in the legal regulations there are presented the general objectives of internal control, without developing the differentiate objectives on each for of internal control.
Keywords: internal control, financial and accounting internal control, methodology of internal control, techniques and procedures in internal control, types of internal control
JEL: M40, M41
Pages: 688 – 693
Title: QUALITY OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION TO OPTIMIZE THE DECISIONAL PROCESS
Author(s): Miculescu Corina, Miculescu Marius Nicolae
Abstract: This article provides information on business and therefore need managers to obtain information relevant accounting, reliable, clear, accurate and lowest costs to optimize decision making. This need derives from the current economic environment. The survival of organizations in a competitive environment, to which they must adapt, is conditioned by obtaining accounting information which should be qualitative, opportune, vital, and in a short time. This information is related to patrimony, analytical results, the market (dynamics, dimensions, and structure), and relationships with business partners, competitors, suppliers. Therefore focus more intensely on the quality of accounting information. Definition of quality of accounting information but leave the boundaries and features of accounting communication process and aims to determine \\\\\’quality criteria\\\\\’ or \\\\\’qualitative characteristics\\\\\’ to develop a measurement tool. Note that the reviewliterature was found that the normalization and accounting dotrine, criteria for definition of quality of accounting infornation are not identical, their selection and ranking is different. Theory and practice also identifies the fact that information itself is worthless. Instead it is valuable once it is used in a decisional process. Thus, the economic value of the accounting information depends on the earnings obtained after making a decision, diminished by information cost. To be more specific, it depends on the table or on the implemented decision tree, on the informational cost and on the optimal condition established by the decision maker (due to the fact that producing accounting information implies costs which are often considerable and profits arise only form shares). The problem of convergence between content and interpretation of information sent by users also take, and the quality of information to be intelligible. In this case, those who use, say users should have sufficient knowledge about business and accounting. Also were studied data on how the easiest to increase intelligibility provided by management accounting information. It was found that there are different possible behaviors of managers in the dissemination of accounting information in relation to how the organization deals with information about the external environment and as a result of research efectaute have identified some solutions that managers can limit the effects of uncertainty in information dissemination accounting. Therefore the present study, the detailed approach and identify the quality requirements of modern economic information system, comes to effectively support managers in making decisions.
Keywords: accounting information, relevance, incertitude, decision, costs
JEL: M40, M41, M49
Pages: 694 – 699
Title: COMPANY PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING METHODS
Author(s): Nicu Ioana Elena
Abstract: One of the priorities of economic research has been and remains the re-evaluation of the notion of performance and especially exploring and finding some indicators that would reflect as accurately as possible the subtleties of the economic entity.
The main purpose of this paper is to highlight the main company performance measurement and reporting methods. Performance is a concept that raises many question marks concerning the most accurate or the best method of reporting the performance at the company level. The research methodology has aimed at studying the Romanian and foreign specialized literature dealing with the analyzed field, studying magazines specialized on company performance measurement. If the financial performance measurement indicators are considered to offer an accurate image of the situation of the company, the modern approach through non-financial indicators offers a new perspective upon performance measurement, which is based on simplicity. In conclusion, after the theoretical study, I have noticed that the methods of performance measurement, reporting and interpretation are various, the opinions regarding the best performance measurement methods are contradictive and the companies prefer resorting to financial indicators that still play a more important role in the consolidation of the company performance measurement than the non-financial indicators do.
Keywords: Performance, performance measurement, financial indicators, non-financial indicators, profit and loss account
JEL: L25
Pages: 700 – 707
Title: CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES OF COMPANY PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS BASED ON RELEVANT FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Author(s): Popa Dorina, Kiss Melinda, Sziki Klara
Abstract: In this paper we chose to present two components of the financial statements: the profit and loss account and the cash flow statement. These summary documents and different indicators calculated based on them allow us to formulate assessments on the performance and profitability on various functions and levels of the company’s activity.
This paper aims to support the hypothesis that the accounting information presented in the profit and loss account and in the cash flow statement is an appropriate source for assessing company performance. The purpose of this research is to answer the question linked to the main hypothesis: Is it the profit and loss statement or the cash flow account that reflects better the performance of a business?
Based on the literature of specialty studied we tried a conceptual, analytical and practical approach of the term performance, overviewing some terminological acceptations of the term performance as well as the main indicators of performance analysis on the basis of the profit and loss account and of the cash flow statement: aggregated indicators, also known as intermediary balances of administration, economic rate of return, rate of financial profitability, rate of return through cash flows, operating cash flow rate, rate of generating operating cash out of gross operating result.
At the same time we had a comparative approach of the profit and loss account and cash flow statement, outlining the main advantages and disadvantages of these documents.
In order to demonstrate the above theoretical assessments, we chose to analyze these indicators based on information from the financial statements of SC Sinteza SA, a company in Bihor county, listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
Keywords: accounting information, performance, result, profitability, cash flow
JEL: M41, M21
Pages: 708 – 715
Title: ACCOUNTING INFORMATION – A BASIS FOR ACHIEVING THE DECISION FOR THE REALIZATION OF PUBLIC INVESTMENT PROJECT
Author(s): Sarac Ionut Pavel
Abstract: Accounting information plays a key role in the foundation process of public sector decisions. Financing budget deficits, treasury risk identification (availability risk), formation of tax claims, foundation of financial sustainability for public investment projects are just some examples of using accounting information in decision-making process of credit accountant.
How can we use and process accounting information in the foundation of public investment projects? We will try to answer this question in the content of this paper. The revenues and expenses, as accounting information, are necessary for determining the actual financial net value and/or the actual economic net value. These indicators have decisive information power in accepting and / or rejecting public investment projects. In the current economic context, the importance of investments is major for at least three reasons: the first one is a highly circulated reason in the last 20 years: the increase of technology, the alignment of the technology used in the alignment of competitors from the European market and even worldwide; the second reason is linked to the support of economic growth in crisis conditions through a policy of major investments especially in the infrastructure sector; the third reason, which derives from the second one, is that of post-accession grant funds available for investment both in private and public sectors. The importance given to public investments is also revealed by the authorities’ approach to establishing key areas of interventions under grant programs (with programs designed to both public and private environment) designed exclusively to carry out public investment programs (for example the POS Transport).
In this context, the present research is intended to be a documentary of the role that accounting information plays in decision-making process that precedes the development of an investment, especially as most major investments are made in the public domain.
Keywords: public investments, accounting information, cost-benefit analysis
JEL: H83, H54
Pages: 716 – 721
Title: IS GRATUITOUSNESS A REASON FOR JOINING AN EDUCATIONAL MASTER PROGRAMME IN AUDIT? SURVEY EVIDENCE USING STATISTICAL METHODS
Author(s): Span Georgeta AncuŃa, Popa Irimie Emil, Mare Codruta, Dragos Cristian
Abstract:
Keywords: student employment, free courses, European Social Fund
JEL:
Pages: 722 – 725
Title: THE IMPACT OF GREAT DEPRESSION ON THE AMERICAN ACCOUNTING PRACTICE
Author(s): Toman Cristina
Abstract: This article aims to prove that the events surrounding the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s, marks a maturity point in American Accounting thought and practice. In order to achieve such objective we have undergone a qualitative research, using as method of research the content analysis of the books and articles regarding the American Accounting history and the Great Crash. We can conclude that there is evidence that the crisis had a profound effect on the subsequent evolution of the American Accounting practice.
Keywords: Great Depression, American Accounting, Federal Securities Acts, American Accounting Association
JEL: M41 – Accounting
Pages: 726 – 730
Title: ROLE OF BEST PRACTICES IN ENTREPRENORIAL INITIATION OF STUDENTS ILUSTRATIVE CASE: WEST UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA
Author(s): Abrudan Denisa
Abstract: In a competitive and dynamic international context, investment in education and training must take into account the new demands of knowledge based society. Education institution is the organization which, “teaches and produces knowledge” and the role and responsibilities of education are fundamental. Rethinking the way of doing business, reinventing our own business that allows the exploitation of opportunities and constraints of the economic environment can not be achieved without entrepreneurial education, without adaptive and responsive approach to changes in economic environment and beyond.
This paper aims to present the role and impact of good practice in creating a culture and entrepreneurial education in Romanian higher education system.
Research is a descriptive and analytical one, the conclusions drawn are important as they constitute a starting point in identifying and implementing solutions to reconfigure higher education system so as to meet the challenges of today\’s economic environment.
Personal contribution lies in identifying the multiple ways of expressing entrepreneurship and business culture embodied in innovative projects initiated and implemented in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration from West University of Timisoara.
Keywords: Educational reform, entrepreneurial education, partnership between academic and business environments, policy of best practices
JEL: I23, A20, J23, J24
Pages: 732 – 737
Title: THE EFFECTS OF NEW TECHNOLOGY ON PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Author(s): BOCA GRATIELA DANA
Abstract: In order to manage the market competition, rapid changes in technology, accelerating industry clock speed, increasing number of product variants, shrinking product lifecycles, limited supply, and price pressures, technology companies need to put more emphasis on managing product launches successfully and timely. Therefore, the focus of this study is to examine product of an manufacturer that operates in high volume and high clock speed industry. Furthermore, special attention is paid to how the company could learn from previous product launches and utilize this information internally when preparing for upcoming product ramp-ups.
Keywords: life cycle product, knowledge product, quality, technological innovation, change management,
JEL: M11,033
Pages: 738 – 743
Title: ABOUT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND LEADERSHIP
Author(s): HAHN Rada-Florina, SABOU Simona, TOADER Rita-Monica, RADULESCU Corina Michaela
Abstract: This article is, because of its topic of study, a part of management and includes details regarding the important role of emotional intelligence in management and leadership. The importance of this problem is related to the fact that, in Romanian management, this concept (being of a psycho-management nature), is poorly understood. Emotional intelligence is still a highly publicized concept in the West, subject to many controversies between recognized experts in various fields: organizational management, leadership, psychology, sociology. The target of the article is to highlight the fact that there are few management or recruitment consulting firms in Romania that support emotional intelligence development programs, and fewer are the organizations that realize the impact it has in running a business. Since 1995, from the first publication of Daniel Goleman\’s book, “Emotional intelligence”, EQ has become one of the most debated concepts in U.S management. The content of the article calls for a new business climate, ensuring professional excellence. We want this to be “a guide” in cultivating emotional intelligence in individuals, groups and organizations, through leadership, trying to validate the scientific aspect. Because we live in a time when future projects depend increasingly more on self-control and on the art with which we know to maintain interpersonal relationships, such guidelines are necessary to prevent future challenges. The contribution of the authors brings to the forefront the debate about management, behavior management, the concept of emotional intelligence and the importance of understanding, knowing its substance, and the manner in which the management process has to be adopted in order to achieve positive results in an organization, as a system. Businessmen with a preemptive mind will encourage and support such an education in business, not only to improve the quality of management in their organization but also for the vitality of the economy. Thus, the benefits will increase, not only for a new generation of managers, but also for our families and communities, and for society as a whole.
Keywords: emotional intelligence, management, leadership, ethics, organization
JEL: A14, M12, M53
Pages: 744 – 749
Title: GYROSCOPIC MANAGEMENT AND GENERATION Y
Author(s): Vinke Joop, Orhei Loredana, Bibu Nicolae
Abstract: In the professional field of business and management there is still little research done on the possibility if the Generation Y members (born between 1980 and 2000), which are the managers off the future, need a different approach in education and training to be prepared for the future. The authors will explain how a new didactical approach in business and management called “Gyroscopic Management†can prepare these new managers to be of added value for the business. This specific approach was the start in 2007 of a specific (international) HRQM Bachelor study programme at Arnhem Business School, HAN University in the Netherlands. During this study programme, students are confronting this specific training and didactical approach with characteristics as self-reliance, self-study, and Socratic dialogue, ethical and “gyroscopic†management. The programme has a clear vision and mission and didactical approach that triggers the above-mentioned elements. The approach focuses on the need for development of specific competencies like “Intercultural adaptabilityâ€, “International business awareness†and “Social entrepreneurship†as added to the existing competencies needed for a Bachelor level in business and management education. As researchers, lecturers and trainers, the authors used and researched this approach during many lectures, seminars, trainings and workshops in the last years at Universities in Romania and The Netherlands. The authors present the characteristics of the members of the new Y generation and relate them to main elements of gyroscopic management as practice and the results of this practice for students. For this, the authors did a so-called “Grounded action researchâ€, from 2009 until 2012, among students of business and management studies. Further, the research was supported by focus groups over the same period. The authors have the opinion that this research is important because the new generation of managers seems to need different didactical approaches in education and training that fit better to their characteristics. The authors believe that this research can bring therefore added value to the field of management in the future.
Keywords: Generation Y, Intercultural Adaptability, International Business Awareness, Social Entrepreneurship, Gyroscopic Management
JEL: M12 – Personnel Management; Executive Compensation, M16 – International Business Administration, M53 – Training
Pages: 750 – 755
Title: THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE IN ROMANIA. AN EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE ON THEIR CURRENT SITUATION
Author(s): Orhei Loredana, Bibu Nicolae, Vinke Joop
Abstract: The current paper is aimed at identifying the social enterprises according to EMES criteria by investigating the social economy actors in Romania. As an emerging field of study, social entrepreneurship and social enterprise have captured the attention of both practitioners from Europe and North America, and in recent years on other continents. In Romania, very little research has been conducted into the field, mostly as part of academic research papers from doctoral study students or masters, both from Romania and abroad. In Europe, several studies have been conducted among member state of the European Union, to bring to light this new emerging field.. Investigations in regard to social entrepreneurship in Europe have revealed the existence of this field among social economy actors, in the form of social enterprise, namely work integration social enterprises and social cooperatives. So far, Romania has not been included in them This papers tries to fill the gap of knowledge on this phenomena, by exploring, from a European perspective, the actors of social entrepreneurship in Romania. The methodology used was an analysis of secondary data in the form of legal documents (laws), reports of the social economy sector and scholarly articles related to social entrepreneurship in Romania. The assessment instrument is the EMES set of economic and social criteria that the social enterprises need to meet. Also, parallels have been made with the entities of the same nature in the European Union. The paper concludes on the state of social enterprise in Romania, with an underline on what its and implications for their further study. As main finding, two types of organizations fit best with the EMES criteria, authorized protected units and companies set up by associations and foundations. Also, further developments are expected as Romania is preparing for a law defining the social enterprise and social economy. The main implications of this research is drawing the lines, in the current state of the social economy who are the actors that can best fit with the concept of social enterprise in Romania. Our main contribution to the study of social entrepreneurship is to investigate what European scholars have done with most of the existing member state countries. Using the EMES criteria in the social economy sector in Romania has yet to have been done till this point.
Keywords: social enterprise, EMES criteria, Romania, social economy
JEL: M10 – General, L31 – Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs
Pages: 756 – 762
Title: CHOOSING THE RIGHT FORM OF LICENSING A BUSINESS IN ROMANIA
Author(s): PREDISCAN MARIANA, ROIBAN Roxana Nadina
Abstract: Choosing the most appropriate form of licensing a business is an important decision not easy to be made by an entrepreneur and it should be taken only after he has the required skills and abilities to do so. The business idea should harmonize with the business environment and its future trends, with the existing opportunities and the future products or services that the company will provide and not least the entrepreneur has to make sure that he has sufficient resources to get started.
We consider that every business has a number of features that make certain forms of licensing to be more suitable than others.
This paper aims to present a multitude of items to be reviewed by an entrepreneur at the start-up in order to choose the most appropriate licensing type for his business.
Given that our country’s law allows entrepreneurs to license their businesses in several forms, the decision to choose between many existing possibilities is a very important one for the future good of the business.
Currently in our country there are two major laws governing the licensing of a business. The first one is the republished and subsequently amended Company Law number 31/1990 and the second, the Government Emergency Ordinance number 44/2008 regarding the economic activities of the Sole traders, Individual enterprises and Family enterprises.
The Company Law number 31/1990 allows companies to choose between one of the five types of business entities that can operate in Romania: General partnership (in Romanian SNC), Limited partnership (in Romanian SCS), Limited partnerships by shares (in Romanian SCA), Joint stock company (in Romanian S.A.) and Limited liability company (in Romanian S.R.L.).
GEO number 44/2008 on economic activities of the Sole traders, Individual enterprises and Family enterprises regulates the licensing and the activity of a Sole traders, Individual enterprises and Family enterprises.
Keywords: business licensing, types of business entities, Sole traders, Individual enterprises, Family enterprises
JEL: M10, M19
Pages: 763 – 768
Title: RESEARCH ON PROBLEMS WITH PROJECTS AND PARTNERSHIPS THAT PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN THE CENTRE REGION FACED IN ACCESSING EUROPEAN FUNDS
Author(s): RANF DIANA ELENA, DUMITRASCU DANUT
Abstract: European project management is the main filed of the article. Assuming a connection between the degree of absorption of European funds and the degree of maturity of the Romanian society in terms of project management, the article seeks to identify the negative factors on accessing and carrying out European projects.
The identified problem is a low degree of absorption of European funds in Romania, and the main objective of the research is to identify the problems faced by the public institutions in the Centre Region in accessing European funds and also the causes that led to the low absorption of European funds.
This article’s research is based on a preliminary analysis performed by the authors on the rate of accessing of European funds published in the article called “The current state of European funds absorption through funding programmes – measure of the Romanian performances in the project management practiceâ€. The conclusion of this article was a low rate of absorption of European funds in Romania, a fact that reveals a poor practice of the theory on project management. This article identifies part of the causes of this situation by identifying a part of the problems that stood in the way of beneficiaries of European funds
The qualitative and quantitative research methods are used in combination in the research. The investigation has however a highly quantitative character, the purpose of the qualitative research being to provide the prerequisites for achieving the quantitative research. The interview-based qualitative research enabled the researcher to get acquainted with the subjects’ problems related to the theme of investigation, the causes that have generated these problems. This preliminary investigation to the questionnaire-based research aims to provide information that would help the researcher prepare the questionnaire, so that the questions allow getting the most comprehensive information to solve the identified problems.
The qualitative research revealed the existence of some problems faced by institutions in relation to accessing and developing projects that focus on several directions: when filling out the application form, the technical-financial reporting, at the contracting phase of the projects, problems of partners. This article deals with the problems encountered during the projects’ contracting stage and problems caused by partners. The respondents’ answers place the problems of partners on top of the categories of problems that stood in the way of European funds’ beneficiaries. A series of causes that have led to the occurrence of these problems have also been identified.
It should be stated that the information obtained from the conducted research supplies, theoretically speaking, the studied field and brings an important contribution not only to possible beneficiaries of European funds, but to the institutions managing European funds in Romania, who have a lot to learn from the experience of the first period of programmes. The authors’ main contribution is to integrate this study into the logical thread of the thesis entitled “Strategic management in European project fundingâ€. Both articles, part of a research in the field of project management are unique and original and meet a current and pressing requirement of the Romanian society.
Keywords: Funds, projects, problems, partnership, absorption.
JEL: M16
Pages: 769 – 775
Title: RISK MANAGEMENT: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO RISK MANAGEMENT AND ASSESSMENT
Author(s): Szabo Alina
Abstract: Purpose:
The objective of this paper is to offer an overview over risk management cycle by focusing on prioritization and treatment, in order to ensure an integrated approach to risk management and assessment, and establish the ‘top 8-12’ risks report within the organization. The interface with Internal Audit is ensured by the implementation of the scoring method to prioritize risks collected from previous generated risk report.
Methodology/approach:
Using evidence from other research in the area and the professional expertise, this article outlines an integrated approach to risk assessment and risk management reporting processes, by separating the risk in two main categories: strategic and operational risks. The focus is on risk prioritization and scoring; the final output will comprise a mix of strategic and operational (‘top 8-12’) risks, which should be used to establish the annual Internal Audit plan.
Originality/value:
By using an integrated approach to risk assessment and risk management will eliminate the need for a separate Internal Audit risk assessment over prevailing risks. It will reduce the level of risk assessment overlap by different functions (Tax, Treasury, Information System) over the same risk categories as a single methodology, is used and will align timings of risk assessment exercises.
The risk prioritization by usage of risk and control scoring criteria highlights the combination between financial and non-financial impact criteria allowing risks that do not naturally lend themselves to a financial amount to be also assessed consistently.
It is emphasized the usage of score method to prioritize the risks included in the annual audit plan in order to increase accuracy and timelines.
Keywords: risk management, risk assessment, audit universe
JEL: G320
Pages: 776 – 781
Title: ACTUAL REQUIREMENTS REGARDING THE INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL AT AN EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL. THE ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN ORGANISATIONS PROVIDING INSTRUCTION SERVICES
Author(s): Remus Mircea Sabau, Danut Neacsu
Abstract: The European Union Council had and still has in view the profound changes taking place in society: globalization represents for Europe a competitors intensification in all the economical sectors, while the developing and the diversification of the information technologies can lead to a radical change of the whole learning and educational system, opening the perspectives for learning possibilities and accumulating knowledge during all one’s life.
The topic actuality of this article consist from the fact that, due to the globalization and the international competition intensification the request for workers with a low qualification level decreases; the new jobs presuppose high performances, flexibility, stress on qualities such as: high level of performance, creativity, openness to change, initiative. People will be obliged to possess much more knowledge, competences and they will have to work in multi spheres teams. Of course that not all the people can become conceptual analysts, something like this cannot be required, but an adaptation to the new system, to the new economy is required.
At present, more and more people work in domains in which information is created. In the future this percent will grow. The utilizing on a large scale of machines and installations will determine that even workers from the basic domains to be better and better prepared. In the countries OECD the unemployment rate is higher for the persons with a second education, unlike the persons with a higher education, the manpower being in this way forced to become more qualified. On the other hand, as more and more work is taking place at an intellectual level, the detaining and manipulating of information becomes an essential quality for each employee. This article has as a main objective the highlighting of actual requirements regarding the quality assurance in instruction services at an European and international level. Thus, the permanent learning strategies from the European Union are presented, which aim at realizing a European space of knowledge. The concept of permanent learning is being analyzed as a new vision in the instruction domain, which is centered on the individual. An important aspect is the developing of basic personal competences and the validation of these through flexible qualification structures.
Due to the complexity of the processes and the context in which they are functioning, the instruction organizations should orient themselves to the models TQM, even though the standard ISO 9001 offers advantages at implementation, connected especially with the processes management, the document control and registrations. The proposed model being a TQM model adapted to the instructional domain and integrated with ISO 9001, can be easily utilized by these organizations.
Keywords: intelectual capital, management, quality, TQM, performance.
JEL: K11; J24; O34; M12.
Pages: 782 – 787
Title: EDUCATION MANAGEMENT DECISION-MAKERS IN EUROPEAN PRE – UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
Author(s): TUȘA ANA, VOINIA CLAUDIU SORIN, DUMITRAȘCU DANUȚ DUMITRU
Abstract:
EDUCATION MANAGEMENT DECISION-MAKERS IN EUROPEAN PRE – UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
Ana Tuºa, 1 Affiliation , “Lucian Blaga†University of Sibiu, Faculty of EconomicsDepartment of management
Claudiu Sorin Voinia 2 , Affiliation, “Lucian Blaga†University of Sibiu Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering
Dãnuþ Dumitru Dumitraºcu 3 Affiliation, “Lucian Blaga†University of Sibiu, Faculty of EconomicsDepartment of management
The theme paper consists in a comparative analysis of European preuniveristary education decision makers.
Decision makers in preuniversity education management remain the key issue in the political agenda of most European countries.
The diversity of educational policies in each European country aims to increase school autonomy, in a way that allows comparison of their main elements of management.
Scientific research carried out aimed both theoretical and practical terms:
– comparative analysis of how the makers of European schools are responsible for the management practiced in the educational institution.
– identification of the achievement of school autonomy.
Lately, in terms of policy makers and school autonomy, schools have gone through many reforms. It was felt the need to improve the democratic management and the quality of the educational process.
The analysis and the approaches differ in terms of pace of reform, scale transfer of authority and areas that apply.
No approach can be chosen as the ideal one or more effective than others, because the contexts in which they were made are so diverse. However, as it moves along, educational policy makers can learn from the approaches and experiences of others.
The methodology was based on: the study of scientific literature from the country and abroad, on the theory and practice regarding the decision in the management of school education activities.
Comparative analysis was conducted based on questionnaires distributed to managers of educational institutions respectively partners with the school Romanian Technical College Matthias Hd.
Following the research conducted, the results have shown that due to political differences between countries in European schools are not governed by the same principles regarding the type of autonomy and its extension.
In some countries, schools have been granted considerable freedoms, such as in Belgium and the Netherlands. At the other extreme, Spain and France, the transfer of responsibilities was limited.
In order to ensure that the information in this study is an accurate representation, questionnaires were distributed to several schools in the countries surveyed. Processed data are related to school year 2010-2011.
The data obtained from research can help in better understanding partly the diverse nature of school autonomy policies and models in their takeover by the makers of Romanian school units.
The implications of work on management school education are to link the level of autonomy granted and the intensity of monitoring procedures put on the bodies at the school and the staff involved.
This study examines the correlation that exists between the degree of autonomy delegated power and the responsibility of school measures that were implemented.
The added value of the work lies in the fact that the study focused on several sides of the school management process from the authorities in charge of appointing school managers to autonomy in terms of managerial strategy.
Keywords:makers,school autonomy,management body,complete autonomy,school management
Cod JEL.:I
Keywords: makers,school autonomy,management body,complete autonomy,school management
JEL: I
Pages: 788 – 793
Title: CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF MARKETING STRATEGIC PLANNING SPECIFIC TO PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS
Author(s): Barbu Andreea Mihaela, Ionescu Florin Tudor
Abstract: In public services, the political component of the marketing environment has a major importance, as all decisions adopted within central administration influence both the objectives and measures implemented by units of local government and other public service providers. Any discontinuity in the activity of such entities might result in neglecting the real needs of citizens and slowing the reform process in the public sector. Therefore, all initiatives of public organizations must have a unitary goal and integrate harmoniously within a single process. A tool from the management-marketing literature that both contributes to this purpose and leads to an increased customer satisfaction and organizational performance is strategic marketing planning.
This paper presents, firstly, requirements and particularities of this process in the public sector, focusing on the need for bottom-up planning, meaning from the functional levels of public service organizations, to the corporate level, where strategic decisions are taken. To achieve this goal, there should be included in the planning process the clients and other audiences, which can provide useful information about the services they want, the quality or the accessibility thereof, and news about the services they need in the future.
There are also mentioned the factors that can influence the quality of strategic marketing planning in public services domain: the importance of marketing within the organization, marketing knowledge of employees in marketing departments and/or of management personnel, the efficiency of activities within the organization, and the manager’s marketing vision.
In the final part of the paper there are presented the stages of the conceptual model of strategic marketing planning in public services field: (1) accepting the idea of bottom-up planning, (2) avoid or eliminate discrepancies between measures taken at high levels and executions carried out at operational levels, (3) formation of work teams, setting tasks of members and appointment of a coordinator, (4) data collection, (5) establishment of strategic alternatives, based on information gathered from the market, (6) choosing the optimal strategy, which will lead to achieving the objectives set in an earlier phase and (7) establish and implement marketing programs.
Keywords: marketing, strategic planning, public services, conceptual model, political factor
JEL: M31
Pages: 795 – 800
Title: STRATEGIC MARKETING AND QUALITY OF LIFE
Author(s): Caescu Stefan Claudiu, Constantinescu Mihaela, Ploesteanu Mara Gabriela
Abstract: Theme
The strategic marketing phase is one of systematic and continuous analysis of market needs in which the concepts of high performance products or services are developed, further provide the qualitative difference to customer, and which target different categories of consumers, ensuring long-term competitive advantages while increasing their personal welfare and the one society in general.
Objectives of the Research
The main purpose of our article is to make a documentary study of strategic marketing and quality of life concepts, wanting to emphasize the link between the two, the evolution stages of the concept quality of life and their integration into the concept of quality of life marketing.
Research Methodology
In order to achieve that goal, a documentary study was conducted, that took into account the conceptualization of the term quality of life marketing.
Results
The link between quality of life and marketing is even more obviously given by the new paradigm of it – relationship marketing. This focuses on building long term relationships with clients, based on their level of satisfaction felt in relation to company’s products and services. Starting from this philosophy of relationship marketing, we can say that marketers are inclined towards a subjective definition of quality of life, depending on individual needs and their level of satisfaction
Implications
The term of quality of life has been introduced in the marketing literature in the last decade and is defined as a marketing practice designed to improve the welfare of clients while maintaining the welfare of other stakeholders of the company. This concept comes as a sequel of the concerns of the relational marketing specialists to provide a high quality offer to customers and add value to all other stakeholders interested in the smooth running of the company (suppliers, distributors, shareholders, employees, general public and various public bodies interacting with the company).
Authors’ Contribution
The documentary study presents the content of strategic marketing and quality of life concepts and their integration in the concept of quality of life marketing.
Keywords: strategic marketing, quality of life, marketing strategies, relationship marketing, quality of life marketing
JEL: M31
Pages: 801 – 806
Title: STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING IN SPORTS – A PERSPECTIVE OF QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENT
Author(s): Constantinescu Mihaela, Caescu Stefan Claudiu, Ploesteanu Mara Gabriela
Abstract: Strategic marketing planning requires that the marketing objectives strategies for a specific product-market configuration be in full correlation with the directions and the resources allocated at the corporate level or at the strategic business unit one. Such a correlation is more than necessary under the current market conditions, when the economic crisis affects both consumer behavior and corporate decisions. This article focuses on the particularities of strategic marketing planning in sport, given the fact that the vast majority of sports organizations in Romania, although very active on the reference market, do not have a marketing activity correlated with the medium and long term market needs. One of these needs refers to quality of life improvement, knowing that sport activities have positive influence on many dimensions of quality of life, such as health, education, social inclusion, relaxation and leisure. The improvement within the population participation in sport (both as an active participant and as a spectator), the increased duration of leisure and the development of private financing have led to the creation of a large market, where marketing plays a central role. Therefore the marketing management process must also be implemented within the sports organization, in order to make it easier in building and maintaining a relationship with the customer, especially if the organization wants a customer orientation strategy. Such an orientation includes identifying the current needs as well as the future ones in terms of target audience, to offer a series of sports products and services that bring their significant contribution to improving the quality of life. In this paper are highlighted the influences that consumer requirements concerning quality of life have on all components of marketing management process, starting with sports organization mission statement, up to establish strategies for the marketing mix (product, price, distribution and promotion).
Keywords: strategic marketing planning, quality of life, sports marketing, marketing management
JEL: M31, I31
Pages: 807 – 812
Title: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT OF LOCATION AND SERVICE ON THE RETAIL BRAND IMAGE
Author(s): Dabija Dan-Cristian, Babut Raluca
Abstract: Dezvoltarea şi consolidarea imaginii magazinului în psihicul consumatorului constituie fără îndoială pentru factorii de decizie din cadrul întreprinderii de comerţ un obiectiv psihografic esenţial. Fie că apelează la sortiment şi în special la mărcile proprii, la servirea asistată şi la personalul prietenos şi competent, atent şi îngrijit îmbrăcat, permanent dornic să ajute clientela, cât şi la selecţia unei locaţii adecvate în promximitatea locului de muncă sau al domiciliului consumatorului, ori în apropierea altor unităţi, întreprinderea de comerţ trebuie să depună eforturi susţinute pentru a înţelege în mod adecvat dorinţele şi capriciile consumatorului.
Mai mult, întreprinderea de comerţ alimentar sau nealimentar va trebui să se adapteze cerinţelor în continuă schimbare ale clientului şi în final să ia măsurile necesare pentru a-l determina să revină în magazin, să recumpere şi să îşi dezvolte asocieri cu marca de comerţ. Desigur că în atingerea acestui deziderat, magazinul va căuta să dezvolte în mentalul consumatorului o imagine adecvată şi pătrunzătoare cu caracteristici puternice şi chiar unice. După cum precizează şi literatura (Keller, 1993), pentru ca un consumator să-şi formeze o opinie privind marcă este necesar ca mai întâi să o perceapă, să o cunoască, să dezvolte experienţe pozitive cu ea, după care în timp va începe să îşi contureze o opinie legată de aceasta.
Prezenta cercetare propune un model menit a evidenţia contribuţia amplasamentului magazinului şi a servirii asistate în conturarea imaginii magazinului. După operaţionalizarea conceptelor teoretice integrante ale modelului, datele sunt validate prin intermediul reliability analysis, în final fiind oferite interpretări pertinente prin intermediul corelaţiei existente între dimensiunile identificate.
Cercetarea empirică derulată pe un eşantion de 1.800 de consumatori români relevă pentru formatele comerciale selectate diferenţe notabile în impactul şi semnificaţia influenţei reprezentate de cele două caracteristici ale retail brand asupra store image. În final sunt trasate câteva implicaţii manageriale relevante în fundamentarea deciziilor viitoare privind modalitatea optimă de acţiune prin intermediul acestor două elemente ale retail marketing mix.
Keywords: retail marketing, retailers attributes, location, service, store image
JEL: M3, M30, M31
Pages: 813 – 819
Title: SOLVING CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS: A STUDY OF MULTIPLE COMMERCIAL SETTINGS
Author(s): Gurau Calin
Abstract: Theme: Many reports stress the importance of solving customer complaints in order to maintain customer satisfaction, but also to learn from mistakes and further improve the customer service. However, relatively few empirical studies have been conducted regarding the effect of complains handling activities on customer satisfaction and on company-customer relationships.
Objectives of research: This paper attempts to identify the main elements of the complaints handling strategy that are considered essential for customers, and their effect on customer satisfaction.
Literature analysis/previous research: Previous studies define a complaint as a conflict between a consumer and a business organisation in which the fairness of the resolution procedures, the interpersonal communication and behaviour, and the outcome of the complaint resolution process are the principal evaluative criteria used by the customer. In our opinion, a complaint is not necessary a conflict, however, it can create a conflict between a customer and a business organisation, when the answer to the consumer’s complaint is not satisfactory. Therefore, the way in which business organisations deal with consumer complaints can significantly influence the consumers’ level of satisfaction and loyalty.
Research methodology: The empirical analysis of primary data collected through face-to-face interviews with 150 French customers provides a detailed picture of the specific elements of complains handling which are perceived as important in four different settings defined in relation to the perceived importance of the product or service, and the emergency of the experienced problem.
Results: The identified elements of the complaint-handling procedure have a variable importance from one element to the other, and in the context of various complaint situations. This finding highlights the fact that, depending on each situation, the factors that will determine customer’s satisfaction, and that will shape the final perception of the complaint service, will be different. On the other hand, the study presents and discusses the effect of various dimensions of the complaints handling strategy on the customer satisfaction.
Implications: The findings of this study indicate the specific elements that should be improved by companies in order to enhance the quality of the complaint-handling process in various transactional situations.
Contribution of author/authors: The present paper compares the importance of the various dimensions already identified by researchers in relation to four different situations defined by the variation of two subjective dimensions: the importance associated by the customer to the product and the emergency level of the product/service failure.
Keywords: customers’ complaints, customers’ satisfaction, multiple commercial settings
JEL: M31
Pages: 827 – 833
Title: ELABORATING A MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENT FOR THE FLOW EXPERIENCE DURING ONLINE INFORMATION SEARCH
Author(s): Lazoc Alina, Caraivan Luiza
Abstract: Flow is a construct imported in marketing research from social sciences in order to examine consumer behavior in the online medium. The construct describes a state of deep involvement in a challenging activity, most frequently characterized by high levels of enjoyment, control and concentration. Researchers found that the degree to which online experience is challenging can be defined, measured, and related well to important marketing variables. As shown by our extensive literature review, flow measurements include antecedents, dimensions and consequences of flow.
The present paper represents a detailed description of the construct`s operationalization in the context of online information search. In this respect, our main goal is to produce a basic instrument to evaluate the flow experience of online search, in order to capitalize on the premises of an interactive, complex informational medium – the World Wide Web – and on the consequence of an exploratory informational behavior of users. The instrument is conceived to offer a primal possibility to collect data.
The composition, source and significance of the 11 scales used to measure the multiple factors of the flow experience during online search are detailed in this study with the aim to ensure the compliance with scientific rigors and to facilitate correct reports of data related to the reliability and validity of measurements.
For further research, we propose factor analysis to test the resulted instrument and to ensure that the measures employed are psychometrically sound. Factor analysis refers to a wide range of statistic techniques used to represent a set of variables in concordance with a reduced number of hypothetical variables called factors. Factorial analysis is used to solve two types of problems: reducing the number of variables to increase data processing speed and identifying hidden patterns in the existent data relations.
However, we expect our scales to perform different in the context of information search with second generation web tools and suggest further qualitative research concerning web determinants of flow.
Keywords: operational definitions, multi-dimensional construct, scale development
JEL: M30, M31, M39, D83, L86
Pages: 841 – 847
Title: NEW APPROACHES TO CUSTOMER BASE SEGMENTATION FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES
Author(s): Meleancă Raluca-Cristina
Abstract: The primary purpose of this paper is to explore current praxis and theory related to customer segmentation and to offer an approach which is best suited for small and medium sized enterprises. The proposed solution is the result of an exploratory research aiming to recognize the main variables which influence the practice of segmenting the customer base and to study the most applied alternatives available for all types of enterprises. The research has been performed by studying a large set of secondary data, scientific literature and case studies regarding smaller companies from the European Union. The result of the research consists in an original approach to customer base segmentation, which combines aspects belonging to different well spread practices and applies them to the specific needs of a small or medium company, which typically has limited marketing resources in general and targeted marketing resources in particular.
The significance of the proposed customer base segmentation approach lies in the fact that, even though smaller enterprises are in most economies the greatest in number compared to large companies, most of the literature on targeting practices has focused primarily on big companies dealing with a very large clientele, while the case of the smaller companies has been to some extent unfairly neglected. Targeted marketing is becoming more and more important for all types of companies nowadays, as a result of technology advances which make targeted communication easier and less expensive than in the past and also due to the fact that broad-based media have decreased their impact over the years. For a very large proportion of smaller companies, directing their marketing budgets towards targeted campaigns is a clever initiative, as broad based approaches are in many cases less effective and much more expensive.
Targeted marketing stratagems are generally related to high tech domains such as artificial intelligence, data mining and marketing analytics and presuppose the availability of sophisticated computer software and specialized personnel. The methodology proposed in this paper takes into consideration the fact that, due to financial and time-related constrains, smaller companies need a more practical and straightforward solution for segmenting their customer base. The simplicity of the solution, however, should not come at the expense of its efficiency. The original contribution of this paper resides precisely in the fact that it aims to offer the best of two worlds: the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of plain methods which can be used without the aid of specialized software and the high return on investment given by the use of artificial intelligence algorithms such as clustering.
The main implications of this paper relate to the fact that it draws attention to how targeted marketing can be performed successfully by companies with restricted budgets by providing an actionable set of guidelines which can be put into practice by smaller enterprises using limited efforts and resources.
Keywords: segmentation, customer base, small and medium sized enterprises, cluster analysis, targeted marketing
JEL: M31
Pages: 848 – 854
Title: ROMANIAN CUSTOMER-BASED EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON AMBIANCE IN RETAILING
Author(s): Pop Ciprian-Marcel, Dabija Dan-Cristian
Abstract: În creşterea satisfacţiei şi a gradului de mulţumire al clientului faţă de any retail store, un rol semnificativ îl joacă şi ambianţa sau in-store-management. De aceasta aparţin totalitatea deciziilor privind modalităţile în care se poate structura magazinul, se aranjează gondolele şi rafturile, se recurge la jocul de lumini şi umbre, la mirosuri specifice sau chiar la varierea temperaturii în cadrul unor departamente. Pentru consumator ambianţa înseamnă însă şi existenţa unei atmosphere plăcute la cumpărături, transmiterea unui spirit de aventură, a unor sentimente positive care să îl determine pe client să revină în magazine, să-şi mărească achiziţiile şi de ce nu, să recomande unitatea şi altora.
Prezentul studiu încearcă să evidenţieze căile prin care any retailer reuşeşte să acţioneze asupra consumatorului prin intermediul unor instrumente ale in-store-management în vederea conturării unei imagini favorabile în psihicul acestuia. Cercetarea derulată pe aproape 1.800 de clienţi din comerţul alimentar şi nealimentar din România reliefează prin interpretări pertinente implicaţiile manageriale şi căile de acţiune care le revin întreprinderilor aparţinând unor different retail formats = diferite formate comerciale în vederea acţionării adecvate asupra clienţilor.
Keywords: in-store-management, retail formats, dovezi fizice = evidenţe fizice, food and non-food retailing
JEL: M3, M30, M31
Pages: 861 – 867
Title: MARKETING ACTIVITY IN ROMANIAN MICROCREDIT ORGANIZATIONS
Author(s): Savescu Roxana Florenta
Abstract: Microfinance is the solution that ensures the provision of loans and other basic financial services to those entrepreneurs who have limited access to the banking sector. These financial services provided by microfinance institutions allow small business owners to take advantage of their entrepreneurship skills by developing small businesses capable of generating additional income. As they mature, Romanian microcredit organizations become gradually aware of the importance of marketing in their current activities. The paper presents the results of a qualitative research on the experience and marketing practices in major microfinance institutions in Romania, highlighting at the same time the factors influencing decisions to invest resources in this area. The conclusions of the research reveal that microcredit organizations have a limited institutional capacity to develop complex marketing programs that drive marketing activities and resources to achieve the objectives of the organization. The approach here is one of a reactive management, the situations that pushes microcredit organizations into engaging in some marketing activities and using various instruments being determined by changes in the structure and level of market development and competition or by the availability of funds for current activity. Although marketing interventions should be considered important on all markets, the truth is that different types of markets (emerging, developing, mature markets) require certain marketing activities. The proposed marketing mix contains 8 elements (“8 P”) that ought to be optimally combined within the marketing strategy, in order to get the expected response from the target group: product, price, placement, promotion, processes, procedures, personnel, partnership.
The topic chosen for this paper answers a need for know-how in the Romanian microcredit organizations, in terms of their marketing activity. From a scientific point of view, the paper has a pioneering role, representing the first steps taken in Romania towards the in-depth study of the field of microfinance and of marketing in the microcredit industry.
Keywords: marketing, microfinance, microcredit organizations, marketing mix, market
JEL: M31
Pages: 868 – 873
Title: RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MARKETING RESEARCH ACTIVITY IN ROMANIAN MICROCREDIT ORGANIZATIONS
Author(s): Savescu Roxana Florenta
Abstract: As they mature, microcredit organizations in Romania are becoming aware of the importance of marketing in their current activities. Although marketing interventions should be considered important on all types of markets, the reality is that micro-credit companies in Romania have a limited institutional capacity to develop and implement marketing programs. This implies that marketing efforts should be focused and marketing needs should be prioritized, according to the appropriate level of market development (developing markets, growth markets and mature markets). The paper presents the results of an exploratory marketing research study regarding the marketing activity performed by microfinance institutions in Romania. The purpose of the research was to identify courses of action to institutionalize marketing research in the current activity of the subjects analyzed. It has been our intention to give a very practical dimension to the recommendations regarding the marketing information useful for microcredit organizations and categories of marketing research needing to be conducted regularly, making them applicable within the specific Romanian environment.
Given the fact that on a national level scientific concerns about microfinance in Romania, in general or about marketing in the field of microfinance in particular are almost nonexistent, this thesis can be regarded as an innovation. This conclusion comes both from the investigation of existing literature and from the author\’s interviews with managers of microfinance institutions who have argued that this was the first time when Romanian academic institutions got interested in this sector. Potential beneficiaries of the results of this study are: managers of microcredit organizations interested in the development and sustainability of the institutions they manage; various national and international organizations interested in designing technical assistance programs in the areas identified as being necessary; academic institutions, interested in improving the offer of educational services in the field of microfinance; researchers, interested in developing practical tools for the development of the microfinance sector, in general; the general public, who comes in contact with an area less or not at all known until now.
Keywords: marketing, marketing research, microfinance, microcredit organizations, market
JEL: M31
Pages: 874 – 880
Title: THE COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
Author(s): Nicula Adrian
Abstract: This paper aims to briefly present the term of „information societyâ€, term used since the beginning of the 90’s, which implies the usage of new information technology both to the individual and organizational level with high ease, in all spheres of activities with a significant economic and social impact, making changes in social, cultural, educational, economic, environmental, political, administrative and judicial dimensions, changes that influence the work, study and life conditions of all citizens.
The more and more widely usage of ICT makes any economy become more efficient, more transparent, ensuring increased competitiveness and sustainable development. In terms of how ICT influences economic growth, Romania ranks 47 of the 70 countries analyzed in the Digital economy rankings 2010: Beyond e-readiness. Based on a synthetic indicator, defined by 24 variables in four categories, in order to determine the status of the information society, proposed by Marius Guran, and using the statistical data provided by ANCOM, the paper analyzes the current situation in Romania, answering the question: How digital is Romania in terms of communication infrastructure? Thus the paper presents the communication infrastructure from the point of view of: fixed telephony and its penetration rate per 100 inhabitants and per 100 households, a stagnant rate in the last few years; mobile telephony which reached saturation in recent years; cable TV which shows us that the penetration rate is quite low in Romanian households, mainly due to the low number of subscribers in rural areas, and also that the usage of DTH technology is growing.
Keywords: Information society, communications, telecommunications ICT, measuring
JEL: L96
Pages: 882 – 888
Title: CONCEPTS OF SERVICE QUALITY MEASUREMENT IN BANKS
Author(s): Benţe Corneliu
Keywords: Service quality, customer satisfaction, loyalty, SERVQUAL, perception
Pages: 889 – 894
Title: APPLYING THE SERVQUAL METHOD IN BANKS
Author(s): Benţe Corneliu
Keywords: perception, satisfaction, expectations, SERVQUAL, Service quality
Pages: 895 – 900
