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The development of the child protection system is part of the strategic policies of the Romanian Government and takes into account the financing of services and of complementary activities, as well as of the specific social services at the level of national and local authorities through involving the entire society.The aim of the present paper is to present the system of social protection for children at the regional level in Bihor county by looking at its development in the period between the years 2010-2016 and also by looking at the specific characteristics which deal with the wide range of the provided social services, as well as the resources allocated for such services. The paper also discusses the social effects of the social protection system and the possibilities of improving the effectiveness of its financing.

The paper presents the modern methods and techniques in the philological research. Scientific research involves not only an individual activity, based on the information and data collection or the formulation of some innovative theses. It also involves communicating the results to a differentiated audience. One should find a purpose for the data collected: it should be taken over by their recipients in an accessible form. In other words, there must be a balance between the content of a research on the one hand, and the shape of the wording on the other. Being familiar with the steps to make in a research endeavour, and observing the rules developed to complete the research in the form of a scientific paper, are both secret ingredients of a successful endeavour. Scientific research involves, besides specialized knowledge, the mastery of appropriate working techniques. To be considered a scientific paper, a text must meet two fundamental prerequisites, namely: to bring something new and/ or to be useful. Between these extremely general boundaries, the scientific works take a wide variety of shapes, using a combination of several classification criteria. Depending on the fundamental approaching method, one may distinguishes the analytical method from the synthetic method. Size of the text is rather a more practical classification criterion than a scientific one. It influences the structure of the paper work only to a certain point. The modality of conveying the research paper influences the structure of the text only in the case of written - oral communication conflict. The paper presents in the end aspects about references, word processing typing and plagiarism.

The aim of this paper is to conduct a cultural analysis of financial slogans based on the theoretical framework of Geert Hofstede. We chose to focus on the case of the United States of America and the sample includes slogans from two types of financial institutions offering similar services: banks and (federal) credit unions, further divided into “local” and “national” according to their reach, i.e. the number of US states where they have branches, thus making direct interaction with customers possible. The methodology relies on empirical research and content analysis. First, the choice of the sample is explained, as well as the way it is organized. The paper then proceeds to demonstrate the need to adapt the Hofstede model to the nature of the sample by focusing only on the appropriate cultural dimensions. The actual analysis begins with a brief cultural overview of the U.S.A., as this is the background against which the approach of US bank and (federal) credit union slogans should be set. The findings are first presented in column charts and the cultural aspects are quantified based on their number of occurrences in the sampled slogans. We then proceed to identify and map the underlying values that slogans convey according to the cultural aspect illustrated. Several things emerge at this point: from a general perspective – although the sample is limited in this respect – the cultural values represented by the slogans of national financial institutions fit the national pattern (high individualism, masculinity). Local banks and credit unions, however, generally value the opposite cultural aspects i.e., primarily, collectivism and femininity, as their physical presence is limited, most of the time, to a single US state, which in turn creates the need to appeal to a smaller target audience regarded as a community. Some interesting findings also emerge at this point, such as unconventional slogans and the concept of “unbanking” preferred by credit unions. The whole approach leads to the conclusion that the size, type and reach of the financial institutions have a direct impact on the cultural values portrayed, and implicitly on the rhetoric and cultural encoding of their slogans.

Fast paced technological innovation in the 21st century is continuously transforming the complex world of logistics, a performant strategy in the supply chain (SC) becoming a competitive advantage that all manufacturers strive to improve. Decision making to ensure the expected outcome is relying heavily on the SC with its associated partnerships and drivers. Customer service evolves at the same pace with technological innovation and it is backed up by qualitative and innovative SC processes, transferring the most important order winner criteria from the product itself to the product cycle from forecast to delivery. Manufacturers have to consider that integrating customers’ needs in the design of their supply chain strategy (SCS) is going to become an order qualifier, rather than an order winner criterion. Internal and external integration foster progress and development in the organizational and financial performance of the company. This implies not only a financial investment in the subsequent infrastructure but also a tailored strategy that employs advantages derived from supply chain integration (SCI). The present paper proposes a structured framework that middle and top management can use to identify synergies for integration opportunities, exploitable competitive advantages and markers for improving decision making affected by and affecting financial performance. Supply chain management (SCM) strategy can be viewed as a revolving concept as it can be both a driver of performance as well as a consequence of performance. The first concept is at the centre of the paper as the authors strive to create a framework of operational and strategic factors that foster performance, assuming that levels of performance can conversely steer SCM strategies. Operational strategies, supply chain integration, management and strategies are leading the research field in the attempt to interlink SC and performance, mainly due to a surge in the attention paid to the connection and synergies in between.

The main purpose of this paper is to present the modern model of integrated corporate communication. Beside this, the authors will describe the changes occurring in the corporate environment and importance of changing the model of corporate communication. This paper also discusses the importance of implementation of the suggested model, the use of new media and effects of these changes on corporations. The approach used in this paper is the literature review. The authors explore the importance of implementation of the suggested model and the new media in corporate communication, both internal and external, addressing all the stakeholders and communication contents. The paper recommends implementation of a modern model of integrated corporate communication as a response to constant development of the new media and generation changes taking place. Practical implications: the modern model of integrated corporate communication can be used as an upgrade of the conventional communication models. This modern model empowers companies to sustain and build up the existing relationships with stakeholders, and to find out and create new relationships with stakeholders who were previously inaccessible and invisible.

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Abstract The continuous changes in the business environment require transformation processes and innovation in organizational structures to maintain competitiveness. Innovation is required for future orientation and need an appropriate leadership style to be implemented in the company successfully. Various studies in the literature examine the topic of change models and the requirements for effective implementation of changes. Based on the constant change in the labor market, which is due to ongoing digitalization, the need for research of transformation, change-management and radical or disruptive innovation remains topical. A new challenge arises with a transformation in the entire company which affects all essential business processes. Because several levels are simultaneously affected by the transformation process, a more complex concept is required for the implementation than it could be found in the literature. There is a lack of empirical research in general for innovation-driven transformation processes and a missing connection to the implementation of radical or disruptive innovation in company. The aim of this paper is to investigate the need for new research in change theory. The focus is on the importance of innovation leadership for a radical or disruptive innovation change process, what is to be classified under a comprehensive transformation process in the company. In addition, the need for an innovation transformation model is established.

The way in which economic crises are represented in media plays a very important role in determining their significance and the reform opportunities that they create. This paper analyses the representation of two financial crises in films: the Great Depression of 1929 and the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The movies chosen are either documentaries depicting harshly and realistically the causes and the events that led to one of the most devastating crashes for the American economy – the financial crisis of 2007 - or movies adapted from famous novels such as John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath”. The paper starts with the analysis of the way in which the films present aspects of the 21st economic crisis and the major players, from stockbrokers, bankers, businessmen to the very powerful CEOs of the most important companies in the world. Then, we continued with the category depicting the Great Depression which affected not only how class aspects were presented in films, but also the way in which the industry was making films. Making this list has been a sensible exercise that has led us to an unfortunate yet inescapable truth: if the silver screen is any guide, financial professionals, particularly those working on Wall Street, have had a serious public relations problem since long before the global financial crisis of 2008. Some might say that Hollywood has contributed to the creation of this negative image, given that media, especially films, are reflections of public opinion. The conclusion of our analysis is rather surprising: there are very few films, especially among the documentaries, depicting the financial crises suggesting solutions for the industry and the financial system. Nonetheless, the films are enjoyable to watch and often quite informative, offering a perspective from the inside on everything from phrases such as options and futures trading to leveraged buyouts.

The paper deals with using audit methods in the audit of non-current assets of the municipality. Due the fact that surveyed area is audit of the municipal assets, we made a literature review in this area. Each municipality in Slovakia has legal obligation of audit of its financial statements. Audit in the municipality contains a high detection risk because the independent auditor cannot reveal always so-called hidden ownership or family ties. High detection risk may lead to failure of the auditor. Due to avoid of possible auditor’s failure, he or she needs to know the pitfalls accompanying audit engagement. The main objective of this paper is setting methods for the audit of non-current assets in respect of which audit risk is reducing. In the first part we have introduced a brief development of audit in Slovakia from 1989 to the present days. This part of the paper is devoted to the history of the audit and its current legislative framework. In Slovakia, international standards on auditing are applying for over ten years, and the Code of Ethics for auditors as well. Three components of audit risk affecting the overall audit risk are presented in the second part. This section lists the pitfalls in the audit of non-current assets of the municipality and suggested audit procedures, how to avoid them. Examined issue was applied on the example of the audit of non-current assets in municipality of Slovakia. Recognizing the potential audit pitfalls leads the auditor to reduce the overall audit risk. The auditor must follow the objectivity and independence from the audited entity, to recognize transactions with related parties especially in the municipality, and avoid failures in the design and the performance of appropriate audit procedures. Proper setup of the audit methods leads auditor to minimize audit risks to an acceptable rate and to formulate audit opinion. Conclusion of the article contains a risk assessment, audit planning and solving of audit pitfalls in the area of non-current assets.

In a world where man has been regarded since ancient times by philosophers as a zoon politikon (Aristotel, 2001), and whose traits reverberates through centuries, focusing upon some of its peculiarities could only be refreshing. As the military, social, economic, and cultural traits of globalization have been accelerating, the leaders of different nations felt there is a slippery ground upon which they could take decisions. Lot of them have been bad prepared to fully understand these processes, or haven’t been capable to harness the national potential of their countries towards extracting benefits from these processes. There are small countries which have well understood the path the world was heading to, and they have acted accordingly; Singapore, South Korea, Finland or Switzerland could be such positive examples. All these have gained a lot as globalization has been widening. While others, with far greater potential in comparison with all these countries, are fighting for their survival. For these others, globalization has brought more pain than relief. The domestic society in all these examples and its traits has played important roles for these different paths, but there couldn’t be neglected the crucial role of political leadership in both, the successful countries, and the less successful ones. Without naming a peculiar state, the paper focuses in fact upon the character a man of state should have in a globalized world, and which should be the main focuses for him. There are presented in a contrasting manner the characteristics of political man, face-to-face with the characteristics of the man who thinks politically. In a globalized world the economic diplomacy can help a state in its geopolitical interests’ promoting, and a successful economic diplomacy is of crucial importance for having a healthy statehood. The paper mention that a healthy state is formed and is based on its citizens, while a weak or even a failed stated has the illusion of being based on individuals. There are presented the differences between individuals and citizens, and which are the benefits for having a society formed by citizens leaded by a man who thinks and acts politically, in a globalized economy and society.

The latest findings evidenced rating as an additional safety measure in the capital market. The financial crisis which affected thousands of companies and banks imposed as a necessity that as well as the annual financial reports the company’s rating be a listed at the stock exchange. Although a company’s rating is established in advance by rating agencies many papers try to find ways of evaluating risk by particular applicable to a certain field. The research that we have conducted aligns itself with such model of research in the field of energy. The paper presents a way of rating energy companies based on an aggregate model with three components: own model, a model of aggregate bank and a model of credit scoring aggregate. The model thus constructed was tested on two energy companies, namely: OMV Petrom SA and Romgaz SA.

In this paper we presented a conceptual review of migration theories in the context of the European Union, such as recent statistical data taken from the official website of the National Institute of Statistics, National Bank Romanian Ministry of Labour and Eurostat. The paper empirically tests the neoclassical theory, used in the pre-enlargement research, on the actual data of after accession labor mobility from Romania to the European Union countries. The paper concludes with outlining suggestions for new analytical approach to studying migration processes, which needs to incorporate country specific institutional and structural variables, give greater emphasis to sending countries and analyze migration as part of broader global processes and socio- economic changes. In this paper we presented and summarized the negative effects and manifestations of contemporary economic and financial crisis on the labor market. The purpose of this paper is to study and analyze labor market developments Romanian between 2000 and the first quarter 2016 from the statistical point of view based on the results of a comparison of the period before the crisis and after. This paper aims to estimate some effects of migration flows on both the origin countries and the host countries in an enlarged Europe. Having in mind the enlargement, the Romanian out-migration represents a sensitive subject, adding to those of commercial and the capital flows, the main mechanism of European integration. The migration from and to Romania will have an effect on the Romanian economy on short and long term. Then we focus on presenting the main destination for external migration and we make an empirical analysis in order to find out why the “destination” countries are so attractive despite our country.

The motivation of this paper was given by the importance of urban tourism, which is a growing touristic phenomenon worldwide and especially at European level. Urban tourism plays an important role in the European cities, for many of them it represent the engine for the development of several sectors of the economy. From this point of view, we consider the importance of study of the concept of urban tourism. As a first step in this direction, the article presents a review of the specialized literature in order to define the concept. Through this paper we propose to highlight various perspectives about urban tourism, analysed as a particular form of tourism. Thus, the paper presents, in the theoretical section, the interferences among urban tourism and other forms of tourism. The paper continues with the analysis of statistical data regarding urban tourism, registered in the main European cities, including Romania. As a result of the research, we conclude about the significant differences between the analyzed countries.

Presently, immigration is a global subject that generates many challenges and controversy all over the world. Its positive and negative effects in the society can not be ignored. So, in every state, government and population has to colaborate and find solutions for the immigrants integration for the overall well-being. More than ever, the countries that are confronting with an ageing population and the large flows of refugees must take action. This is also the case of most European Union countries. There are many debates among European Union’s decision factors on this theme. Through its legal framework, its policies, the European Union has tried to build a balance between regular immigration and EU citizens and to fight against irregular immigration. The present paper provides an overview of immigration phenomenon in the European Union. It combines the theoretical presentation with a short statistical analysis of the immigrants flow in all member states. This theme is of great interest not only at institutional level, but for each of us. Why? According to the World Bank, one in seven individuals in the world is currently a migrant. The inflow of immigrants in the European Union is a reality and is generating serious challenges in many fields of society: law, finance, economy, labour market. Integrating immigrants and their children into the labour market and society as a whole is essential for promoting social cohesion and economic growth of receiving countries. The paper outlines the economic effects of immigration, the main directives of European Union in the field of immigration and some solutions of better integration of the immigrants and their children.

The financial crisis which caused numerous bankruptcies is phenomenon that can repeat itself in the ensuing period. One of the causes that generated the phenomenon was, along with the mortgage-back securities, the insufficient attention devoted to industrial production in general and to profit in particular. The literature in the field points to the fact that companies’ managers need to take into account the means of obtaining profit as well as liquidity and leverage. This is why in this paper we focus on the profitability of the oil and gas companies which have been affected by the financial crisis. Profit and loss account comprises two components: the operating and financial flows of an enterprise over a period of time, usually the financial year. We can evidence the results of a company based on the annual reports during the fiscal period such as financial position, performance and cash flow. The paper conducts a comparative analysis of performance between two companies operating in the energy industry, OMV Petrom SA and ROMGAZ SA.

The present paper aims to investigate the cross-border cooperation impact on regional tourism based on the Bihor County case study. The first part of the paper analyses the literature regarding cross-border cooperation impact on regional tourism. In the second part, the paper provides a synthetic analysis of the Bihor County tourism in the context of North-West Region of Romania. Based on national territorial statistics, regional and local development strategies for 2014-2020, Bihor County Department of Statistics, Bihor Trade Office and Bihor Council data, other available dataset for tourism sector, the analysis shows that Bihor County has the highest tourism potential at regional level and the most diversified, covering large areas of the county. Also, Bihor County tourism is above the regional average at almost all tourism indicators. The third part of the paper documents about cross-border cooperation impact on Bihor county tourism. The location of Bihor County on the border with Hungary and the opportunity to benefit of funding from EU through Cross-border Cooperation Programmes are competitive advantages for Bihor County at regional level. Based on Oradea Regional Office for Borders Cooperation (BRECO) data, the paper presents the positive effects of cross-border cooperation on Bihor County tourism due to the 10 tourism projects implemented under the PHARE CBC Programme 2004-2006 and HU-RO CBC Programme 2007-2013 in Bihor-Hajdu-Bihar Euroregion and their impact on regional tourism.

The aim of energy management is to provide good quality and proper quantity energy in an economic and continuous way for the energy consumers in different parts of the country with minimal energy costs. We did our calculations because many changes happened during the last 15 years in the energy management of Romania. Year by year the percent of the import energy is increasing. Most of the energy is produced by nuclear, hydro and thermal plants. Looking at the year 2016 in the energy production of Romania the most dominant is the coal and gas usage to produce electric energy in thermal plants. In this paper we wanted to look through the energy management of Romania both in the field of conventional and renewable energy sources based on different aspects. In our research we have made several forecasts considering the consumption and production. In this paper we have reviewed the Romanian energy management from 2000 until recently, since a continuous change can be seen in the energy management of Romania. In the analysis descriptive statistics, dynamic indices and polynomial trend values were used. At the calculations many databases were taken into consideration. For some of the analysis we used the data found on Transelectrica. Besides, we used the data of BP Statistical Review of World Energy and their descriptions. In case of Romania we also utilized the governmental strategies, professional political materials, action plans and different professional studies as well. In the course of our research we used long time series in which the component effect of the time series must be filtered out, so it had to be ‘smoothened’. There are two methods for this: the method of moving averages and the analytical trend calculation. We chose the analytical trend calculations (polynomial trend function) based on the proper fitting.

Enterprise risk management is a topic that converges corporate governance and risk management in a way that managers and stakeholders of the company can have a clear path to assessing dealing with risk within an appropriate corporate governance system. The present paper, while not keen to provide an introduction into the terminology, definitions or classifications – since our goal is much past this – attempts to build up a viable framework for managers to deal with enterprise risk management in their relationship with the wide array of stakeholders. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to compact and correlate the available information from literature, policy makers, case studies, in order to achieve a considerate framework for both the needs of management and stakeholders. Without disregard to the complexity of the topic, the author attempts to summarize a basic framework that can further be expanded in accordance with the company’s requirements and takes into consideration the general expectations from stakeholders that can further expand into more specific ones and then result in a tailor made plan for dealing with risk. Starting from a literature review focused on several policy maker views and experts’ inputs on enterprise risk management, the papers manages to put together and create synergies between the steps that a company should take in its risk management initiatives. Without leaving aside the corporate governance principles, we make an effort to illustrate the ideas that should be at the centre of risk identification and evaluation and further we dedicate risk evaluation output – a risk report – and risk mitigation to ensuring communication with the stakeholders in a transparent and appropriate manner. Due to the fact that risk management can be viewed in a variety of ways, as companies are widely diverse, the proposed framework does not benefit from fixed measures, they have to be adapted both in terms of array of details implied as well as assigned interest and importance.

Non-performing Asset is a vital factor in the examination of financial performance of a bank. Non-Performing Asset is the key term for the banking corporations. Non-Performing Assets show the competence of the performance of the banks. Non-Performing Assets means which amount is not received by the bank in return of loans disbursed. Non-Performing Assets affect not only the finance institution but the total financial system. Thus a selective study has been done on public sector banks in India to evaluate the effect of Non-Performing Assets on the profitability of banks. Banks today are not judged only on the basis of number of branches and volume of deposits but also on the basis of standard of assets. NPAs negatively effect on the profitability, liquidity and solvency of the banks. This paper analyses the circumstances of NPAs in selected banks namely State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of India, United Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab National Bank and Central Bank India. It also highlights the policies followed by the banks to tackle the NPAs and suggests a multi-pronged strategy for speedy recovery of NPAs in banking sector. Seven Public Sector Banks has been selected for the study the relation between Gross NPA and Net Profit of seven banks. In this paper is applying the panel regression. The result shows that except for SBI and PNB all the other banks exhibit a negative correlation between their gross Non-Performing Assets and net profits. But SBI and PNB is increased the net profit every year not affected by Gross Non-Performing Assets. Both banks are paying attention towards their NPA to recover their pending loans. The study is based upon secondary data recovered from Report of Progress of banking in India, Websites, Journals and Articles. The scope of the study is limited to analysis of nonperforming assets of public sector banks covering the period of 2007-2016.

Universities have multiple roles in economic development: educating students and developing competences useful for young employees struggling to adapt to the increasing demands of the industry, researching and providing research results to the industry and providing services in public-private partnerships with government agencies and industry. They can be perceived as sources of economic development, while the traditional university has transformed in time from a simple provider of education and research into an organization that combines education, research and industry related activities. Although this new paradigm can generate a certain level of tension to the faculty, the three directions coexist in all modern universities because this coexistence is both productive and profitable. The article aims to present how universities should formulate and adapt their mission and strategy to the current economic environment, characterized by competitiveness, dynamism and permanent change. The research presented in this paper is theoretical and provides a framework that clarifies how the new mission – industry – the third mission of the university - not only fits, but also improves the performance of education and research activities of universities around the world, contributing to fulfilling their mission. The paper includes recommendations useful for formulating the mission of the university, presents the path from stating a clear mission to developing the strategy of selective excellence and, in this context, presents an overview on the places the university has taken in time in relation to government and industry, using the Triple Helix model. The conclusions and discussions presented at the end of the paper underline the role of universities in education, research and industry in the current economy.

What is social patrimony and what is its role in the existence and functioning of the company? Is there any connection between share capital and social patrimony? These are questions that we try to answer throughout this paper. Current research presented is based on a theoretical study of specific regulation and doctrine regarding the risk of insolvency for companies. Using critical research method we found various discrepancies in their implementation which in turn can lead to market distortions and to an increase in bankruptcies. Research conducted revealed us another question that we had to find an answer and that was: Can a certain society reach the brink of insolvency even if it has a well-established and reliable market with an impressive portfolio of customers who offers quality goods and services at a good price? Present research presented offers arguments, pros and cons to concluding a correct answer. This paper reflects upon the answer that the role of patrimonial balance to the society is vital. In order to achieve current research results present paper critically argues upon the definition of legal personality and how it relates to social patrimony. Through the effects of legal personality, each legal person acting on the market is liable for its obligations with its own goods. Deriving another fact from this situation is the fact that associates of a company are accountable for social liabilities in a "subsidiary, unlimited and joint" manner. Research goes further into analysing the causal link between the capability of the legal entity and its patrimony. Theoretical findings show that only those rights and obligations which are necessary to achieve the goal set bylaw or in the charter can be part of the companies` activity and capability of use. Also the functioning of a company implies the realization of its exercise capacity by the fact that it is able to hold rights and fulfil its obligations through its management appointed by the memorandum of association or bylaw. Research also presents the elements composing the social patrimony and these are social assets and social liabilities hold by a company and also the differences in nature regarding share capital comparing various incident regulations.

The retail market progress in the Romanian market and the massive number of assortments developed by international producers and brand owners has incremented the importance of merchandising and trade marketing compared to advertising and other promotion means, more effective in the past. This article is a literature review on the importance and effect of merchandising in the food retail industry specifically in the Romanian market. The chosen market is significant for the study due to its young nature, international retailers only recently having entered the country. The article analyses the most important factors taken into consideration by international retailers as compared to traditional shops. Each type of format follows its specific strategies in order to push consumers into buying the more profitable or beneficial products. The final part of this paper will analyze the push strategies effect, more specifically the effect of merchandising on sales of a canned food brand in Romania, in the traditional market. All the information presented in the market findings have been taken from secondary sources directly from a food and drinks distribution company located in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca. Results will show the strong impact on sales of a three months period of merchandising activities and trade promotions. More interestingly is the fact that many brands have a higher awareness level and still the product with the better presentation on the shelf is chosen. Another significant conclusion is the long term consequence of the merchandising campaign and the benefits of prolonging such direct trade campaigns. This paper contains very useful information for marketing managers, who want to increase the medium and long term awareness and value of their brand while not having a significant budget for advertising and communication, while taking into consideration the sales departments requirements of short term activities in order to increase sales.

This paper discusses the relationship between unemployment and level of education in Palestine between 2005 and 2015. The aim of this paper is to understand the relationship between unemployment and education level in Palestine. Education outputs in Palestine day by day increase in all levels, however, Palestine facing an increase in unemployment over time, which became one of the challengeable cases in the country. The question is, what is the relationship between unemployment and education level?. To answer this question, we examined four education levels (1 to 6 years of schooling, 7 to 9 years of schooling, 10 to 12 years of schooling and 13 and more years of schooling) regarding unemployment rate between 2005 and 2015 according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS, 2006-2016) labour force surveys and annual reports from 2005 to 2015. The results indicate that, there is a negative relationship between unemployment rate and education levels (1 to 6 years of schooling, 7 to 9 years of schooling, 10 to 12 years of schooling and 13 and more years of schooling from 2005 to 2010, while this relationship has changed since 2010. Since 2011, individuals who have (13 and more years of schooling) become the highest unemployment among the other levels. The results also showed that there is gender difference of unemployment rate among all four education levels (1 to 6 years of schooling, 7 to 9 years of schooling, 10 to 12 years of schooling, and 13 and more years of schooling).The difference between the two genders of the unemployment rate was 17.4 % difference in case of (1 to 6 years of schooling), 29.4% difference for (13 and more years of schooling), 7.1% difference in (7 to 9 years of schooling) and 1.9% difference among (10 to 12 years of schooling) in 2015. There is a difference between West Bank and Gaza Strip regarding unemployment rate among all four levels of education. These findings can help to identify the roots of unemployment in connection with education outputs.

The paper presents a theme of great relevance, because the managerial performances have a significant influence as regards the socio-economic activity and the organizational climate in the company. In the introduction of this paper, we have presented some theoretical aspects regarding Performance Management, steps for performance appraisal of human resources and methods of assessment. In the second part of the paper we presented the study designed to assess the skills, abilities and skills manager, which we believe are essential and significant for performance management. We analyzed the skills management model CM by TA- Ability teamwork ,LS- leadership style and - personality traits. We determined the influence of independent variables of the model of managerial skills using statistical regression. Without a doubt, organizational performance is greatly influenced by the skills and abilities of managers, for this reason it is imperative for them to possess not only technical capabilities, but also excellent communication of strategic goals and responsibilities, good motivational skills or the capacity to synthesize and analyze a large amount of data. For this reason, organizations need to constantly evaluate managers’ skills and to determine those areas that need improvement that will later dictate the specific of professional training programs.

Every business must consider ethics as a guideline for the development in the future. The banking service sector is no exception. The present paper aims at studying the attitude of individuals in Resita towards the aspect of ethics in the banking service industry. The first part of the paper consists in presenting general theoretical considerations regarding the concept of ethics and banking, while the second part presents a research based on a questionnaire, applied on a representative sample of individuals.

The progress of technology is imminent and fast so the speed of the changes impacts every area of our life both professional and personal, in the role of customer or manager. Social media is one of the biggest innovation of the XXI century and keeps evolving. Social media is not only a sum of websites for entertainment and interaction between users but a collection of platforms which engage businesses and customers in the same place beyond e-mail and telephone. Before the rise of social media, customers were forced to write e-mails in order to receive an answer to their requests or complaints from the companies. Never before the boundaries between clients and companies were so low, the interaction so close and the access in real time to the customer’s favourite brand. All types of businesses can find directly what their clients want, their opinions about current and future products for free. Likewise, clients can address directly to their favourite companies as to those which disappointed them. This paper aims to provide insights from literature review relating to the impact that social media platforms have on the relationship between businesses and their customers. Questionless, it’s interesting and important to present first of all what is social media, why these platforms are important for businesses and show the risks and benefits in the management of the customers. Social media has an ugly face too. Businesses are exposed to the criticism or individuals who want to harm the image of the brand and not all the business which are engaged in social media are successful. The statement that social media is trendy is true as the fact that social media is not a panacea. At the end of the paper is presented a general conclusion after balancing the risks and benefits of social media for the relationship between businesses and customers.

Current paper examines reforms in educational systems around the world. Two main paradigms explain the growth of reforms in education systems: the balance paradigm and the conflict paradigm. By examining these paradigms, current paper describes the central reasons of reform failure. In parallel, the paper attempts supplying three principles for development of a successful reform in education systems. Over past hundred years, educational systems have constituted an integral part of the social services countries provide their citizens with. In addition, education is perceived as a critical variable to development of a modern economy and as a tool that promotes democratic values. This conception defines the role of a state as a protagonist that supplies a guiding hand in all matters of education. The rapid development of science and social changes challenges the system to reinvent itself in order to cope with the pace of various demands imposed on it. The question is: why are there so many attempts at educational reform and why do they fail? Reform depends on two basic organizational structures in modern society. The first is democracy, as reform is decided by people’s elected representatives, the politicians, who follow a political agenda. The second is bureaucracy, those professionals who are specialists in the field and public administrators who are responsible for execution of the reform and implementation thereof. The combination of these two structures – which pursue different agendas and interests – is a basic difficulty facing reform (Gaziel, 1997). It might be possible to execute reforms in the educational system should three principles be followed: long-term policy, clear ways of measuring success, and integration of stakeholders. The sole hope of implementing a successful educational reform, therefore, lies in establishing an administrative or political body that would deal with outlining a long-term educational policy which implementation would be immune to frequent political changes (Zohar, 2013).

The main goal of this paper to answer the question: what are the factors that influence the value of the firm and how does the influencing force of these factors take shape in the various sectors of ten industries, in the light of the aftermath of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. Regarding the effects of the crisis, are there any differences among the examined industrial sectors? In this study I examined the validity of my hypothesis with using the available database which I have set according to the related literature reviewed and research objectives. After the literature review I conducted statistical research to answer the research question of this paper. This study proceeds as follow. The first section classifies the firm value drivers based on the related literature. The second part describes the economic crisis, introducing its financial aspects. The next section is the empirical part of the paper, I reveal the database used for my own study. The third part illustrates the panel regression model, the applied method of empirical analysis and the results of the research. Finally, the fourth section includes the concluding remarks. In this paper it is not my purpose to compare the earlier published and already existing research results with my own results.

The present paper is the first part of an analysis that aims to clearly identify and assess the needs of the inclusive entrepreneurship target groups in Romania for 2014-2020, in order to encourage inclusive entrepreneurship and self-employment as local development strategic option. The specific objectives of the analysis are: 1. to analyze the national context in terms of employment and entrepreneurship for the period 2014-2020; 2. to identify the groups at risk and uncertainty compared to employment and entrepreneurship, disadvantaged on labour market or under-represented in entrepreneurship; 3. to assess the specific needs of identified groups in four small towns in Romania and if boosting inclusive entrepreneurship is a viable local development strategic option. As first part of this research, the present paper analyses the national and regional context regarding boosting inclusive entrepreneurship as a strategic option for 2014-2020. In the second part of the research, in order to investigate if boosting inclusive entrepreneurship is a viable strategic option of local development, we’ll analyse through comparison this option for 4 small towns in Romania: Slănic Moldova, Găeşti, Balş, Seini located in different development regions, respectively North-East, South, South-West Oltenia and North-West. The paper uses OECD/EC inclusive entrepreneurship framework and OECD research methodology. The analysis of needs is based on Eurostat and national statistics, EU strategic documents, national strategies, regional development strategies for 2014-2020.

The potential of any organization depends, firstly, on its human potential. Human resource, especially through managerial activity, augments the material and financial potential of any organization. On the other hand, the public administration in Romania as an EU member state and elsewhere has been and still is subject to numerous criticisms concerning the functioning and quality of its provided services. The conducted research is characterized by a sequential approach. It begins by establishing the research goals, after that continues with establishing the research methodology, conducting effective research, presentation of the results representing the final stage of the paper. The overall objective of the conducted research is substantiating the importance of evaluation of human resources in public administration. Fulfilling this objective is done by pursuing and achieving the following general objectives: approaches to human resource management in public administration; highlighting the main aspects specific to the new public management (NPM); the new public management reform areas; corruption in public administration; conceptual approach in terms of performance and evaluation of human resources; performance measurement in public administration in Romania; basically a study showing the importance of evaluating human resources. Developments in the realms of economics in general and administrative sciences, in particular, raise the issue of performance measurement of the public administration in Romania from the EU perspective. There is a significant difference between the level of public services expected by citizens and the existing resources in public administration. Given this low level, an increase in the quality of these services would mean a performance increase recorded in the public sector. This paper will pursue the issue by conducting a synthesis of literature investigation. In this analysis, the paper took into account the definition of performance, based on a review of the literature and the relevant legal regulations. It took also into account an analysis on the performance measurement of the public administration in our country, as well as within the EU.

Using a case study approach, this paper investigates the advertising and promotion campaign applied to develop and position the brand of distilled wine Zaraza, on the Romanian market of alcoholic beverages. The literature review is centred on the concept of brand identification and on the process of consumer-brand relationship. The brand personality can facilitate the development and the manifestation of a social identity, helping individuals to identify as members of a group. This process is highly desirable especially when launching a new brand or re-branding an existing product, resulting in an instant segmentation of the market, as well as a clear positioning of the new brand. The methodology collected and analysed both secondary and primary data, which were combined using triangulation. Primary data was collected through a series of face-to-face semi-structured interviews, lasting between 16 and 20 minutes, with 25 consumers and 10 distribution personnel. The discussion themes were centred on the effect of the advertising campaign for the Zaraza brand in terms of brand awareness, purchase intention, and value perception. In addition, in the case of customers we also investigated the process of developing an in-group social identity of the targeted group of customers, and, in the case of distributors, on the specific challenges raised by the innovative promotion method used for selling the Zaraza products. The analysis outline the innovative approach of the promotional campaign, characterized by a direct, almost brutal definition of the brand social identity, and by the association of fiction books and alcoholic beverages during three periods of product promotion. The discussion of the main findings is complemented by a presentation and interpretation of several verbatim citations of the answers obtained during the interview, regarding the Zaraza brand name, the adverts used in the promotional campaign, and the organization of the promotion event. The paper makes an original contribution to the literature regarding brand personality, brand-customer relationship, and the process of social identification, providing an interesting illustration of how to creatively develop and implement a successful promotional campaign for launching a new brand in a competitive market.

This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the economic growth tendencies in Estonia and other formal post-socialist countries and the interaction between productivity growth and their determinants after the transition decades. So this paper is structured as follows. Firstly we will introduce an alternative growth accounting method to determine the components of productivity growth based on this concept. In Section we will also provide our empirical results in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary compared to the EU-15 countries between 1990 and 2011 how TFP (Total Factor Productivity), Physical and Labour Capital Accumulation can contribute to (increase or decrease) economic performance of each country. Finally, we can conclude that the relationship between labour and output growth per capita has obviously and temporarily changed after the mid-1990s, which could be determined by the increasing role of such socio-economic factors as technological changes, capital accumulation and demographical fluctuations etc.

In an attempt to identify the competitive advantages in tourism of Romania, the paper examines the theoretical approaches and quantification methods of a country's competitiveness in tourism and travel. Using the World Economic Forum framework and the research methodology of Tourism and Travel Competitiveness Index, the paper highlights the main challenges facing the Romania's tourism sector, the Romania’s competitiveness in tourism profile and also Romania's competitive advantages in tourism. The paper analyzes the factors responsible for the poor performance of the Romania’s tourism sector compared to other countries from the region and despite it’s certain touristic potential and concludes that Romania must exploit and properly promote the competitive advantages identified through an integrated, simple and clear strategy.

The paper describes the economical context of the emergence of the social economy, its main characteristics and dimensions; it identifies the similarities and the differences amid the social economy and the liberal economy in particular. As a descriptive-explanatory paper, it develops on the technical literature in order to highlight the importance of this sector within the ensemble of the market economy, the difficulties that it confronts with as a competitive actor and the chances of insuring the sustainability of social enterprises. The conclusions of the paper point to the idea that, despite the obstacles it confronts with, the sector of social economy has availability of development by itself representing an opportunity of increasing the occupational degree by inserting the disadvantaged groups on the labour market.

The research is devoted to the analysis of Romanian exports competitiveness determined by the number of won/lost ranks in the world exports rankings (hierarchy) in 2014 as compared with 2001. The paper reveals the existence of four categories of exports, based on SITC (two digits), classified in function of the decreasing number of won positions in the world exports hierarchy as follows: category I with high competitiveness potential (HCP), 68-33 won positions; category II with competitiveness potential (CP), 29-15 won positions; category III with medium competitiveness potential (MCP),14-8 won positions; category IV with low competitiveness potential (LCP), 7-0 won positions. A comparison is made between Romania and new EU member countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia ) which were positioned upward and downward Romania, within each group of exports by the following three categories (weak, medium and high potential of competitiveness). According to the EU Competitiveness Report on 2015, Romania belongs to the category of EU countries with modest but improving competitiveness. Romania is a country with an emerging economy, which is characterized by a structure of export of goods marked notably by a relatively low share of high-tech groups of approx. 8% (Financial Stability Report, 2015 BNR).One of the main conclusions of the paper is that Romania on international export markets is rather a price-taker than a price-maker due to a relatively low degree of the national exported goods and services. Another conclusion is related to a promising improvement for certain groups of export goods competitiveness especially for the raw materials and semi-products (II-IV group of SITC), where at macro-level the trade balance of Romania is positive, unlike the case of the majority of EU member countries, meaning the necessity to improve and stimulate export diversification especially via smart specialisation and promoting higher value-added product exports.

The importance of achieving a sustainable development was greatly discussed during the last decades, especially due to the negative implications of pollution on the surrounding environment. During such conferences each country was requested to cut down the pollution level. Of course, ideal would be that this diminishing of green house effect gases to be obtained by gradually replacing the present resources we use with those less damaging to the entire planet, replacement which, as we know, cannot be done as a whole, at least not now. In this paper we have focused our attention on the county of Bihor from Romania, county that has both conventional resources, which, as it may be seen here, are heavily exploited, and also important unconventional ones. The paper has two parts: the first part presents in a nutshell the natural background of Bihor County as well as the existent conventional resources and the situation generated by the exploitation of such resources in order to assure the thermal comfort of the inhabitants. In the second part we describe a scenario about the emissions of CO2 in Bihor County, under the conditions of assuring the peoples’ thermal comfort only by burning fossil fuels. The scenario starts from existent data about the average quantity of thermal energy used by one inhabitant of Bihor County corroborated with the manner of obtaining the thermal energy in this part of the country. What it is intended to highlight in this work are the strong ecological implications (and, implicitly the deriving economic and social ones) of using conventional resources in this area, considering that Bihor County sits on a large geothermal water basin.

This paper is intent on highlighting the differences between traditional food products registered in every member state of the EU. The legislative system protecting the 'peculiar, endemic', food products was first introduced in the EU in 1992 and it was implemented in the then - member states.The countries that adhered to the EU in the following years underwent a preparation phase in terms of legislation in order to educate the producers and consumers regarding these regulations.Therefore, some countries have a history of over twenty years in recognizing and registering traditional food products(TFP), whereas newly - entered EU member states have an experience of less than ten years.This can be one of the many reasons underlying the significant discrepancy in the number of traditional food products registered in every EU member state.Throughout the paper we intend to analyse and highlight the number of traditional food products registered in the European Union’ s database– DOORdatabase– by every EU member state, and also provide an overview of their status in the EU.Moreover, throughout the paper we will answer questions such as„ Why does France have 255 traditional food products registered, whereas countries like Romania and Bulgaria only 4 ? “aiming to justify these differences but also present the evolution of the supply of traditional food products over time.To achieve the objectives of our research, we have covered vast literature and we have processed a series of secondary data that were put at our disposal by the databases of the European Commission, the agricultural sector.The results of our research are interesting, and the graphs will help better visualize and understand the status of the supply of traditional food products from a quantitative point of view countrywide.The identified elements as influencing factors in the quantitative supply of traditional food products and their grouping in a series of criteria tantamount to the elements pertaining to the marketing macro - environment reflect in the qualitative results, therefore bringing academic value to the aforementioned paper.The practicality of this paper can be highlighted by emphasizing the need to educate the consumers(well - informed, to know which and how many 'genuine', traditional food products are there) but also the producers (to know how to relate to the competition).

The paper intends to bring to the reader’s attention the importance of understanding the role education plays in creating a good geopolitical position for a state which has a good geographical position, and which is well endowed in natural resources. The case of Romania is the main focus of the paper. There is presented a peculiar strange situation of a country (Romania) which is very well located from geographical point of view but which is incapable to exploit its natural endowments and special location. One reason for this situation is the fact that most people living in present Romania belong to a category named in this paper ‘individuals’. Individuals are not aware of their country’s geography and history, let alone its possible future development possibilities. They do not know the role their country could play, and living in an atomized society, they choose emigration as the easiest way to escape harsh social and economic environment. Contrary to this attitude is that of a citizen, a man conscious about his country’s potential, and which is dedicated to work hardly together with his fellows in order to promote national interests in a peaceful manner. Even there was found remnants of an ancient city close to present day Romanian territory – proves of well endowed environment – moral and psychological factors have contributed after 1990 in an crucial manner to push Romania from its civilization path back to the archaic spirit, from active urban spirit to rural mentality. In such a situation it is not uncommon for a nation to lose its means for projecting power, which could promote the value and the importance of a geographical position – transportation; rural mentality has nothing to do with modern transportation as they are technical tools with geopolitical essence for controlling space. It is a well known fact that transportation and geopolitics are closely interrelated. Furthermore, social dissolution in post communist Romania is identified in population reduction’s number, in missing trust in her successful evolution, falling agriculture and deforestation. All these negative aspects have pushed back Romania from geopolitical point of view. As solution for regaining its geopolitical role, Romanian must have an educated population, which would be conscious about the important connection between geography and education, and between Romania’s geographical position and the needed tools for promoting it from geopolitical point of view. Cough between East and West, Romania belongs to both areas; much more, in the context of climate change, Romania’s land, fresh water, and cheap water transport possibilities on Danube and Black Sea (and well beyond it) must be used at their real capacities. Only in that moment Romania’s special geographical position will made Romania an active geopolitical actor, helping Romanians to determine its fate in a sustainable manner.

Present paper tackles several research paradigms regarding tax compliance behavior that have been used to understand tax evasion phenomenon and tax avoidance behavior of the taxpayer. These notions have been studied by numerous researchers all over the world as phenomenon of tax evasion has a debating issue on every state agenda for several decades. First economic model of tax compliance behavior was developed in the early 1970s and since then researchers improved the model adding new elements from sociology, psychology, legal studies, finance, game theory, neurosciences, econophysics and others. This paper presents the most important developments of current theories regarding tax compliance behavior starting from the economics-of-crime model,till the 'slippery slope framework ', and more. It creates the premises for a Romanian model of tax compliance behavior according to national characteristics regarding taxpayers attitude towards tax avoidance, risk appetite or aversion upon enforcement of law through punishment and penalty, taxpayers’ trust in authority’s efficient spending of tax collected revenue to public budget and personal beliefs regarding notions like morality, cheating, honesty, social responsibility, loyalty, patriotism, civic duty, guilt, fairness, reciprocity or financial incentives. Recent models of tax compliance behavior underline the importance of the dynamics between all the actors involved in the fiscal system such as government, tax authorities, tax consultants and accountants and the behavior of all other taxpayers as a whole. Current research trends believe that these are mutually related. Another important aspect regarding taxpayer’s attitude towards tax avoidance is its own motivation to voluntarily pay taxes driven by intrinsic beliefs or by fear of penalty coming from enforcement of laws. On the contrary, other taxpayers choose to assume an extra share of risk and decide to avoid taxes hiding in anonymity of masses. This paper intends to study the relevance of current models in tax compliance behavior applied to Romanian fiscal system.

The purpose of this paper is to examine, from an empirical point of view, the relations between leadership and the formation and implementation of a creativity supportive organizational environment. Employee creativity has proven to be, in recent years, extremely important when it comes to organizational efficiency and performance and, also, when it comes to gaining sustainable competitive advantages. Furthermore, employee creativity produces solutions to different organizational problems, solutions that have the ability to transform the organization into a highly innovative one. The goal of this paper is to seek out relevant correlations between different variables related to organizational leadership, especially transformational leadership and organizational creativity. The findings presented in this paper are generated by the answers provided by over 200 questionnaires gathered from companies located in North – Western Romania and contribute to the creation of an organizational model focused on the active support of creativity by revealing a series of characteristics and activities that leaders need to present and perform in order to encourage employee creativity. It is paramount that leaders provide employees with sufficient liberty and maneuvering space so that they can better put into practice their creative abilities and generate innovative solutions, but also it is important for leaders to offer their support and guidance when the situation asks for this. Furthermore, as you will be able to see in this paper, leaders need to create an organizational settlement that will motivate employees to set their own standards and to make constant efforts to surpass these standards, in other words, to become more efficient and to always seek new ways of improving their work. The findings of this paper allow managers and leaders to better understand some elements that influence employee creativity and provide them with the knowledge necessary to implements an organizational environments focused on creativity.

Environmental pollution represents one of the problems that humanity is facing right now, problems that create a series of economic, ecologic and social consequences. This paper wishes to identify by presenting concrete data, some of the negative effects that occurred as a result of the increase of pollution on global scale, for example like the rise of global temperature. Starting with the industrial revolution but especially with the increase of the population’s needs, desires, interests that occurred during the last decades, environmental pollution intensified to an extent that we could even consider alarming. A main effect which can be easily observed by each and every person without the need to perform measurements, is the climate warming which has a series of consequences, like for example: drought, natural disasters, decrease in agricultural production, fires (especially wildfires which reduce the population of wild animals), etc. So the effects of global warming are not just ecologic but also economic and social. Another aspect analyzed in this paper is the rise of the seas’ and oceans’ temperature which inevitably results in the decrease of the population of fish and aquatic animals. The melting of glaciers is another negative effect of the climate warming which is discussed in this paper, effect which is responsible for numerous floods that result from the rise of the sea levels causing numerous damages, the most affected people being those living in the vicinity of waters. During floods, phenomenon which occurs more and more often, drainage channels are overused many times not being able to handle the huge quantities of water, thus favoring the multiplication and spreading of rodents. There are evidences showing that the number of cases of diseases transmitted by rodents increases during natural disasters, which occur more and more often during the last decades.

The importance of human resources in modern companies has raised several research issues in the specialized literature. One of particular importance concerns the approach to human resources management practices. The research papers have revealed two main approaches - the administrative and the strategic one. The second orientation proved to be the one that generated different debates. The strategic perspective implies the existence of differences in practice concerning the development of specific human resources activities within the companies. The results of several specialised studies concerning the human resources management practices within Romanian companies were presented. We considered it necessary in order to understand the situation of this particular field and its specific approach in the companies located in our country. This paper aims to analyze the use of such approach in companies located in Constanta county, through an empirical study. It intends to investigate whether there are major differences concerning the assessment of the importance of specific practices (human resources planning, training, performance appraisal, and career management) between the companies having a human resources strategy and the ones without a human resources strategy. It also aims to investigate if the importance granted to the above mentioned set of practices varies function of the size of the company (number of employees). The research tool used was a questionnaire distributed to human resources managers or to other persons in charge of the specific human resources activities. A total of 75 questionnaires were distributed between October – November 2015, and 62 were returned filled in. The results of the study are in line with results of previous studies regarding human resources management practices in Romanian companies. Namely, the results indicated that the perceived importance of human resources planning and training was significantly different in companies having a human resources strategy from the ones without a human resources strategy. Moreover, the level of the perceived importance of the specific practices considered in the analysis (human resources planning, training, performance appraisal, and career management) varies significantly function of company size. The relevance of the present study is heralded by the interesting revealed facets of human resources management practices in Romanian companies, and represents a starting point for further research on the two main approaches on human resources management – the strategic approach vs. the administrative one.

Today we are living in a flat world, a place where all the economies are competing with each other from different perspectives. This paper will not be only about the fiscal competition, but also about the minimum wage which can provide some competitive advantages to the companies enlisted in the European Union countries. The issue is not about the developed countries, economically speaking, but about those who are in no such conditions. In the first part of the paper there will be some fiscal competition details presented: direct and indirect taxes, income tax rates, social security contributions and many other aspects which concern the fiscal policy of the member countries of the European Union. After that, will be tested the nature, the strength and the intensity of the correlation between those fiscal aspects and the minimum wages that are applied in these countries. The paper will try to prove if these elements of those two categories are, together, able to provide some competitive advantages to the economies which are less economically developed. In this respect, the paper will use data from European statistics – EUROSTAT, and, also, data from the fiscal and the social authorities in the member countries of the E.U. Based on these facts, the paper will conclude whether a link could be established between minimum wage and fiscal elements, on one hand, and some economic advantages for some of the member countries, on the other hand. All these, with a result in an increase in the economic balance, in order to align the less developed countries with the advanced ones in this perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to present preliminary specific issues concerning the vision and the strategic thinking of the managers of Romanian fast growing firms in the years of rapid growth. This paper clarifies two research questions. (1) The first research question is what is the message of the manager's vision of the Romanian fast growing firms? Therefore, we must first verify if the managers of the Romanian fast growing firms have a concrete vision about the business they run and if so, what is the vision of the managers about the companies that they lead? (2) The second research question is what findings can be drawn about the role of strategic thinking of the managers in the management of the Romanian fast growing firms? The research that we have conducted is a qualitative research. The research method that we used is the interview. The interview is specific to qualitative research. Regarding the method of analysis that we used it is the content analysis. The research was conducted on a total of 17 Romanian fast growing firms that are located in Timiș County. The firms were identified based on a specific selection criteria set after a thorough review of the literature in the field. The 17 companies that we have analysed represent the foundation of 17 in-depth case studies, which we believe helped us to better understand what it means in the Romanian context to grow fast, through the entrepreneurs managers vision and strategic thinking. The results presented in this paper come to strengthen the results reached by other researchers in this field. The results present an image of the current Romanian context – about the role of strategic thinking of the entrepreneur manager in the management of Romanian fast growing firms. The paper presents a detailed analysis of managers' vision of the Romanian fast growing firms. The paper also presents findings about the role of strategic thinking in helping managers achieve rapid growth in the Romanian context.

This paper aims to develop a conceptual model used in the empiric testing of a firm’s marketing capabilities and describe the effects of these capabilities over organizational performance. Previous research explains performance differences between firms through the resource-based view and the structure-conduct-performance paradigm. Criticism towards these two perspectives, emerging from absence of a low competitive level market, lack of an explanation towards the manner in which resources are developed and how these need to be exploited to generate a competitive advantage and the shortage of solutions in dynamic environments has determined the development of the marketing capabilities perspective. Because of these limits, many of the studies in the area of strategic marketing reported a misperception of managers towards marketing and thus the focus of managers only on the operational dimension of marketing. A firm’s marketing capabilities represent a multidimensional construct, a combination of human assets, market and organizational assets. The present research uses results collected through the processing of 121 questionnaires completed by large Romanian companies, and tests the existence of marketing capabilities and their effects on organizational performance in these firms through simple linear regression. The constructs’ measurement scales are determined to be reliable because the Alpha Cronbach value exceeds 0.6. Validity of the constructs was proven through the use of factor analysis. Thus, the paper confirms the existence of marketing capabilities on a firm’s level and its positive effect on performance. One major contribution of the present study is that it offers an addendum to empirical data on the effects of marketing capabilities over organizational performance available in literature.

The new European migration wave poses extreme consequences for the balance of the European Union, as it was showed by the last trimester of 2015 and the first trimester of 2016.The German politic, unanimously adopted by all state members, is seeing some serious cracks, especially in economic terms. This paper aims to look at the real economic implications the migration wave has upon the European Union and determine whether the influence of such a high number of migrants might help the Union diminish its economic debts or, on the contrary, will most likely pose a threat to the system. The extensive literature in the field is highly up to date, which determines the research process to be one relevant for future inquiries. Already, Europe finds itself in one of the most risky situations after the World War II – protecting its boarders from the outside, as well as from the inside. Latest terrorist attacks that took place in Europe (in Paris two times, in Ankara, as well as in Brussels) confirm that the continent is on the verge of losing the fight against terrorism, as the phenomenon seems to already propagate within its own foreign communities. The latest terrorism actions were conducted by European citizens of foreign ethnicity, which can only make one wonder what will the main effect of embracing even larger foreign communities of migrants, within the heart of Europe, be in the upcoming years. The paper will also look closely at one of the most foreseen negative effect of massive migration in Europe – the possible resurgence of terrorism in the area. Albeit the differences between various European communities is striking, European authorities must find a way to determine everyone cope as one, or else the future of the European Union’s borders as they are today is in danger. The qualitative methodology used in the present article focuses on a relevant literature, as well as specific data received and interpreted from reliable first-party sources: International Monetary Fund, Eurostat, Global Terrorism Index, Global Terrorism Database, OECD, etc.

In our paper we have dealt with the biomass-based energy production during the agricultural production, since the sustainable energy management is one of the most actual issues. In our paper we have dealt with the biomass-based energy production during the agricultural production, since the sustainable energy management is one of the most actual issues. In our research we wanted to know how much renewable energy could be produced on a field of 1800 hectares with five plants (silage maize, Lucerne, wheat, maize, sunflower). Data of the energy content were collected from literature, all other data were collected from a company in the Northern Great Plain Region with 1800 hectares and the information from the Institute of Agricultural Engineering (IAE). Besides, we analysed how much income could be reached and for what the produced energy could be used, what demand it could meet by replacing fossil energy sources having high environmental pressure. Crop production technologies applied in the model were set up by the practical experiences of a real agricultural company. Working operations were set on a monthly basis with the assignment of prime mover – machinery relations. The material needs of the working operations were also set (fertilizers, pesticides, sowings, twines, silage foil) where it was needed. To answer our research question two model variants were elaborated. In the first model variant the five crops were competed by the maximum energy content, and in the second variant by the maximum gross margin. Production optimization was done for 1800 hectares. We supposed that 100% of the plant products are marketed (animal farms are not considered), and in the model only raw material production is done (further processing of plant products for energy purposes are not part of this analysis). Besides, we supposed that these five plants will be used as: by-products (wheat straw, maize stem, sunflower stem) and Lucerne hay by direct combustion; bioethanol from wheat

Purchased Goodwill appears when a company acquires another company. It can be defined as an intangible asset that arises as a result of the acquisition of one company by another for a premium value. International accounting bodies such as the IASC or the FASB require acquiring firms to record goodwill as an asset when they purchase a target firm and pay more than the fair market value of the identifiable net assets of that firm. As a consequence of these regulations, the goodwill appears in accounts of a company only when it acquires certain intangible assets that are not identifiable. Because the purchased goodwill arises in business combinations this concept is detailed in the standards on business combinations (FAS 141 and IFRS 3) rather than those on intangible assets and goodwill (FAS 142 and IAS 38). In this paper I present the modality in which is perceived currently the purchased goodwill and its components. In the present it is considered that the purchased goodwill is the result of an evaluation made by the bidding company over the target company and appreciating the contribution of it to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the purchaser. Goodwill is perceived as the sum of the present values of the additional cash-flows that can be generated at the level of acquiring company as result of acquisition. The sources of these future additional cash-flows are considered, in the present, unidentifiable intangible assets of the target company and the estimated synergies between entities that will combine. In the final part of my working paper I have analysed the level and the components of the goodwill that was paid in the Microsoft-Nokia transaction. As is reflected in the Microsoft Annual Report 2015 (Note 9 Business Combination), “the goodwill had a proportion of 37% in the value of total acquired assets and, was primarily attributed to the increased synergies that were expected to be achieved from the integration of NDS “. In this paper I present the results of my analysis related by the types of synergies that was estimated to be obtained as result of this transaction.

Economic development and social empowerment in Romania are unconcievable in the absence of a modern education system, which needs both economic and financial investments and social, political, cultural measures to increase the inclusion of young people in school system. In this particular context, given that Romania faces a high degree rate of school dropout, and moreover there are few chances that Romania reach its goals, we try in this paper to look inside the real situation. Indeed, school dropout present serious negative consequences both on individual level and for the whole society. Recognising this fact, next step is to investigate and reveal the determining factors for this situation, and we are particularly interested in the economic and systemic factors. Consequently, we present in this paper first a brief literature review on the fenomenon of school dropping out, including reviewing main studies related to factors, effects, causes etc. In the second part, starting from several statistical data provided by INS, EUROSTAT and UNICEF studies, we propose some theoretical models and policy reccomendations in order to decrease the school dropout rate and especially the early school dropout rate.

The present paper is part of a larger study that aims to identify some of the factors that have a great impact on the quantum of the damages awarded in ICSID cases. The driver of this study is the high level of the damages awarded in this sort of disputes between foreign investors and the host state. In 2012 the ICSID tribunal awarded more than 1.77 billion USD for a breach of Fair and Equitable Treatment standard and indirect expropriation by Ecuador. Another reason for choosing this subject is the increasing number of the cases judged at this Centre. The analytical method used for analysing the determination relation between the identified factors and the quantum of the damages is the linear regression analysis. For the data collection were used as many cases’ awards as could been found published on the official site, from which were selected the cases were damages were awarded, in number of 30. For all the analysis made the statistical signification was followed and additional statistics trimming methods used, were necessary. The first factor that had been chosen was the value of damages requested, the calculations showing the impact assumed for it. The reasons beside this selection are pretty obvious: it is the most obvious factor on which the arbitrator can rely, it has the same nature of value, and it’s based on an expert’s report of damages’ valuation. There is plenty room for further analysis, this only representing the starting point, but is very important step in configuring the data base on which the following analysis will be set. For each case studied there are other characteristics, beside the value of damages requested, that were extracted and presented in order to determinate there impact or the lack of impact. For these factors is needed a preparation operation of pondering because of their nature, non-numerical, so that these will be the subject of a further analysis. The importance of this paper is also given by the definitions of the elements used in the factors’ impact analysis.