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The activity of companies with foreign capital is more often in the center of attention of the public opinion, researchers and public authorities considering the positive effects but also the negative externalities that it generates on the economies of the host countries. With the liberalization of capital movements, FDI was consider the panacea that could solve all economic, environmental and social problems in the host less developed countries, but the reality is much more complex. In order to test if foreign direct investment (FDI) is caused by competitiveness in case of Romania, we considered FDI inflows externalities for national economy, net inflows (% of GDP) and Competitiveness index for the time period 2007-2018. The econometric methodology used to model FDI and Competitiveness Index is Granger Causality. The results of the study suggest that there is a unidirectional causality, flowing from Competitiveness Index to foreign direct investment. Thus, in case of Romania, foreign direct investment represents the result of competitiveness, FDI does not influence Competitiveness index.

The significance of sustainability has been increasing and also financial organizations adopted a broad view of their purposes to serve all stakeholders. It is important to respond to their social impact. The purpose to empower the digital economy can be achieved through being reliable and enhancing access to financial services to include everyone in the digital economy while cash is used less frequently. The digital transformation can have the potential for expanding access of disadvantaged or unbanked groups to financial services and reduce poverty. Financial inclusion aims at integrating economic agents into the financial system in order to improve economic development but also quality of life. Financial inclusion through digitalization enables accessible and available financial services to people and companies and hence, facilitates to implementation of Sustainable Development Goals. This paper explores the relationship between digitalization, financial inclusion, poverty and sustainability for Balkan countries. It discusses the potential of financial inclusion for economic development. The paper concludes that digitalization improves accessibility to financial services and contributes to the accomplishment of Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, Remittance inflow, globalization and compliance with the law (measured as role of law index) decreasing poverty in these countries.

Financial inclusion is an increasingly intense issue that is of concern to the credit institutions and the public authorities. It has become topical and gained new value during this period of Covid-19 crisis. Although financial exclusion cuts across demographic categories, but certain categories of financial consumers such as women, young people, people with disabilities and those residing in rural areas have a low presence in the financial services sector. Previous studies attribute the incidence of financial exclusion of some segment of the society to low income, low level of financial education or difficult access to financial products and services generated by poor development of physical infrastructure. Is this true in the case of ASEAN region? A quantitative research approach was adopted in this study, while relying on the secondary data of the World Bank spanning 2011-2017, the UN Women ASEAN Gender Outlook report (2020 -2021), and enriched by scholarly works. The article focuses on the dimensions of the phenomenon of financial inclusion in ASEAN countries, with emphasis on the gender gap financial inclusion. The analysis of the extracted data reveals multiple differences among the countries in the region, a fact that can be explained by the different levels of financial technology development and the governmental interventions implemented to improve financial inclusion. On the strength of the findings, this paper argues that digitalization and financial innovation can also be solutions through which new consumers can be attracted to the financial system, but with these solutions come new challenges related to the protection of personal data and cyber security. For this reason, we believe that increasing financial inclusion must be approached at several levels and must involve joint efforts by public authorities, credit institutions and other categories of stakeholders.

The pandemic is seen as an opportunity to further advance in business ethics. Prof. Freeman called academics to contribute to developing more ethical business models. Businesses have been revising their missions towards more ethical business models as the pandemic has changed attitudes to life. Society expects that companies will serve human beings rather than solely maximization of profit to their stakeholders. This research is motivated by analyzing the importance of teaching business ethics. This research has looked into the directions of business education in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics. The article intends to highlight the potential of CSR education in overcoming the pandemic crisis and increasing the wellbeing of society. This desk research underlines the standpoint of universities whether they should teach business ethics or CSR at the business faculties, and analyzes the educational programs of the business faculties to find out their attitude towards teaching of CSR/ethics.

The financial market is in a process of metamorphosis, the international crises being determining factors in the reconfiguration process. In addition, the stakeholders attitude reshapes the different components of the financial markets. Financial consumers have become a force that requires financial institutions to adopt honest and ethical behavior. Portfolio investors also sanction, by specific methods, the inappropriate behavior of companies towards the environment or local communities or encourage listed companies that carry out corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. The stock exchanges and the authorities that supervise and regulate the segments of the financial market are promoters of CSR, both through the power of the example and through specific programs. In this dynamic context, the article aims to carry out an analysis regarding the contribution of financial market actors on promoting the principles of sustainable development and the principles of Global Compact in national economies. The article focuses on the process of financial education in several European countries. The authors identified and analyzed five financial education platforms in selected European countries. The analysis of the statistical data reveals a low interest of financial consumers, especially from the countries from the former communist bloc.