1st issue / July 2013 – The Annals of the University of Oradea. Economic Sciences, Tom XXII -2013
Title: INTEGRATED DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Author(s): Nistor Razvan, Muresan Ioana, Moca Mircea
Abstract: In this paper we present system analysis and design elements for the integrated document management solution at local governing authorities in the rural areas. While specifically dealing with the actual management of the Agricultural Register, an important primary unitary evidence document, we also keep a general character of the discussion, in order to argue for the generality of the proposed solution. Hence, for the identified and described problem space we propose an administrative and software infrastructure solution. This work is an empirical research in which our aim is primarily to identify key problems within the local governing authorities from several perspectives concerning the management of the Agricultural Register then to address those problems with an integrated document management system. For the proposed solution we give and argue the general system architecture and describe the key-mechanisms that support quality requirements. The relevance of this research concern is given by the impact of the actual Agricultural Register management on important stakeholders. This can be measured as the satisfaction felt by taxpayers and the performance of the local governing authorities, the Financial Administration, the Agency of Payments and Intervention in Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. This work is also intended as a start-point for a new, modern thinking of the governing authorities in their pursue to improve public services. For this, in our work we highlight the importance of complete system analysis at all administrative levels as a main priority concern for all public managers. Our aim is the improvement of the public service by rising the awareness of the decision makers on the necessity of using integrated document management solutions for the provided services. Also, our work aims at increasing the efficiency with which nowadays, governing authorities invest public funds in various IT projects for the management of their services. For this, we highlight the importance of documenting quality requirements during system analysis.
Keywords: Local government, integrated system, decision making, document management, Agricultural Register
JEL Classification: M15, H11
Pagination: 1536 – 1545
Title: THE IMPACT OF THE WORK ENVIRONMENT ON THE ACTIVITY OF THE EMPLOYEES WITH LOW QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS
Author(s): Pastor Ioan
Abstract: The paper tries to identify the contextual factors that influence positively the level of work effort made by the employees who have low quality relationships with their hierarchical superiors. According to the control theory regarding the leader-employee relationship we can state that a higher work effort than the expected one is due to the fact that in certain working environments can offer control to those who normally do not have it, thus serving as substitute of the high quality leader-employee relationships. Studies have proven that for the employees that report low quality relationships with their superior, low competence of their superior, decentralized decision making and low perceptions of policies, high levels of the individual work effort are recorded. The paper highlights the theoretical and practical implications of these discoveries and offers directions for further research in this field.
Keywords: work effort, competence, leader, control, contextual factors
JEL Classification: M12, M20, M21
Pagination: 1546 – 1553
Title: THE INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN MANAGEMENT, COMMUNICATION, ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND PERFORMANCE
Author(s): Pipas Maria Daniela
Abstract: The approach of this paper is based on the concepts of management, communication and organizational behavior that by implementing the appropriate strategies, by taking and prevention of organizational risk that creates a favorable organizational climate that can improve, in time, the image of the organization, leading ultimately to making a synergic organization and to increase the organizational performance. An effective communication, followed by an efficient management provides safety in any domain of activity. Organizational communication cannot be seen outside of the management, and represents a fundamental component of it. The lack of communication or poor management of this process leads to alterations in key components of organizational management on one hand, and on the other, the lack of skills and organizational culture regarding these components invalidates the communication process. Today, communication has become increasingly important and more nuanced. At work, employees are faced with an overload of information, but with insufficient or even no communication. Information and communication are two different concepts, but that are interrelated, so information puts people in connection with certain information while communicating puts people in relation with others. Any communication process takes place in a context, which means that it takes place in a specific social, cultural, psychological, physical or temporal space, which is in close interdependence. Any behavioral attitude that we have in this space communicates something about us and determines, consciously or unconsciously, a reaction of positive or negative response from others and may be a factor in sustaining the process of social evolution. In an organizational context, attitudes, behavior can be found as organizational behavior, covering, in turn, a wide range of activities: knowledge and employee satisfaction, understanding group dynamics, accepting and respecting differences between people and of different cultural values that they come with, in the organization and many other skills, activities and management practices. Functionality and performances of an organization, regardless of the national context depend largely on how managers manage to create modern and flexible management systems, integrating in their structure many intra and extra organizational variables.
Keywords: management, communication, organizational behavior, attitude, motivation, job satisfaction, performance
JEL Classification: M12
Pagination: 1554 – 1562
Title: THE MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION OF THE INTERNAL COMMUNICATION PROCESS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Author(s): Pop Alexandra Mihaela, Dumitrascu Danut
Abstract: Internal communication is among one of the most important factors for success in project management. It helps the project managers take correct decisions, implement the right strategies and finish a project on time and within budget. Measuring internal communication and keeping track of its development is a crucial asset that a manager should posses so that the project deliverables are handed out correctly. In this paper our goals are to illustrate how important internal communication is in a project and also to create an analysis model of internal communication in projects based on characteristics of communication. We developed the ICAM model based on a systemic approach with inputs – a processing box – outputs. For the inputs we used the communication characteristics data that we obtained from the questionnaires and the interviews which were later structured in a communication instance relationship. Each communication instance reflects through its attributes the characteristics of internal communication in a project. Processing this information is done by using the data mining tool called Weka. In the data processing stage classification, decision tree classification algorithms were used and also algorithms from the Naïve Bayes belief networks. Applying these algorithms in the model facilitates the interpreting and analysis of the communication characteristics in a project. The outputs of the model consist of summarized representations of the communication characteristics such as: texts, diagrams graphics, tables. These outputs of the model, as a result of the processing helps us in obtaining practical conclusions related to the improvement of project communication, for the successful completion of projects.
The model is a useful tool for improving the internal communication process of a project and help the project raise its efficiency. It has been created based on the characteristics of the information flow within a project. Also the Internal Communication Analysis Model – ICAM – helps improve the projects‘ deliverables by making sure that everyone in the project understood their roles correctly.
Keywords: project management, internal communication, modelling.
JEL Classification: C11, C15, M14
Pagination: 1563 – 1572
Title: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Author(s): POP Zenovia Cristiana, BORZA Anca
Abstract: For developing economies the development of enterprises should be a strategic goal, this way of thinking may become viable only as a result of a combination of judicious analysis based on specific local economic aspects and a set of actions to correct any slippage or amplify existing development trends taken by the managers. A better leadership would unequivocally lead to a better strategy but sometimes the lack of information, first about the external environment, continuously undergoing quick and radical changes, the political problems and the complexity of the implementation of the strategy or the costs that it implies are not taken into consideration. Therefore managers have two options: to establish strategies, which would lead to the achievement of the objectives; evaluate them on the basis of economic efficiency or to identify an already existent strategy and to adapt it to the environment changes in which the enterprise carries on its activity. This paper aims at discussing and explaining from a theoretical perspective, the evolution and the advantages and disadvantages of the strategic management process, in order to convey the managers a modality to achieve competitiveness and evaluate the position of the firm. In the first section, we explain the the necessity of strategic management process. In the second section we present the different evolution stages. The third section presents our conclusions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the strategic management process, fundamental for the strategy success. The financial crisis did affect the Romanian economy and Romanian enterprises early in 2009 registering an impact of the crisis identified in the need of the managers to rethink their strategies, to improve their management skills and perspectives on the role of the employees after the crisis. In this paper we try to underline the evolution stages of the strategic management process with its own characteristics by which both Romanian or foreign managers can evaluate the position of their enterprise and can take improvement measures, which may help sustain or gain competitiveness that has been affected by the crisis.
Keywords: strategies, strategic management process, manager, strategic planning, development, performance
JEL Classification: L1, M11, C41
Pagination: 1573 – 1580
Title: CLUSTER POLICIES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION – ENGINES FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS
Author(s): Popa Ion, Vlasceanu Cristina
Abstract: The present article wishes to present the topic of clusters and cluster policies, to highlight their status and role in the European Union and to underline their significant purpose in obtaining a sustainable economic development, and in making a more competitive and well oiled Europe. The research for this article is part of a greater goal – that of getting the answer to the question: What are clusters what and how can “they” better the performance of the regions that are part of the member states of the European Union? To do that, an inquiry into the issue was necessary, by analyzing information from multiple data sources and by drawing some conclusions, based on those informations. The conducted research was empirical, and in order to better highlight the relationship between clusters, cluster policies and economic development, a synthesis of different case studies and statistical data were used. The conclusion that was found was that strong cluster portfolios are related to (and thrive in) developed countries, but interestingly enough, relationship can also be reversed (meaning that clusters cause the region they exist in to increase its performance).Also, clusters are highly prevalent from a geographical point of view, the existence of which can be seen globally, of course in different stages of development. And last, but not least, from the standpoint of national cluster policies, although all countries have programs for clusters either at national or regional level, which varies from country to country is the number and type of ministries that are responsible for implementing cluster policies. Also another factor that varies is the importance given to cluster policies. However an issue that is becoming increasingly clear is that the cluster policy is becoming more important and relevant. Therefore, the hypothesis was confirmed, there is a direct correlation between clusters, cluster policies and sustainable economic development and competitiveness.
Keywords: clusters, cluster policies, economic development, European Community instruments
JEL Classification: F63, O1, I15
Pagination: 1581 – 1587
Title: HIGHLY IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES FOR INNOVATION IN ROMANIA WITHIN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT
Author(s): Popa Ion, Lavric Victor
Abstract: Romania, as a country with a low R&D level, in order to converge to the living standards of western economies, is doomed to foster private investments in applied research and experimental development. Thus, it is critical to study what are the main objectives for innovation at organizational level. This paper investigates the most important objectives for innovation in Romania and in the European Union, aiming to find out what are the main challenges innovative enterprises have to face. The general approach is focused on the analysis of the frequency with which these objectives occur, both at general and structural levels. Therefore we have extracted the most important three highly important objectives for innovation, both in Romania and EU: improving the quality of goods or services, the need to increase the range of goods or services and the entering new markets or increase the market share. All these three are positively correlated with the size (number of employees) of the organization. One of our findings underlines that there are fewer objectives in EU then in Romania, both at general and structural levels. Such a situation suggesting that the differences derive from two main sources: Romania has more needs, thus the enterprises target more goals, and there is a lack of managerial know-how that leads to non-prioritized objectives for innovation. Also, we identified an asymmetry, consisting in the fact that in EU, medium sized enterprises are more likely to act as the small ones, as opposed to the Romanian context. R&D and innovation component should be in the center of the Romanian strategy for convergence and competitiveness strengthening, treating differently the SMEs in order to foster innovation in a sustainable manner, through the encouragement of private enterprises to engage in partnerships for R&D an innovation. Also there is a critical need for governmental intervention in building facilities for the modern business infrastructures (business incubators, industrial parks, clusters, and competitive poles), creating a viable VC market for innovative projects, stimulating the creation of new SMEs and fostering internationalization of the local enterprises.
Keywords: Innovation; R&D; Objectives; SMEs; European Union
JEL Classification: L29, M14, O32, O52
Pagination: 1588 – 1594
Title: EMOTIONS IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Author(s): Popa Mirela, Salanta Irina Iulia
Abstract: At the heart of any workplace behavior (and not only), there are always one or more emotions (pleasant/unpleasant, partially controllable/uncontrollable, aware/ unconscious, useful/useless/harmful, intense/less intense, predictable/unpredictable, expressed/ repressed, observable/ unobservable, explained/ unexplained, rational/ irrational, and so on). Emotions are the foundation of a complex and mysterious mechanism of action and behavior. Emotions are triggered by certain things, people, events, situations, processes, results, interactions and so on, and are informed by a variety of endogenous (biological) and exogenous factors, and also by the intellectual potential of each individual. Emotions lie at the intersection of rationality, body (physical) and soul (spirit), thought, reason, logic, compassion, autonomy and action/behavior, individual and environment. This article undertakes to define emotions and identify their impact on the organizational environment, with emphasis on emotional climate and managing emotions. Moreover, we will focus on human behavior/action, rather than on the evolution of the nervous system or the cortex in particular. Work itself should not be a source of suffering. It is obvious that certain emotions cause bad moods, unnecessary and even harmful ones, conditions that should be considered, even if they have a situational and subjective character. Some managers think that the decision-maker fulfills his/her duties by strictly conforming to the law and to the agreement clauses and by meeting his/her obligations in a timely and exacting manner. Others believe that a good leader, in addition to observing the applicable rules and regulation, must be honest also to his colleagues and collaborators and sympathetic to the needs, ideas and emotions of those who are interested in the optimal operation of the company. Managers must remain alert to events, people and behaviors that can trigger harmful emotions within the organization. Employees should be encouraged to express their emotions in order to avoid tense situations. Even though tensions may occur, they must be managed effectively because, as we all know, avoiding a war does not mean peace, just as avoiding unnecessary inconveniences does not always equal pleasure. The improvement of emotional behavior represents a competitive edge in business activities for any organization. The main target of this undertaking is to provide a certain perspective on emotion; to be more specific, we are concerned with discovering the circumstances and causes that trigger off emotions in organizational environments. Theoretical approaches conveyed in this article may be perceived as a call to mindfulness and to the managers’ awareness as to the importance of improving the emotional climate of the workplace.
Keywords: emotions; organizational environment; emotional climate.
JEL Classification: D21, D83, J28, M12, M14.
Pagination: 1595 – 1605
Title: FORCES THAT ENHANCE OR REDUCE EMPLOYEE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
Author(s): Prediscan Mariana, Bradutanu Daniela, Roiban Roxana Nadina
Abstract: This paper is part of change management. The extent to which managers succeed to reduce the resistance to change from the part of the affected employees contributes greatly to the achievement of the targeted objectives that follow a change process. This paper aims to present a number of forces located both inside and outside the organization, forces that through their manner of expression may exert a direct influence on the increase or decrease of the opposition’s intensity of those affected by the change.
The identification and analysis of these forces give to the involved managers in coordinating changes the possibility to reduce efficiently and effectively employees resistance to change.
Keywords: change, resistance to change, change in organizations, reduce resistance to change
JEL Classification: O30, O39
Pagination: 1606 – 1612
Title: PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES USED BY MANAGERS IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR
Author(s): Raþiu Patricia, Suciu Leonina-Emilia
Abstract: Abstract: There are many situations in professional life when for various reasons we are employed in jobs that do not meet our emotional expectations our professional capabilities, our passions and therefore performance on that job will not be high. Analysis of the causes of under-utilization of human potential and adoption of appropriate strategies according to employee needs help reduce staff turnover costs. The main objective of the present paper consists in identifying managerial strategies which contribute to the improvement of the employees’ performances by stimulating their motivation, and the extent to which they are used in the managerial practice. Based on literature review we realized an integrated model and developed a classification, that present our own vision regarding performance improvement strategies. Our classification divides strategies for improving employees’ performances into four main groups: by employees’ development, by rewarding employees, by modifying the job description, by employee involvement in the organization. Starting from this model, through two types of questionnaires we have made an empirical research among managers as well as among office personnel, in order to capture both perspectives regarding the pursued objectives. For the present paper we will present only research results obtained for performance improvement strategies by employees’ development because support a higher degree of generality and do not depend on the organization characteristics. A quantitative data analize from the two samples show that there are differences between managers and employees perception when it comes to strategies used in their organizations and also manager did not know which determines employees to strive in order to improve their performance and obtain better results. The strategies to improve the employee’s performances, proposed within this article have the role to show the fact that managers cannot determine every employee to be competitive by using the same methods, and therefore treating each differently person with the aim of creating for that person a favorable context for the development of the performance brings benefits at individual as well as at organizational level.
Keywords: performance improvement, motivational strategies, employee development, performance feedback, career planning, mentoring.
JEL Classification: M12; M51; M53.
Pagination: 1613 – 1624
Title: FACTORS AND REASONS THAT CAN MAKE USERS TO INCREASE THE USAGE OF SMARTPHONE SERVICES
Author(s): Roman Cristina Teodora, Vasilache Silviu
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze factors that influence the users of the telecommunications smartphone services for increasing the usage of such services. The first approach adopted was to study the literature review related to the technology acceptance models and the second, to test the hypotheses by using SPSS regression analysis. The research was performed in three multinational companies operating in Romania, collecting data from 307 respondents via a web questionnaire survey between 11th – 24th of February 2013. Since many companies have been used in their business the new technology, it is important to link the users’ motivations with the specific of telecommunications services, in order to improve, in the end, the job performance.
The findings suggests that the users of smartphone services are very much influenced by practical reasons of getting access to the smartphone services, so that the telecommunications operators should consider the factors in the model to promote and increase the usage.
In this paper the conclusions related to the reasons and direction that can make users to increase the usage of smartphone services are coming both, from multiple factor regression analysis, as well as from the analysis of the sample research profile.
Keywords: high technology, smartphone services, technology acceptance model, “national globalization”, remote management
JEL Classification: M31
Pagination: 1625 – 1634
Title: ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG TRAINING, SKILLS AND CONTENTEMENT OF THE EMPLOYERS
Author(s): Roman Teodora, Maxim Emil, Manolica Adriana
Abstract: Successful designing and implementation of the quality management system in an organization requires taking into account the requirements of all categories of natural persons or legal entities which have direct or indirect interests towards it. Efficiency and effectiveness of the actions carried out to meet the expectations of stakeholders shall be assessed by periodic measurements and analyses accomplished with appropriate tools for each category.
Obtaining favourable results following the measurement of contentment does not put an end to the process of relationships with the customers and stakeholders. Implementation of the process will reveal new expectations and requirements that, in conjunction with the ones existing in the Organization and in order to improve the activity will lead to strategies and policies that are intended to contribute to the continuous improvement of the relations with stakeholders.
Thus, based on previous researches undertaken internationally and nationally, we carried out two investigations which aimed to identify the employers` needs and requirements related to the quality of skills provided by universities to the higher education graduates, and measurement of their degree of adjustment to the specified or implied requirements.
In our country, the studies on employers\’ requirements have permanently concerned the universities. The problems identified are almost similar with those abroad, and the solutions offered by many studies have not provided the solving key but only at most an improvement of the situation.
The labour market in Romania is not structured, and there is no nationwide program for its development, but nevertheless the universities must provide the workforce for the next 3, 4 or 5 years.
The researches carried out for this purpose show that work experience is considered by employers as a main criterion, stronger than the grade of graduation or than the reputation of the university where they graduated from.
A first research – the exploratory type – has aimed through investigation to identify the following issues: the importance placed by employers on the staff selection criteria; areas in which employers have difficulties in finding staff with higher qualifications; skills that the employers would like the University to focus on, preparing additionally the graduates in this respect, and the general level of contentment in terms of the educational services quality.
A second research – both the descriptive and explanatory type – has provided information on: identifying the skills required from the higher education graduates; measuring the importance placed by employers on several groups of skills and competencies; estimating the levels of the skills achieved in some Romanian universities; contentment survey related to other services provided by the higher education institutions in Romania.
Keywords: quality, higher education, contentment, requirements, employers
JEL Classification: I25
Pagination: 1635 – 1644
Title: MARAMUREȘ WORKFORCE COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE NORTH-WEST REGION
Author(s): Sabou Simona
Abstract: This paper presents aspects regarding population and workforce in Maramureş County, compared with the situation recorded in the region to which it belongs, i.e. North – West, at the end of 2010. The paper is aimed at all those interested in these issues. Besides Maramureş County, the North – West Region also includes the counties of Bihor (BH), Bistriţa-Năsăud (BN), Cluj (CJ), Satu Mare (SM) and Sălaj (SJ). Maramureş is known for its wooden churches, its rural architecture, its old traditions – preserved until today – its craftsmen and its impressive landscapes. This paper is based on statistical information provided by the National Institute of Statistics, Department of Statistics in Cluj. In March 2013, the latest data available are those relating to the end of 2010. Thus, based on this information, it pinpoints the fields in which the people in Maramureş are employed at this date, compared to other counties in the region, the wages they get, and the contribution to the county and regional GDP. It also compares labor resource, active civil population and employed civil population, unemployed. After 1989, Maramureş County, as well as the entire North – West Region, underwent major changes. Population decreased from year to year, however the lack of jobs has become a constant reality. The mining of ore, the processing of metals other than iron and the auto industry, which used to cover most of the jobs in Maramureş, entered into a continuous decline, which culminated in the closure of all mines in the county. In this situation, adapting to the new conditions, the current economic reality, is a daily problem for the people of this county. We will try to determine in which fields the people of Maramureş are currently working in, compared to the residents of the other counties in the region, which are their wages and what the contribution to the regional and county GDP is. We will also see the state of the labor resource, the active civil population, the employed population and the unemployed.
Keywords: workforce, employed population, unemployed, Maramureş
JEL Classification: J11, R11, R23
Pagination: 1645 – 1653
Title: APPROACHES TO QUALITY MANAGEMENT AT EUROPEAN LEVEL
Author(s): Salagean Horatiu Catalin, Ilies Radu, Gherman Mihai, Cioban Bogdan
Abstract: In the current economic context, quality has become a source of competitive advantage and organizations must perceive quality as something natural and human in order to achieve excellence. The proper question for the context of the internationalisation of the economy is whether the culture of the regions, states or nations affects the development in the quality management field and the quality approach. The present study tries to give a theoretical approach of how culture influences the quality approach at the European level. The study deals only with the European quality approach, beacuse at European level one could meet a great variety of models and methodologies. In the U.S.A. and Japan one could identify a specific cultural approach regarding quality. At the European level, we cannot discuss in the same terms, because each country has a different cultural specifics in terms of quality. In order to determine the cultural specificity of the countries surveyed, the study has used the most popular analysis tool of cultural dimensions, namely the Dutch Professor Geert Hofstede\’s model. The model illustrates according to a survey, the organizational behavior of several countries and was able to identify a set of variables and fundamental dimensions, that differentiates one culture from another. An attempt was made to see if there are connections between the values of Hofestede \’s cultural dimensions and the quality characteristics in the analysed countries. The study, describes on the one hand,the quality evolution from quality control to Total Quality Management and on the other hand, focuses on the quality approach modalities at European level. The second part of the paper is structured into two parts, addressing on the one hand the quality in countries of Western Europe, such as United Kingdom, France and Germany,because these three countries are considered to be the exponents of quality development in Western Europe. In the same time, the paper seeks to explore the quality approach in Eastern Europe, with a brief analysis of cultural context and quality development in Romania.
Keywords: quality, total quality management, quality culture, quality and cultural dimensions, European quality, Hofstede’s model and quality
JEL Classification: M14; P52
Pagination: 1654 – 1664
Title: ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIELD OF POSTAL SERVICES
Author(s): Sirbu Janetta
Abstract: In the current competitive context organizational development of enterprises determine radical changes in order to cope with an environment dominated by deep uncertainty and creates the ability to renew its own knowledge assets in order to gain competitive advantage in a market more and more complex and diverse. A detailed analysis has been made of the organizational development at the County Postal Office in Cluj according to Greiner\’s model in the five phases of development: creativity, leadership, delegation, coordination and collaboration, the five types of crisis being defined for each stage/phase, respectively: leadership crisis, autonomy crisis, control crisis, staff crisis and unknown crisis. By delegating responsibilities a special attention is required with regard to the way of acting, the availability of managers to give up power, the \”reaction\” of top managers, etc. With the new development phase, that is the phase of delegation, there are found some objectives with respect to use of delegation as a tool to facilitate organizational development, the creation of an organizational culture favorable to development, the improvement of the motivational system or the development of interpersonal relationships.
The evaluation of organizational development at the County Postal Office in Cluj was made by applying a questionnaire on organizational development that consists of 60 descriptive statements, answered by four of the organization\’s management and 56 employees with executive positions. Following the results obtained from the questionnaires there has been showed that the organization is in phase two of development that is leadership development. The applied management style starts to be on odds with reality and triggers the crisis of autonomy, which requires delegation of authority and responsibilities to as many employees as possible, involvement and encouragement of initiatives of the staff. After analyzing the questionnaire responses, it was revealed that the organization is in the second phase of development, respectively development through leadership, requiring an authorized leader to streamline the activity and to create major necessary budgeting systems of reward and communication.
Keywords: organizational development, assessment, questionnaire
JEL Classification: O43
Pagination: 1665 – 1674
Title: HOW TO DEAL WITH CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY RELATED TO EMPLOYEES
Author(s): Stoian Ciprian-Dumitru
Abstract: The aim of the paper is to examine an area which was not thoroughly researched until present. We refer on how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices are nowadays reflecting its actions to employees / labor force. This paper represents a theoretical research related to the latest developments in this field. We had documented our paper based on actual references on this matter. In order to make correct assessments, this material seeks firstly to examine the level of understanding in respect of internal CSR actions related to employees. It is very important to understand and to briefly describe how previous studies described the link between CSR actions assigned to own employees. Secondly, this paper focuses on presenting and commenting an idea prescribing that pyramids (i.e. the pyramid of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs and the pyramid of Carroll’s corporate social responsibility) put together generate a clear feedback related to companies’ reactions in respect of CSR for their employees. In a practical manner, it is assumed that each level on the pyramid of Maslow has a correspondent in the pyramid of Carroll and vice-versa. This model is then precisely reflected when looking at the employees and their needs reflected through CSR actions. Thirdly, this paper also emphasizes the importance of the labor unions for employees’ CSR. We discuss about an out-of-the-box role for the labor unions, which should be engaged more and more in the employees updated wishes, one of them being about various CSR actions that need to be focused on employees. We assume that CSR efforts directed in the field of employees would make them more responsible, more eager to work and more productive in their day-to-day work.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Employees, Labor Unions, Pyramids
JEL Classification: M14
Pagination: 1675 – 1681
Title: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT – FROM FUNCTION TO STRATEGIC PARTNER
Author(s): Todericiu Ramona, Serban Anca
Abstract: In most of the organizations, people are now recognized as the vital asset. Their knowledge, skills and abilities must be deployed to the maximum effect if the organization is to become successful. The intangible value of an organization relating to the people it employs and its human resource strategies is gaining recognition and it is generally accepted that this has implications for long-term sustained performance.
The recent chances in the economy and the development of new technologies are creating the proper set for a series of other changes regarding the human resource management.
The first one refers to the need to respond to the challenges raised by the knowledge workers and the second one refers to the increasing role of human resource management in the strategical moves of the organizations.
Lately, because of the recent mentioned developments, strategic human resource management became a subject of ongoing discussion for academics. Its definition and relationships with other aspects of business planning and strategy wary, but the common agreement is that strategic human resource management is a complex process that is constantly evolving and that there is a need of understanding its usefulness. Having quality professional practices is a must, but this shouldn’t be the only focus of the best human resource practitioners. They need to be able to combine their attention to basic administration with also making important strategic inputs that have a positive impact on the organization.
The purpose of this article is to present the current research state in the field of strategic human resource management. In order to achieve this, the factors that underline the importance of human resource management are assessed. The study has been accomplished using the methodology of bibliographic study and qualitative research.
Keywords: human resource management, knowledge society, chief executive officers, partnership
JEL Classification: M12
Pagination: 1682 – 1689
Title: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND STRATEGY. HOW DOES IT WORK? AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
Author(s): Vele Cristian – Liviu
Abstract: Why do some companies fail in their efforts to implement competitive strategies? Why do others win in implementing competitive strategies? Of course the reasons behind every fail and every win are numerous and can be related to insufficient resources, lack of information, changes in the external environment, etc. But let’s say that two companies, trying to implement a competitive strategy, have the necessary resources, information and the environment is relatively calm. Although the two companies have the same opportunity in implementing the strategy, only one is successful in its efforts, while the other fails. Why? One possible answer and one of the most plausible causes behind this fail is the resistance to change. Strategies are designed to increase the company’s overall performance by strengthening its capabilities and core competencies and by eliminating the inefficient activities and processes. But, this phenomenon will change the way in which things are done inside the company. This, in term, will change the culture which defines that organization. Facing this threat, employees will try to maintain things as they were, while managers are trying to implement the new strategy to gain competitive advantages. As a consequence of this conflict, the new strategy will most likely fail in its implementation, causing negative effects on the company. This article wishes to provide a theoretical and empirical view on the importance of having a dynamic organizational culture designed to sustain new strategic initiatives. To underline this importance, an empirical study was conducted on several Romanian construction companies with the intent of revealing the correlations between a supportive culture and strategy. In conducting this study the main objective was to reveal if companies characterized by a supportive and dynamic organizational culture are more likely to have a strategy formulated and implemented.
Keywords: organizational culture, strategy, strategic management, construction industry
JEL Classification: M14, L74, L20
Pagination: 1690 – 1697
Title: MONTE CARLO SIMULATION: IMPORTANT MANAGEMENT TOOL IN EVALUATING DECISIONS UNDER RISK. CASE STUDY: LAUNCH A NEW PRODUCT OF SHOES
Author(s): Veres Vincentiu, Mortan Maria
Abstract: Decisions are a result of choices made between several alternatives and will affect all participants in the decision-making process. In this paper we analyze the Monte Carlo simulation as an important management tool in evaluating decisions under risk. The method is particularly useful in simulating decision problems. For example, the profit that could be achieved if a company launches a new product may depend on a number of factors (market share, advertising, production costs, launch costs, the lifetime of the product, etc. The company manager should identify all factors that could affect profit and then to consider the large number of ways in which these factors may interrelate. In such situations it is recommended company manager to divide the problem into smaller parts, asking him to estimate the probability distribution for market share, for advertising, for the cost of launch. Once they were obtained it can be determined their combined effect in order to obtain the probability distribution of profit. Through computer can generate a large number of possible combinations of situations where you choose a particular course of action. Upon completion of the simulation possible combination will be generated mostly while the least possible combination will be generated less frequently. For exemplification we selected a company producing shoes in Cluj market who wants to launch a new model for autumn-winter 2013-2014. In the current period the company has limited production capacity, has a number of additional contracts honored and general economic crisis situation makes money availability to be extremely limited. Accordingly, the company will have to choose a single product to be launched next season. The company will have to decide which of the two new products to be launched on the market: a model of boots for men in business class or a new model of women\’s boots of the same class business. The company is not sure either production costs or sales level. Profit estimate involves going through several phases, and the first of these relates to the identification of factors that may or may influence the profit for both products.
Keywords: decision-making, simulation, Monte Carlo method, launch a new product
JEL Classification: D81
Pagination: 1698 – 1709
Title: THE PUBLIC SERVANTS PERCEPTIONS REGARDING COMMUNICATION WITHIN LOCAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Author(s): BENTE FLORINA
Abstract: The goal of this paper was to to assess the communication efficiency within local public administration in Crisana Region. It also aims to explore factors predicting employees satisfaction regarding communication process. Using qualitative research I investigated public servants\’ opinions on the communication in local public administration. As an exploratory study I performed a content analysis of information gathered from the interviews organized in the two most largest local public institutions in Crisana Region. The particularities of the internal and external communication are analyzed. In addition, it was taken into consideration the importance of citizen involvement in local government and the requirements for the citizen oriented applications. By analyzing data it was possible to highlight the aspects that please or discontent the clerks regarding the communication with their colleagues, their chiefs, the citizens they serve or other institutions. Therefore every participant in the study presented a positive and a negative critical incident on local communication. It was revealed the crucial role of the dispatch to obtain information by public servants on the one hand and citizens on the other hand. Measures for ensuring the institutions transparency and fairness are described. The public servants emphasized some aspects that are characteristic to the communication within large institution inference. This paper offers a view on the communication process seen from the inside. The collected data are used for verifying the hypotheses regarding the difference in the public servants` perception regarding internal and external communication within local public communication. The interviewed employees stated that authorities granted more importance to external communication than internal communication. Accordingly, is needed an improvement to the means and applications through which internal communication operates because the participants are less satisfied with it. The research findings, certainly reflected the genuine desire of public servants to find better ways to communicate with the public.
Keywords: public servants, external communication, internal communication, transparency, citizen involvement
JEL Classification: JEL classification: M31
Pagination: 1713 – 1722
Title: THE IMPACT OF MARKETING EXPERIMENTS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOFTWARE PRODUCERS AND THEIR RETAILERS
Author(s): HERȚANU ANDREEA, AXENIA BIANCA BOITOR
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a marketing experiment done on the Romanian software market. The main purpose of this research is to determine how the marketing campaigns of software manufacturers can influence the decisions of software retailers. Through this marketing experimental research an evaluation and an analysis of the impact that marketing policies of software companies have on the retailers from all over the country is made. Three different marketing campaigns were proposed to three groups of software vendors from the most important cities of the country. The total number of software retailers included in this experiment is of 45, and the marketing campaigns proposed by the authors in this experiment refer to the Microsoft brand. Promotion strategies such as: sales promotion by encouraging sales force and promotional pricing or even the policy of partner relationship management have a great impact on three aspects regarding software retailers: loyalty, purchase and resale intention and attitude towards a brand. The results of the experiment show a high interest for the strategy of promotional pricing. The representatives of the software vendors have a positive orientation towards sales promotion by encouraging sales force. Regarding the influences of the manipulations used in the experiment, the greatest impact on the loyalty of the software vendors it has the strategy of promotional pricing. Also the policy of sales promotion by encouraging sales force has the biggest impact on the purchase and sale intention of the software retailers. All three manipulations have also an impact on the attitude towards a brand of the vendors, but the differences are too small to determine which of the proposed stimuli has a greater impact on this aspect. The results of the experiment may help and could have a great influence on the future marketing decisions of manufacturers regarding the strategies and marketing policies used on the Romanian software market. Also, this paper represents a solid foundation for future marketing research that can involve all the stakeholders’ categories from the Romanian software market.
Keywords: experimental research, software, stimuli, loyalty, marketing campaigns, software retailer
JEL Classification: M31
Pagination: 1723 – 1732
Title: FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR CONSUMER’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS ADVERGAMES
Author(s): Ghirvu Alina
Abstract: Internet technology, as well as development of mobile phone was fast adopted by people for recreational, economical and business reasons. The Internet technology development and the new communication systems made marketers to orientate their promotional campaigns and efforts towards new ways of reaching their actual and potential client. They started to use new and innovative ways to get public’s interest and to encourage purchase. In this context, Internet offered a complex environment to support the development of innovative brand strategies. One of the emerging new techniques in advertising is advergaming. Advergames represent the use of video game interactive technology for delivering brand messages to public. They are electronic games accessible on companies own websites, on social media sites and on application which can be downloaded on mobile devices. For marketers is important to understand the way that advergames work and what consumer’s attitude towards this practice is. The formation of attitude depends on a series of factors which are common to all types of advertisements based on Internet technology. These factors responsible for consumers’ attitude towards online advertising and implicit for attitude formation over advergames are informative component, entertainment, source credibility and irritation. Beside these four elements, there are additional criterions which consumers use for evaluating advertising in video games: the viral component, interactivity and telepresence. For marketers it is important to understand these factors and to find practical ways for using them for a better brand communication and for higher result of advertising campaigns which include the use of advergames as part of the promotional strategy. The present paper is looking to make a description of the factors influencing consumer’s attitude formation towards advergames, in conjunction with the Internet environment and the specific features of these media channel. Also, the presentation of the relevant factors is based on the fundamental elements defining consumer’s attitude and it’s particularities in online environment.
Keywords: consumer’s attitude, video games, advertising, advergames, online
JEL Classification: M37
Pagination: 1733 – 1742
Title: INCORPORATING MARKET ORIENTATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
Author(s): Gordan Camelia, Pop Marius Dorel
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the main issues surrounding the concept of market orientation applied in the context of higher education. Considering the important changes taking place in this sector, a strong willingness of universities to adopt marketing concepts can be noticed. The paper seeks to provide a retrospect on this process, starting with the incorporation of marketing in higher education, and moving on to its implementation, which has come to be known as market orientation. Following a stream of the most relevant literature in the field, we present definitions of the main concepts, and integrate them in the education context, with the purpose of establishing the relevance and importance of market orientation for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage and higher institutional performance. The paper does not aim at providing an exhaustive literature review, but rather at presenting the main elements that define a market orientation, and at supporting its implementation, by outlining the significant benefits that could follow. While theoretical by nature, this research contributes to the body of literature in the field, through closely examining the conceptualization and operationalization of market orientation, and also providing the fundamental components that define the concept and help its implementation. Furthermore, the paper provides practitioners with a number of suggested research directions, which could potentially help improve educational institutions’ activity, while also contributing to a better understanding of the concept, and to building richer theories in the field of marketing education. Given that the marketing literature in Romania has mostly overlooked market orientation, both this paper, and all following research in this area will prove to be significant for education managers and researchers alike, promoting the importance and significance of relevant knowledge, and encouraging a wider acceptance of market orientation throughout the education sector.
Keywords: education marketing; market orientation; higher education; customer orientation
JEL Classification: M31, I23
Pagination: 1743 – 1752
Title: FACTORS INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS’ BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS TRUSTED SERVICE PROVIDERS: AN INVESTIGATION OF FOUR SERVICE SETTINGS
Author(s): Gurau Calin
Abstract: Many researchers have outlined the specific importance of trust for service provider firms, on one hand, because the intangible nature of services increases the risk and the uncertainty of the buyer’s selection process; on the other hand, because trust can represent the basis for the development of long-term, mutually beneficial, relationships between the service provider and the customer. From this perspective, a good understanding of the effect of trust on customer loyalty becomes paramount for designing and implementing effective marketing procedures, and for accurately predicting business results. The trust-loyalty link is, however, difficult to predict and explain, because of the multitude of factors that can influence consumer behaviour. This study attempts to analyse the relation between trust and customer loyalty in different service settings, and to identify the factors that can influence customers’ behaviour towards trusted service providers. To answer the formulated research objectives, a combination of secondary and primary sources have been used to collect relevant data. In the first stage of the research process an extensive literature review was realised in order to identify and evaluate the existing theories regarding customer trust and its effect on customer loyalty, especially in the area of services. In the second stage of the research process, the research framework was refined, verified and validated though 5 face-to-face interviews realised with randomly selected people. The interviews lasted between 30 and 45 minutes and took place in the waiting area of one major supermarket, located in Edinburgh, Scotland. These interviews indicated the need to study the relation between trust and customer loyalty in various service settings, as well as helping to define the major elements that influence this relation at individual level. In the third stage of the research process, a total of 412 face-to-face interviews have been realised. These interviews lasted around 15-20 minutes, and the respondents being randomly selected from the waiting areas of five UK supermarkets. The collected data has been analysed with the SPSS software, using the Chi Square and Pearson’s two-tailed correlation tests. The results indicate a complex relationship between various categories of factors and the level of customer loyalty, which varies in relation to specific service settings. The findings have been integrated into a synthetic model, developed for four different types of services.
Keywords: customer loyalty, influencing factors, different service contexts
JEL Classification: M31
Pagination: 1753 – 1764
Title: SCHEMA CONGRUITY – A BASIS FOR EVALUATING AMBIENT ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS
Author(s): Jurca Maria Alina, Plăiaș Ioan
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical basis for evaluating ambient advertising in relation to the schema. Ambient advertising, a creative form of out-of-home advertising that conveys direct and contextual messages by using and often altering existing elements of the environment in a way that surprises the target audience, appears to be a solution to the increasing clutter from the media. This study draws on the schema congruity theory to offer a better understanding of how consumers are processing information received from advertisements. Schemas are organized structures of knowledge and expectations that consumers develop in order to categorize the incoming information, and that they access every time they are experiencing a new situation. The schema-based approach is important in understanding consumer behavior because consumers are facing an environment filled with similar brands and products promoted by ads that sound and look alike. According to schema congruity theory information perceived as schema congruent offers a confortable feeling of familiarity and generates limited cognitive processing, whereas schema incongruent information generates surprise and triggers extensive cognitive processing in order to help individual make sense of the unusual situation. Taking into consideration the combination of the different levels of expectancy and relevancy there have been identified three congruency situations: extreme congruity, moderate incongruity and extreme incongruity. Existing research shows that moderate incongruent information offers the best results in recall and recognition and also the highest affect levels compared to extreme congruity and extreme incongruity. Based on evidence from literature this study attempts to position ambient advertising in the moderate incongruity category, thus theoretically proving the assumed effectiveness of this promotional tool. Therefore, this paper is a starting point in bringing the light in the under-researched field of ambient advertising and can offer a theoretical basis for future empirical research on the effectiveness of this promotional tool.
Keywords: advertising, ambient advertising, schema, schema congruity theory, clutter, consumer behavior
JEL Classification: M37; M31
Pagination: 1765 – 1774
Title: METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE SEGMENTATION OF HOUSEHOLD ENERGY CONSUMERS
Author(s): Maxim Alexandru
Abstract: Over the last decade, the World has shown increased concern for climate change and energy security. The emergence of these issues has pushed many nations to pursue the development of clean domestic electricity production via renewable energy (RE) technologies. However, RE also comes with a higher production and investment cost, compared to most conventional fossil fuel based technologies. In order to analyse exactly how Romanian electricity consumers feel about the advantages and the disadvantages of RE, we have decided to perform a comprehensive study, which will constitute the core of a doctoral thesis regarding the Romanian energy sector and household consumers’ willingness to pay for the positive attributes of RE. The current paper represents one step toward achieving the objectives of the above mentioned research, specifically dealing with the issue of segmenting household energy consumers given the context of the Romanian energy sector. It is an argumentative literature review, which seeks to critically assess the methodology used for customer segmentation in general and for household energy users in particular. Building on the experience of previous studies, the paper aims to determine the most adequate segmentation procedure given the context and the objectives of the overall doctoral research. After assessing the advantages and disadvantages of various methodologies, a psychographic segmentation of household consumers based on general life practices is chosen, mainly because it provides more insights into consumers compared to traditional socio-demographic segmentation by focusing on lifestyles and not external characteristics, but it is also realistically implementable compared to more complex procedures such as the standard AIO. However, the life practice scale developed by Axsen et al. (2012) will need to be properly adapted to the specific objectives of the study and to the context of the Romanian energy sector. All modifications will be based on the results of previous research performed by us and on a qualitative study among industry experts and consumers.
Keywords: energy, segmentation, consumer behaviour, psychographics, lifestyle
JEL Classification: M31, Q41
Pagination: 1775 – 1785
Title: SEGMENTATION OF SME PORTFOLIO IN BANKING SYSTEM
Author(s): Namolosu Simona Mihaela
Abstract: The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) represent an important target market for commercial Banks. In this respect, finding the best methods for designing and implementing the optimal marketing strategies (for this target) are a continuous concern for the marketing specialists and researchers from the banking system; the purpose is to find the most suitable service model for these companies. SME portfolio of a bank is not homogeneous, different characteristics and behaviours being identified. The current paper reveals empirical evidence about SME portfolio characteristics and segmentation methods used in banking system. Its purpose is to identify if segmentation has an impact in finding the optimal marketing strategies and service model and if this hypothesis might be applicable for any commercial bank, irrespective of country/ region. Some banks are segmenting the SME portfolio by a single criterion: the annual company (official) turnover; others are considering also profitability and other financial indicators of the company. In some cases, even the banking behaviour becomes a criterion. For all cases, creating scenarios with different thresholds and estimating the impact in profitability and volumes are two mandatory steps in establishing the final segmentation (criteria) matrix. Details about each of these segmentation methods may be found in the paper. Testing the final matrix of criteria is also detailed, with the purpose of making realistic estimations. Example for lending products is provided; the product offer is presented as responding to needs of targeted sub segment and therefore being correlated with the sub segment characteristics. Identifying key issues and trends leads to further action plan proposal. Depending on overall strategy and commercial target of the bank, the focus may shift, one or more sub segments becoming high priority (for acquisition/ activation/ retention/ cross sell/ up sell/ increase profitability etc.), while others (risky/ non-profitable etc.) may be left aside. This entire shift in strategy is considering also growth potential per sub segment. Examples are provided for different strategies considering growth potential of each sub segment.
Keywords: SME, banking, marketing, strategy, segmentation, lending
JEL Classification: M31, G21, L22
Pagination: 1786 – 1796
Title: THE EFFECTS OF AMBIENT SCENT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Author(s): OLAHUT Meda Roxana, PLAIAS Ioan
Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to present an extended literature review of relevant empirical studies which examine the effect of ambient scent on consumers’ perception, consumers’ emotions and consumers’ behavioral responses in the context of retailing. Compared with other atmospheric stimuli (such as background music), ambient scent has received little attention from researchers. This paper is also concentrated on identifying de principal dimensions of ambient scent (presence versus absence; congruity versus incongruity and pleasantness versus unpleasantness) and examined how these dimensions of ambient scent have an impact on evaluation of a product, of a store or of a shopping mall and their impact on shopping behavior within a store. The paper also presented the Gulas and Bloch (1995) model, a complex conceptual framework on the influence of ambient scent on consumer responses, in their model the authors introduced the influence of mediating factors on behavioral responses to scent. Their model is a first step on the understanding the role of ambient scent in influencing consumer behavior. Davis, Kooijman and Ward (2003) extending and elaborating the Gulas and Bloch (1995) model by introducing concepts from cognate disciplines and examines mediating factors that help shape the emotional and behavioural responses that are stimulated to encompass current research on human olfaction and brings another specific points for future research. Based on the results of the relevant studies the authors of the present paper concludes by identifying gaps in the literature and suggest future research to explore how the use of scent help to create an overall store atmosphere which influence shopping behavior in the context of retailing.
Keywords: ambient scent, store atmosphere, consumer behavior, consumer perception, consumer emotion, retail stores.
JEL Classification: M31, M39
Pagination: 1797 – 1806
Title: GLOBAL COMPETITION AND ROMANIA’S NATIONAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Author(s): Pop Nicolae Alexandru, Draghescu Florin, Rosca Vlad
Abstract: Analyzing products and services around us it is clear that most of them are the result of production factors, labor and capital becoming more international and increasingly less and less national. We are witnessing the globalization of markets and production, to a large global integration and interdependence, increase personalization of production and services as a result of new communication systems interaction and flexible production processes. Markets will continue to homogenize and diversify at the same time, so it is important that as a global marketer one addresses a market segment defined by income, age, and consumption habits and not by membership of a nation. The most visible and polarized is the premium segment fighting for high income clients where brand value plays an important role. Instead identification of large segments of customers offers the advantages of scale economy in production and marketing for global enterprises. Consumer profile is the dominant global consumer requesting and accepting global products and services easily. In fact, what can force an economic alignment to achieve the best performance, rather than the global consumer. The research methodology used includes literature review, comparative analysis, synthesis of data based on bibliographic resources and official documents.The aim of the paper is to highlight current models that underlie the competitive advantage of nations and assess the competitive advantage of Romania in the context of the global market. A case study is used to offer an overview of competitive advantage of Antibiotice Iasi SA, a competitive player, in a global pharmaceutical market with strong global competition. Countries moderate companies’ achievements of global efficiency objectives due to the countries’ rivalry. Romania has to understand that it is in competition with other countries in order to fulfill economic, political and social objectives. The scope in the end is the well-being of a country’s people.
Keywords: global competition, globalization, productivity, competivity, competitive advantage
JEL Classification: M30, M31, M39
Pagination: 1807 – 1814
Title: INNOVATION, CUSTOMER ATTACHMENT SOURCE IN RETAIL SERVICES EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN DIY RETAIL
Author(s): Săniuţă Adina, Roman Mihaela, Petrişoaia Carmen, Pop Nicolae Al.
Abstract: The topic of the present study is innovation of services in the retail trade of bricolage (Do-It-Yourself, DIY) products and the influence that innovation has on the increase of customer attachment to companies in this field. The Romanian bricolage market brings together representatives of large specialised retail chains in Europe along with large domestic operators, which led us to the choice of this trade as a research field. Innovation is considered an important factor that brings a significant contribution to the success of a business (O\’Cass, Song and Yuan, 2012), and services are a priority for economic development. Despite all these, innovation in services is still insufficiently exploited both theoretically and empirically. The object of this study is to apply a qualitative research through semi-conducted interviews with managers from the bricolage retail field in order to validate the conceptual model whose inputs, innovation along with the availability and professionalism of the sales staff, act as generators of customer attachment to the company, leading to increased turnover, a permanent fund of customers and loyalty to the store. As a second stage, the proposed model will be tested through a quantitative research, by making use of the customer’s points of view. The three hypotheses of this research (H1: Innovation in services is determined by: the customer’s involvement in the implementation of the service, the use of gadgets in the store to facilitate access to information to the customer, the extension of the in-store services to the virtual environment and customer experience; H2: Innovation together with the availability and knowledge of the sales staff are sources of the customer’s attachment; H3: attachment acts as a catalyst for the turnover, the permanent fund of customers and the loyalty to the store) have been accepted, the study revealing that in the retail trade of bricolage products, the staff’s availability and professionalism are key elements for the definition of customers’ attachment, along with innovation, which is an extra advantage to customers.
Keywords: innovation in services, attachment, retail trade, semi-conducted in-depth interviews
JEL Classification: L81, M31
Pagination: 1815 – 1826
Title: PRIVATE INFORMATION REVEALED BY ROMANIAN FACEBOOK USERS – AN EXPLORATORY ASSESSMENT
Author(s): VEGHES Calin, ORZAN Mihai, ACATRINEI Carmen, DUGULAN Diana
Abstract: The use of online social networks has become part of our lives. More and more people join networks, create their online profile, add pictures with themselves, add personal information about them, find people they know and connect with them, share and like posts, comments, pictures or movies and many more. The social networks allow more and more features and people are open and willing to try them. In this context, it is important for those who own such a profile to be aware of how their personal information is handled, who can view the data they publish in the social network and how they can protect the information they post, by granting access to it only to those persons they want to. The objective of this research was to study what type of information Romanian Facebook users are revealing on their profiles. We have conducted an empirical research, based on an online questionnaire which was available to be accessed in March 2013. 42,5% of the respondents, aged between 21 and 40, formed mostly my employees, managers and students, have not shared on their profiles neither their phone number, their home address, nor their messenger ID. Even though we have considered that the email address was also considered personal and very private information, our assumption did not confirmed, about 30% of the respondents have their email address shown on their profile. At the opposite side, it was confirmed that the gender, real name, personal pictures, birthday and current town are information published by more than 80% the respondents. The respondents do know and do make a difference between having their profile shown when searched on Facebook and allowing their profile to be visualised by whomever they want. Even though most of the respondents have their profile public when searched for it, the great majority have set that only their friends to be able to see the information they post online. Only about 10% of the respondents have added or have accepted friendship requests from people they did not know before and about 30% have never accepted such requests. Overall, we may say that our respondents are careful about what their share on Facebook.
Keywords: consumer private information; online privacy; social media privacy; Facebook Romanian users;
JEL Classification: M31
Pagination: 1827 – 1834
Title: HOW MUCH CAN WE TRUST PUBLIC OPINION POLLS?
Author(s): Vierasu Timotei
Abstract: Peoples trust numbers and likes to give them some significance. Every time we open a newspaper, listen to the radio, watch TV or browse the Internet we’ll see some numbers and stats. These numbers can give a brief overview of the world surrounding ourselves and are often used by people or organizations to strengthen their message. Can we trust public opinion poll? Can these polls be manipulated? What method of manipulation can be used to alter the results of these polls? I designed two experiments to see how a person can misinterpret some data and how can a person manipulate a poll to obtain the desired numbers. Experiments are a qualitative market research tool designed to give us an empirical knowledge about the subject we are studying. The objective of this study was to determine whether we can influence subject’s voting choices by manipulating their perceptions and their questioners. “Yes Sir” experiment was based on a misleading questioner with a lot of questions that leads the respondent to the desired answer and with formulating the question in such a manner that the respondent feels compelled to give the desired answer. “Fake Poll” experiment is designed to see if previous polls have any influence on voter’s intentions and behaviour and is bases on bandwagon effect. The results of these experiments show us that this ways of manipulation works very well and we can influence the way people will vote with a percentage from 3% to 6%.
Keywords: political marketing, marketing experiment, bandwagon effect, polls manipulation, “Yes Sir” experiment, “Fake Poll” experiment
JEL Classification: M31
Pagination: 1835 – 1844
Title: ORDERS MANAGEMENT BY USING OF SMART PHONES
Author(s): Demian Horia
Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to present an idea of using mobile technology for optimization of orders management inside a restaurant. For implementing this idea we used SQL Server 2008 R2 Express for databases, Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone for developing the application used from phonesVisual Web Developer 2010 Express for developing web services, Internet Information Server for expose the web services to the internet. The phone application can be deployed to Windows Marketplace, and can be downloaded by any potential user. In this case the application can be used by any client of the restaurant if they will receive a username and a password. The entire process of placing orders can be transferred directly to the client, and can be made with the hardware of the client. More clients means more hardware’s which can be used concurrently.
Keywords: mobile technology, windows phone, orders, conQuest
JEL Classification: C81; C88
Pagination: 1847 – 1852
Title: WINE ADVISOR EXPERT SYSTEM USING DECISION RULES
Author(s): Dinuca Elena Claudia
Abstract: In this article I focus on developing an expert system for advising the choice of wine that best matches a specific occasion. An expert system is a computer application that performs a task that would be performed by a human expert. The implementation is done using Delphi programming language. I used to represent the knowledge bases a set of rules. The rules are of type IF THEN ELSE rules, decision rules based on different important wine features.
Keywords: Decision rules, artificial intelligence, recommendation system.
JEL Classification: C41, C61
Pagination: 1853 – 1864
Title: OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE THE MANAGEMENT METHODS OF ROMANIAN ORGANIZATIONS
Author(s): Gheorghe Gabriela
Abstract: Information Technology has responded to the crisis by change and innovation. Competitive organizations are permanently prepared to identify the cutting-edge technologies which will change the future in business by using the concept of Business Intelligence. Information Technology is developing rapidly and providing decision makers with large amounts of information that require processing and analysis. Business Intelligence are critical decisions support applications, their role being to provide to management, based on information from the company, a landscape of its situation at some time, but also predictions on the medium and long term. This paper describes the architecture of the Business Intelligence Platform and highlights the benefits of using decision support systems for business applications. Nowadays, company executives require relevant and accurate business information in real-time to take strategic decisions. It is also essential to have freedom to access this information anywhere and anytime. There is a real need to extend this functionality beyond the office and on the fingertips of the decision makers. After a presentation of the concept of Data mining with examples from a case study, the paper focuses on the potential of the IT&C decisional sector, which embeds simulation and assistance tools for managerial decisions. Developing new methods for predictive modelling and application of existing techniques in many areas will be a permanent concern for both researchers and companies that are interested to gain competitive advantages.
Keywords: decision support system, business intelligence, knowledge discovery in databases, data mining technologies
JEL Classification: L86, M15, O33
Pagination: 1865 – 1875
Title: ERP ASSIMILATION: AN END-USER APPROACH
Author(s): Hurbean Luminita, Negovan Ana-Maria
Abstract: One premise of this paper is that ERP implementation is an “organization wide revolution” because a large number of changes happen. Unfortunately, after 20 years of experience, many implementations of ERP systems take longer and cost more than projected or even fail. As many authors stated, one major cause appears to be that organizational issues are neglected or underestimated. In this type of IT project the organizations confront with many problems because they put inadequate stress on the management of change brought about by the technology. We consider that the success of the implementation depends highly on the company’s openness to change. Change is not always welcomed by end-users, so the first step is to ensure that the executive management supports the team’s vision, the vendor selection and the implementation project from beginning to completion. When an ERP software provider is selected, it should display the qualities and be prepared to act as a “change agent”, one who can explain short-term and long-term benefits of the proposed changes, while being sensitive to each end-user’s level of change acceptance. Our study was focused on the end-users behaviour and perception.
The paper discusses the ERP adoption based on the IT assimilation theory. The ERP lifecycle is associated with the IT assimilation steps. We propose a distribution of these steps along the lifecycle. Derived from the findings in the reviewed literature we will focus the cultural factors, in particular those related to the end-users (determined as a major impact factor in our previous study: Negovan et al., 2011). Our empirical study is centred on the end-users perspective and it tries to determine if and how their behaviour affects the achievement of the ERP assimilation steps. The paper reasons that organizations that understand the IT assimilation steps correlated to the ERP implementation critical factors are more likely to implement and use ERP successfully.
Keywords: ERP, IT assimilation, change management, end-users, resistance to change
JEL Classification: L86, O32, O33
Pagination: 1876 – 1884
Title: STUDY REGARDING THE USE OF MICROSOFT EXCEL SOFTWARE IN THE MARKETING ACTIVITY OF THE BIHOR COUNTY COMPANIES
Author(s): Ţarcă Naiana, Mareş Valerica, Mareş Marius Daniel
Abstract: Marketing activity involves many decision situations. They may have a lower or higher complexity, but all involve organizing, processing, extracting and analyzing of a large volume of information. By using specialized software that provides tools for analysis, company managers can quickly obtain significant information about market. They can also get overview, synthesis of certain aspects of company activities. In the data analysis activity traditional methods and software tools can be used, such as: dispersion analysis software, multi-factor techniques, regression analysis software and data-series analysis software, useful in data-series analysis in their trend format, seasonality and of the other dynamic series components. But if a more complex economic analysis is demanded, where the information is needed to be presented in the form of diagrams, is necessary to use specialized software tools for analysis, such as those offered by spreadsheet applications. Of those who know and use spreadsheet applications for drawing up the reports necessary for carrying out the work, many use the Microsoft Excel. Using Microsoft Excel software, data can be organized and processed quickly, accurately and thoroughly. Also, the facilities for the extraction, aggregation and analysis bring real value to a business activity. From the same volume of processed data a higher volume of complex and diversified information can be obtained, thus offering a more complete picture on the analized decisional situation in its entire. For this reason we conducted a study in which we sought to obtain information on how these applications are used in the marketing activities of companies. Microsoft Excel software is used a lot in marketing activities of companies in Bihor County, but data analysis tools it provides are used too little. Collected and stored data are not used to their full value. In this way, companies do not have information that could help to better understand customer behavior and market products.
Keywords: data analysis, spreadsheet software, economic analysis activity
JEL Classification: M21; C83
Pagination: 1885 – 1892
Title: STUDY REGARDING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BIHOR COUNTY COMPANIES’ WEBSITES
Author(s): Ţarcă Naiana, Şule Anca
Abstract: Number of Internet users who access the websites of different companies to find information and to buy online is growing. In these conditions, the companies to be able to communicate the informational message, promotional message or intention to initiate trading exchange, must be present in the virtual environment. The company’s website can be used as a tool in marketing strategy, as a means of developing identity or increasing the brand exposure, as a support for communication with potential clients or as a means for market research. The website, as an interface between customers and company, must answer as many questions as possible and it must trigger the impulse that motivates consumers to return and buy products/services from the company. This paper contains a study of the websites belonging to 330 companies from the Bihor County. In the study conducted were considered companies in Bihor County that are present in the virtual environment through websites. The elements that have been analysed are the measure and the manner in which companies use the online environment to comunicate their identity. The websites are analysed in terms of their design, in terms of the way it influences the experience in visualising the site and in terms of the design elements used to facilitate navigability, to encourage interaction between the visitor and the company, to prove credibility, accuracy and valability of the information and to demonstrate that the information is presented in an objective manner. We considered the following criteria for evaluation of sites: the presence of information about the organization such as general information, information about products and means of distribution, company location; the structure used to present the information on the website home page, the navigability elements, the elements to prove credibility, the quality level of the company products, the presence and percentage of graphics, applying the design principles, the presence of those elements that ensure interaction with the website visitors.
Keywords: website, virtual environment, design elements, marketing strategy
JEL Classification: L81; C85
Pagination: 1893 – 1901
