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The present paper will focus on test design and development with a particular emphasis on how to devise comprehensive tests for students who attend a course on English for business (BE) purposes, a course which is aimed at enhancing students’ grammar, reading, vocabulary, and writing skills at B1 Level. In the introductory section, we are discussing the basic typology of tests as well as their purposes, with particular attention to assessing the skills of BE students. Special consideration will be given to the five phases used when devising a new BE test. Moreover, we will attempt to clarify several aspects concerning test-takers, i.e. BE students. The issues of grading and establishing optimal facility values of test items are also tackled. Some final recommendations on test design conclude our analysis.

Balneary tourism represents an essential segment of the economy and the tourism sector, addressing essential requirements for maintaining health and well-being. Implementing quality strategies and sustainability measures is essential for thriving in a competitive environment and securing customer loyalty. This paper aims to identify the most relevant quality strategies and sustainability measures applied within the Romanian spa tourism market and their impact on attracting and retaining tourists. The research’s findings emphasize the critical role of quality and sustainability in boosting Romanian spa tourism’s competitiveness and attracting and retaining tourists. Spa tourism in Romania is valued for its therapeutic benefits, environmental quality, and year-round services, with recent economic growth leading to modernization. Quality strategies like ISO 9001:2015 certification, quality differentiation, and new technologies are crucial, though not widely recognized. Sustainability measures, such as efficient resource use, are increasingly necessary to consumers, enhancing the competitiveness of Romanian spa tourism.

Many of the industries need to adopt digital technologies to improve the overall activity. The hospitality industry is no exception, one of the means which enables the businesses to enhance their services and the interaction with customers is the use of QR codes. The purpose of the article was to explore the effects of the QR codes adoption in the activities of restaurants and cafes, emphasizing its important role in improving operational processes. The research performed among various restaurant and cafes owners, using semi-structured interviews, investigated how the QR codes were integrated in the day-to-day activity and the perceived impact. Furthermore, it explored the benefits, challenges and the plans for using this technology. The results provided a detailed analysis on how the QR codes were integrated, offering useful insights on how digital tools are improving businesses and the relationship with the customers.

This paper provides a critical review of the climate university literature. Higher education institutions have increased their climate initiatives among students and society. Climate changes is becoming more and more present in daily activities. Whether it is about carbon dioxide emissions or deforestation, the social and economic consequences of climate change are challenging for each country in the world. Of all the institutions, universities play the most important role in educating people regarding the negative effects of climate change. While some universities use their own resources for this cause, others write plans and attract European projects to fund climate change objectives. The aim of this paper is to review the latest insights on Climate University. For this purpose, the paper analysed a database of scientific papers extracted from the Web of Science. The results underline the decisive role that higher education institutions play in promoting the fight against the causes of climate change. Society must understand the challenges of climate change and further develop solutions to address them. The new insights offered by this paper may be worthwhile for different stakeholders interested in climate change issues.

This study examines the relationships between ascribed responsibility, uses and gratifications, behavioural involvement, and visit intentions among Sicilian tourists using virtual reality (VR) to explore Romanian rural ecotourism destinations. Utilizing the Uses and Gratifications theory, it investigates how VR content's informativeness, playfulness, and social interactivity impact user engagement and behavioural intentions. Findings reveal that higher ascribed responsibility enhances gratifications from VR experiences, which increases behavioural involvement, essential for ecotourism. However, ascribed responsibility alone does not directly influence visit intentions, indicating the role of additional factors. A significant contribution of this research is the identification of a serial mediation model where uses and gratifications and behavioural involvement totally mediate the ascribed responsibility-visit intention relationship. This model highlights the complex interplay between cognitive, affective, and behaviouralresponses, demonstrating that ascribed responsibility enhances uses and gratifications, leading to increased behavioural involvement and, ultimately, visit intentions. The study extends the Uses and Gratifications theory into VR and ecotourism, emphasizing environmental responsibility in media engagement. Practical implications include strategies for tourism marketers to foster environmental responsibility and for VR developers to create engaging, informative, and interactive experiences. Policymakers can use these insights to promote sustainable tourism through supportive VR content development.

Taxation plays a fundamental role in creating a fair society and building a strong economy. Through a well-structured tax system, it is possible to eliminate income inequalities and reduce production costs, including the labour costs. Fiscal policy can also have a large influence on employment decisions, investment levels and business expansion, all of which lead to stronger economic growth. At the same time, labour taxation plays an essential role in regulating imbalances on the labour market, influencing both labour supply and labour demand, through the impact on labour costs. Under such context, our paper aims to carry out a cluster analysis among the 27 EU member states to investigate how developed nations handle taxation of citizens’ income and where Romania ranks in terms of fiscality, earnings and labour costs among European countries. Using a set of relevant indicators, we were able to group countries into 3 clusters and to differentiate between developed economies with a robust tax system and less developed economies with a tax system with frequent changes leading to a lack of predictability.

In the current context of globalization and technological integration, performance management in educational organizations becomes fundamental to ensure the quality of education and to meet the requirements of the beneficiaries. This paper explores epistemological contents and specific paradigms of performance management, emphasizing the need for continuous quality improvement in the relationship with the beneficiaries of educational services. It argues that performance, a managerial concept quantifiable through efficiency and effectiveness, represents a subjective reality, interpretable and oriented towards achieving the organization’s objectives. The epistemological approach to performance management includes principles and standards that facilitate the alignment of human resources, organizational culture, and communication system to enhance organizational performance. Performance evaluation tools, such as management based on profit centers, management by objectives, and balanced scorecard, are discussed in the context of their adaptation to the specifics of the pre-university education system. The study emphasizes the importance of communication and the need to improve the information system in school organizations, to enhance efficiency and effectiveness, as well as to increase the quality of educational services. The paper proposes an integrated approach to the paradigm of performance management, complementary to that of quality management, to meet the contemporary challenges in education.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as an innovative technology with considerable potential to revolutionize industries and societies globally. This article examines artificial intelligence in the field of management, highlighting the potential that Artificial Intelligence holds to support sustainability in the business environment through various applications. The study conducts a bibliometric analysis of the specialized literature from scientific publications related to Artificial Intelligence and sustainable solutions, identifying key areas where Artificial Intelligence makes significant contributions to promoting sustainability in business management.

Digitization has seen an impressive evolution in recent years, felt at the level of all industries and activities. The processes managed until recently by human capital have started to be digitized, a transformation that can be perceived both as an opportunity and as a threat to the human resources involved in carrying out those activities. The current work aims to summarize the impact that digital transformation has had and still has on activities, as well as the ways in which the automation of some processes can be transformed from a threat into an opportunity, with a direct impact on increasing competitiveness and productivity, on streamlining processes, as well as reducing the incidence of human errors. Also, daily activities performed by human resources are influenced by digitalization, therefor we will focus also on threats and opportunities for people in their personal live.

Digitalization is currently transforming labor markets and the sustainable development of our society, as technologies are constantly worldwide integrated into everyday life and digitally skills are becoming a must on the labor market. Under such context, our paper aims to carry out a cluster analysis among the 27 EU member states to investigate how digitalization has shaped the EU labor market so far and to pinpoint the main similarities among the EU countries in terms of digitalization, economic development and sustainability. The resulting clusters may be used to characterise the EU economy in connection to the two fundamental social transitions that are currently taking place, digitalization and sustainability, with the aim of emphasizing the key features of the component countries. Using a set of relevant indicators, we were able to group the countries into 3 clusters and to differentiate between digitalized and sustainable economies and the least digitalized or with less sustainable economic developments countries.

Companies face a diverse range of challenges and opportunities that have a significant impact on their long-term sustainability. This range includes factors such as climate change, resource limitations, urbanization and technological advances. Investors should evaluate the impact of these factors on companies to guide their investment choices. Stakeholders worldwide are looking to assess how companies manage sustainability risks and opportunities. They need access to standardized, comparable data, essential information in the decision-making process. The paper explores integrating sustainability standards in investment and governance, focusing on the ISSB's impact. Objectives include assessing their effectiveness for investor information, enhancing transparency, and promoting sustainable finance. The research analyzes the evolution, specific goals, and implications of these standards on decision-making and reporting.

The relationship between accounting and taxation is quite controversial in the contemporary global context, due to the fact that there is no convergence and harmonization especially in what concerns the tax national rules and regulations. The main purpose of the research is quantifying the relationship between accounting and taxation by means of analytical accounting procedures and regression analysis and determining the degree of connection or disconnection between the two domains. As operational objectives, the research establishes whether accounting is dependent in practice on taxation, that is, if the fiscal rules influence the quality of the accounting information and determines the degree of influence that taxation has on the accounting information, policies and decisions. The research involved the use of SPSS statistical software version 22 and Microsoft Excel as methodological tools, the sources for the primary data, representing the economic and financial indicators of the entities included in the analysis, were extracted from the databases of the Ministry of Finance. The main results showed that taxation and accounting are connected in practice, the degree of influence tax rules and regulations have on the accounting information, policies and decisions, being quantified at 43,9%, a very high percentage that is justified by the specific regulations of the analyzed economic sector. Over time, the influence of taxation on accounting registers a fluctuating evolution, determined by the frequent changes of the tax legislative framework. Thus, if in 2018 the influence was quantified at 73,5%, in 2015 the influence was of only 10,1%.

In the process of running a company, situations arise every day that require leaders to take a closer look at the fundamental decisions that must be implemented to keep the organization alive and, if possible, to gradually develop it. A manager knows that overly broad goals can create a business plan that is difficult to control and enforce. Therefore, the goals of a business must be narrow enough to allow the company's resources to focus effectively on its accomplishments, because nothing is more damaging to a small business than trying to do too much at the beginning, with just enough comprehensive for a company to grow and reach its potential. The objectives chosen should also include information about the scale the business hopes to achieve. The established objectives are then translated into execution missions and operational plans, explained and detailed in the business plan. The success or failure of a business plan is evaluated at the end of the planning period based on the achievement of previously established objectives.

The road to entrepreneurship is sometimes a bumpy one, full of unexpected detours, obstacles and dead ends. There have been cases where after many sleepless nights, plans didn't work out, funding didn't materialise and customers never materialised. Starting a business is so difficult that one might question why anyone would want to embark on such a path. Despite these difficulties, thousands of people embark on the entrepreneurial journey every day, determined to realise their vision and meet the needs of society. They open concrete businesses, launch technology startups or turn ideas into new products or services. So if there is the right motivation and inspiration, and the right game plan, then anyone can become a successful entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs identify a need that cannot be met by existing businesses and determine a solution to that need. Entrepreneurship involves developing and starting a new business and implementing a business marketing plan, often with the ultimate goal of selling the business for profit.

Artificial intelligence (AI) sparked the attention of both researchers and the business community worldwide and has become a buzzword. Similarly, (business) sustainability emerged as a prominent and pivotal concept. Given the rapid evolution of the technological advancement in AI and its potential impact(s), this paper aims to identify the ways in which AI crosses paths with business sustainability, to provide an overview of the topic and to uncover research trends using a bibliometric approach. In order to reach the research goal of the paper, we investigated the academic literature published and indexed in Scopus database using computer assisted quantitative techniques on bibliometric data and with the help of VOSviewer we visually emphasized the interconnections between fields and results. Ultimately, the present paper intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the symbiotic relationship between AI and business sustainability, by providing insights that are purposed to enhance the academic discourse in a rapidly evolving domain.

The way in which virtual assistants can influence the marketing paradigm through various uses within the interactive media, present on the web, within eCommerce websites, but also through indirect action, starting from social media, is a very complex and interesting process, which is worth studying. From the perspective of virtual assistants, all consumer buying behavior models are a simplification of reality, since there can be many other sub-models which can be derived from the main ones. The objective pursued within this research has been the presentation of the impact of the use of intelligent virtual assistants on the direct marketing activity of the companies, and the correlation with consumer behavior, especially in terms of the different decision levels and the way in which it is being supported.

The investigation of consumer buying behavior represents an attraction for both academic marketing specialists and practitioners. Deciphering, interpreting, and influencing the complex process of how individuals think and act when they are searching, selecting, and purchasing a product/service or brand are concerns as tempting as they are difficult to achieve, sometimes, from a theoretical and practical point of view. The two-year period of the COVID-19 pandemic has attracted changes in people's social and professional lives, including within the manifestation of purchasing behavior for different groups of products or services. The objective of this article is to identify the changes in the buying behavior of customers for the group of jewellery products, during the pandemic, through analyzing the evolution of the sales volume, by product range, recorded at the level of a store in Constanța, which belongs to a wellknown company on the Romanian marketplace.

Innovation is essential in the development of well-established companies, and economies. Companies that place a high priority on innovation are better prepare to overcome obstacles and to identify new growth opportunities. However, developing an effective innovation strategy can be a difficult and complicated task. To study the way innovation is approached in food organizations, in Romania, was carried out exploratory research, structured on 5 important topics: how organizations are defining innovations, what kind of innovations are developed, how innovation is implemented and managed, what measurement methods are used, and which is the strategy for the innovation management. The aim of the paper is to point out the commonalities and dissimilarities in the definition and process of innovation in small and medium organizations in parallel with big organizations. The authors could reveal important aspects to be considered for an innovation management model that could fit all food businesses, regardless of size.

The state's role in the prevention and control of unemployment rate and the various problems reported by local communities and administrations was, during the Great Depression, quite active, through the establishment of some special commissions for helping the persons who did not have the possibility to find a place to work, and the possibilities to help them financially and materially. The aim of this study is to research, especially in archival documents, the main issues related to labor market and different problems, as they were reported in Bucovina during this period, and also the manner in which the authorities tried to solve these problems. The results highlights the severe economical situation of the commune's inhabitants, fact owed both to the natural and human causes, such as natural hazards, the reduction of commodity markets for industrial and manufactured products through the restriction of imports and exportation, restrictive legal measures in the exploitation of different resources, like the forestry ones, etc.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has had a significant impact on the country's tourism industry, with many regions becoming inaccessible or unattractive due to safety concerns. VR tourism in war zones, a form of tourism that involves visiting areas affected by conflict, disaster, or civil unrest, has become a topic of interest in the context of the war in Ukraine. To investigate the intention to use VR tourism in the war zone, an integrated framework was proposed by combining key elements such as interest in VR tourism in the war zone and the technology acceptance model (TAM). A sample of 121 respondents was collected in January 2021, and hypotheses were tested using a PLS-SEM model. This research tested a conceptual model that showed that the intention to use VR tourism in the war zone was influenced by perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and attitude toward the use of VR tourism in the war zone, all partially or fully mediated by people's interest in VR tourism in the war zone. This paper has theoretical and managerial implications

Multicultural relations have become a characteristic feature of global economic and social reality. The ever-increasing mobility of the workforce has led to a significant growth in its organisational heterogeneity. Understanding the climate induced by the ethnic diversity of the workforce and the way that performance can be improved at organisational level, have become management priorities in a multicultural environment as these elements are indicators of success. This study aims to highlight the relationships between the level of intercultural communication (IC) and cultural intelligence (CQ) at the individual level. The sociological survey, based on a questionnaire, was the basic element in obtaining primary information. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 367 people working in multinational companies in Romania. The results were processed by econometric methods using SPSS software. The study highlights the direct and positive links between levels of intercultural communication (IC) and cultural intelligence (CQ) at the individual level. The results of the study are only valid at the national level. In order to increase the relevance of the results, we consider it necessary to extend the sample by including more people. By conducting this study, we highlight the importance of having a high level of IC, a level that induces a significant increase in CQ value at the individual level, and also a high willingness to perform in a multicultural organisation. This study is a first at the national level because the links between IC and CQ levels have not been the subject of an experimental analysis before.

Labour market in this world has many diversities depending on the country in which every country has a different policy to provide or assist their population. Based on the world development plans, the world government aims to increase the labour force in order to improve the economic performance, which means government sector, business sector, and international firms require a huge amount of work forces to operate their own organization. So the requirements of the workplace mostly need employees that are satisfied to work, have labour skills and reliable on development and profitability to their firm. Currently, Laos is about to getting forward from undeveloped country to developing country, which it is also effect directly to Ministry of Education, and Sport of Laos such create policy for support the development on education field. According to this, most of the firms also expect that their future employees should at least graduate with a bachelor degree. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to show how the issue of employment is currently developing in Laos based on the results of the questionnaire.

Innovation and investment are critical to economic growth. In this article, we address the complex task of evaluating the capacity of regional innovation to increase investment and generate spillovers in regions of the European Union (EU) from both spatial and temporal perspectives. Using panel data estimation methods and exploring the effects of dynamic spatial autocorrelation, our findings show a positive spatial autocorrelation at the level of EU regions. We also observed spatial competition, both in terms of the distribution of investments and in terms of the diffusion of short-term innovation gains. We argue that, in the short term, EU regions tend to behave as competitors for investment fixing, but in the long run, innovation has the potential to generate spillover effects on neighbouring regions. Furthermore, we find that investment patterns were characterized by a significant temporal autocorrelation, showing that shocks to investment in regions tend to be absorbed in a few periods. This paper attempts to fill existing gaps by using estimation methods for dynamic spatial panel data to identify and explore the effects of regional innovation on investment for the 154 European Union regions, and reports original findings as regards the knowledge spillover across European regions.

The present paper analyzes the impact of social media platforms on international tourism, focusing on the Romanian tourists. This research is conducted taking into consideration the different generations, especially the Generation X (born 1965-1980), Millennials (born 1981-1995) and Generation Z (born 1996-2012), as well as the three key temporal moments in the travel planning and related decision-making process: before the trip, during the trip, and after the trip. Besides, as the COVID-19 medical crisis has redefined the global tourism industry and tourists’ behavior, an analysis of its impact on the Romanian market and tourists was also included.. In order to obtain a certain result, were used different methods that includes both qualitative and quantitative instruments. The research is undertaken in two stages, before COVID-19 outbreak (2018-2020), and during COVID-19, (2020-2021). The results of the research indicate a clear tendency to use social media before the trip, in the information-research stage. Besides, a series of differences, as well as some similarities are identified across generations in terms of social media usage for travel purposes and social media impact on the tourists’ travel choices, when comparing Romanian travelers with travelers from other countries of the world.

In the ESP domain, grammar teaching has always been regarded as a challenging issue, requesting great pedagogical skills, no matter the learners' level and field of expertise. The paper looks at a range of techniques for introducing grammar that focus on meaning, techniques that use tasks meant to maximize interaction and create an opportunity for meaning-focused language use. A more learner-centered approach, inductive teaching offers learners of Business English opportunities to actively create rules, to be more engaged and remember more. We will further explore how blended learning can be used as a helpful tool for guided discovery. In this way, learners discover the form and/or use of the target language with less input on the teacher's part. Moreover, the switch from traditional to blended learning will certainly benefit students and will naturally appeal to their identity as digital natives.

The present paper aims at giving a brief insight into the concepts of neurological levels and analyzes the fact that, as the levels contain more congruent information - and through exercise we can realize and become aware of this - the more our relationship with ourselves and with others acquires a richer consistency in meanings. The Pyramid of Neurological Levels stands out for its universality, usefulness, and all these levels work simultaneously and are characteristic of everyone. Congruence is presented in this paper as the expression of the manifestation of the objective at each separate neurological level. The paper will also discuss learning models of the subconscious and the fact that we have the possibility and the power to use our conscious mind to change, shape, direct the path of the subconscious towards the path we want.

Financial crime is a global problem and as globalization makes foreign markets more accessible, this becomes more apparent. Financial crime involves the illegal making of money through relationships with transnational organized crime, tax evasion, corruption, stock fraud, drug or people trafficking, and embezzlement. To detect, manage and combat financial crime more effectively, stakeholders need to implement more cohesive and integrated financial crime programmes. The fight against financial crime therefore requires cooperation and coordination between many jurisdictions and the public and private sectors. This complex challenge requires constant dialogue between government and regulatory agencies, reporting entities, industry representatives and global and local independent watchdogs to develop mechanisms to collect and monitor data sharing. Crime remains in the interest of other disciplines, especially criminology and criminal law, which translates into the awareness that there is a real need to define this phenomenon precisely to be able to fight against it.

In recent years there has been a significant increase in interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is an essential research topic. In addition, corporate scandals have drawn public attention and once again emphasized the importance of CSR. As a result, this topic has received academic attention and is becoming a core issue for many organizations. In this research, we propose to build a methodology for analyzing the impact of social responsibility (SR) on organizational performance (OP) based on a review of the specialized literature. After thoroughly analyzing the specialized literature, a methodological framework was built based on a questionnaire applied to employees of large companies and SMEs operating in Romania. The paper demonstrates using SEM significant direct and indirect relationships between SR and OP.

Over the last decades, the emphasis on human resources has grown considerably, companies understanding that human resources represent the main capital at their disposal and that they must capitalize on as much as possible to increase organizational performance. The present article analyzes the way in which human resources can be motivated by non-financial means so that the involvement of employees is constant, continuously increasing, thus ensuring benefits from the perspective of the results obtained, these, in turn, contributing to the increase of organizational performance.

The perception of control over the work environment often occupies a significant place in workplace behavior and reactions. The paper aims to demonstrate a close direct and indirect relationship between the work environment, working conditions, and relations, on the one hand, and the health, well-being, and satisfaction of employees, which ultimately leads to increased productivity and individual and organizational high performance. The data collected through a questionnaire from the county and municipal sports club employees are processed using structural equation modeling, providing an overview of the researched variables. Management can increase job satisfaction, improve retention, and reduce organizational turnover costs by improving working conditions and relationships.

This research examined the intention of Romanian tourists to travel nationwide in natural areas based on an extended TPB (Theory Perceived Behavior) model, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the premise was that people would prefer less risky experiences and would see ecotourism in protected areas as a form of resilient tourism that reduces the threat of infection with the SARS-COV-2 virus or its mutations. This study tested a conceptual model that showed that this intention was influenced by the three variables of the TPB model - attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, complemented by other variables such as the feeling of security offered to tourists by natural areas in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the motivations of tourists that involve ecotourism in nature and cultural activities in Romanian natural areas, personal values in travel in Romanian natural areas, civic attitude to support national tourism. The proposed research model incorporated the construct of the feeling of security offered to tourists by Romanian natural areas as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, as a mediator between the attitude of traveling at national level and the motivations of tourists involved in ecotourism in nature and cultural in the Romanian natural areas. In this context, the proposed model explains a substantial proportion of the total variance of the intent-dependent variable in this study. In the long run, the promotion of ecotourism, as a resilient form of tourism, in a pandemic context, could reduce the risk of spreading the virus and contribute to supporting Romanian Eco destination so that national tourism recovers from the economic crisis caused by the COVID pandemic 19.

Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, several measures have been taken, in the hope of protecting human health and maintaining the economy and various industries at a functional level. One such measure was the introduction of the Covid-19 digital certificate for access to restaurants. This study aims to find out the opinion of young people about the feeling of health safety in public food establishments, as well as the opinion about the opportunity or barrier that arises from the use of the Covid-19 certificate. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted between October 14 and 20, 2021. For this study, university students and high school students were surveyed, the data being collected from 102 respondents, through a self-administered online questionnaire. The main objectives were to find out the level of knowledge of the Covid-19 digital certificate concept among young people, the feeling of health safety that the certificate generates among young people and the opinion about the opportunity or barrier that comes with its implementation. The results showed that all young people know the concept, but mainly tend to consider that the usage of the certificate doesn`t generate an environment with an increased health safety in the restaurant or do not have an idea yet formed on this subject. More than two-thirds of the young people surveyed consider the certificate to be more of a barrier than an opportunity for the restaurant activity. At the same time, it turned out that girls are more skeptical than boys about the impact on health safety generated by the implementation of the certificate. The main limitation of this study is that the sample was small and unrepresentative, but nevertheless some interesting results were obtained.

Brand management plays a crucial role in increasing the loyalty of current customers as well as in gaining new customers. The product brand significantly influences shopping behaviour of customers. Many customers prefer branded products to non-branded ones. Some of them prefer branded products in general; some of them prefer branded products only for selected products. This paper is focused on the analysis of the perception of ten favourite car brands by Slovak consumers with an emphasis on the quality, prestige, image and expected benefits and features. The aims of the paper are divided into three main parts: i) find out the selected car brand rank based on the influence on the purchasing behaviour of Slovak consumers; ii) assess the impact of selected socio-demographic characteristics on the expected benefits as well as on the features that the respondent´s chosen car brand should have; iii) identify the main reason why respondents focus on preferred car brands. The correlation of these factors was tested on a sample of 2002 respondents from the Slovak republic. The analysed data represent a partial result of an extensive survey. The chosen mathematical-statistical methods such as correlation analysis and testing of statistical hypotheses were applied to fulfil the purpose of the research. Based on a survey, the most influential car brands include Skoda and Volkswagen. Especially the Skoda brand has a significant position in Slovakia, given by tradition, history and place of production of these cars.

Our paper investigates the gaps in performance in the manufacturing sector between Western and Eastern European countries and attempts to analyze how enterprises from these two parts of Europe have tackled recovery after the Global financial crisis of 2007-2009. We uncover the patterns of performance in the after-crisis period and offer insights into the prospects of the manufacturing sector in the European Union, faced nowadays with a new recovery, after the coronavirus crisis. Moreover, we study these patterns in industries with different technological levels. We have selected five performance variables, namely Turnover growth rate, Turnover per employee, Wage-adjusted labor productivity, Gross operating rate, and Investment rate, and employed statistical cluster analysis, which is a multivariate data analysis technique that can detect these patterns in performance, in both its approaches: hierarchical and k-means clustering. Our findings show that the almost perfect groupings of businesses from Western, more developed economies, and Eastern, less developed ones, in all industries, with the notable exception of Portugal, are rather striking, regardless of the technological level of industries. We show that Eastern EU businesses were not the worst performers in the after-crisis period, but rather on the contrary. Certainly, they are smaller in size but have enjoyed higher labor productivity and profitability, as well as higher investment rates in all industries. This points towards a higher dynamism of smaller-sized businesses in general, and Eastern EU located ones, in particular, in the years after the Global financial crisis, which has been reflected in superior performance.

Our paper investigates the gaps in performance in the manufacturing sector between Western and Eastern European countries and attempts to analyze how enterprises from these two parts of Europe have tackled recovery after the Global financial crisis of 2007-2009. We uncover the patterns of performance in the after-crisis period and offer insights into the prospects of the manufacturing sector in the European Union, faced nowadays with a new recovery, after the coronavirus crisis. Moreover, we study these patterns in industries with different technological levels. We have selected five performance variables, namely Turnover growth rate, Turnover per employee, Wage-adjusted labor productivity, Gross operating rate, and Investment rate, and employed statistical cluster analysis, which is a multivariate data analysis technique that can detect these patterns in performance, in both its approaches: hierarchical and k-means clustering. Our findings show that the almost perfect groupings of businesses from Western, more developed economies, and Eastern, less developed ones, in all industries, with the notable exception of Portugal, is -> are rather striking, regardless of the technological level of industries. We show that Eastern EU businesses were not the worst performers in the after-crisis period, but rather on the contrary. Certainly, they are smaller in size but have enjoyed higher labor productivity and profitability, as well as higher investment rates in all industries. This points towards a higher dynamism of smaller-sized businesses in general, and Eastern EU located ones, in particular, in the years after the Global financial crisis, which has been reflected in superior performance.

This research paper fills a literature gap by tapping into Europe’s Just Transition to green energy production and consumption models and introduces empirically derived trends. The mix of analysed variables was targeted at sustainable energy transformation models according to complementary economic research areas. Based on the clustered heat maps method, double dendrograms were constructed to identify socioeconomic and environmental patterns that characterize highly economic-efficient and sustainable transition patterns from the standard energy production and consumption model to the environmental-friendly and cost-efficient model in the European area. Results show that Austria, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, and Luxembourg followed the patterns of highly economically performant European countries that turned energy and resource productivity in their favour based on multiple factors: recycling, R&D, innovation, digitization. The opposite was observed in the case of many South-Eastern European countries. Robustness checks were performed based on the linear discriminant analysis methodology and results confirmed that Northern European countries lead the change to a more sustainable future. In this context, this research brings empirical results for decision-makers and aims to facilitate a better understanding for adapting policies according to national needs, as well as to the patterns of success identified in the case of European leaders. First published online 15 June 2022

Daily human’s activities produce waste which, since it is considered useless, is mostly thrown away. Many of these waste materials can be reused however and, if properly handled, can also become a resource for industrial or energy production. The way we live today generates massive quantities of waste and most people want to maintain their lifestyle, while preserving the environment and public health. Waste management has become one of the most critical issues today. Businesses, citizens and policymakers pursue ways to minimize the waste generated from most homes and businesses while reusing or disposing it in a cleaner and cost-effective way. The aim of this paper is to provide background information on these issues and challenges involved in urban solid waste management and to provide a basis for input on relevant European actions carried out.

Recently and especially within emerging economies such as Romania, most of the uncertainties and risks of the economic and business environment stem mainly from the changes in the wage and fiscal policies, as well as from the conditions on the labour market. In this paper we focus on the main causes of personnel dynamics within the Romanian SMEs, using survey data on 1200 companies. The survey was conducted at the end of 2019 and is representative at national level in terms of size, regions and main fields of activity. Through this survey analysis we investigate aspects related to both wage and personnel policy for the Romanian companies, looking as the proportion of temporary employees, the types of nonwage incentives offered by the Romanian SMEs to their employees and the participation of their own employees in vocational training programs. Among the most frequently offered non-wage incentives to their employees we identify: flexible work schedule, subscriptions to medical clinics, meal vouchers or transportation to work. To a much lower extent, however, they may offer subscriptions to gyms or even company shares. Our findings highlight the following main determinants of recent personnel fluctuations: lower wage attractiveness than competition, too high labour taxation, as well as limited attractiveness of non-wage incentives to their employees. Moreover, it is relevant to also point out the proportion of employees who decided to leave their job in order to start their own business, which represented about 26% of the cases reported by the surveyed SMEs. The regional analysis of the effects of these factors on personnel dynamics ranks the Bucharest- Ilfov region first with the most notable recent personnel fluctuations, followed by the North-West region. In addition, the results also show that the effects of personnel fluctuations are more visible in urban areas as compared to the rural area.

Contemporary society is unquestionably one of permanent, dynamic knowledge. In this context, lifelong learning is no longer considered only a way to improve initial training, but a lifelong learning process. Currently, we are witnessing a strong trend towards virtualization of education. An interesting and effective alternative to traditional learning methods is a modern technique, based on the constructivist idea of developing, through personal effort, one's own knowledge, which involves numerous search activities in the Web space and which largely includes cooperative learning. This article presents some relevant aspects of the use of WebQuest technology in education.

The Community-Based Local Development Guide (DLRC) was developed for the period 2014- 2020 for direct information of the participants in local action groups, offering practical tools and recommendations for implementing DLRC initiatives in a variety of contexts. DRLC allows local strategies to focus on challenges such as social inclusion discrimination against gypsy groups and other disadvantaged groups, or climate change. The power of local actors are important in local development and the strategies that place local development under the responsibility of the community can provide solutions in an increasingly diverse and complex context. At the same time, one of the foundations of the European model is diversity, the challenge being to identify ways to preserve it and transform it into an advantage, not a burden. DLRC in urban areas offers enormous possibilities to address certain specific challenges in cities and to highlight the untapped potential of people, economic entities and civil society to make their mark on local development. This article focuses on existing partnerships in rural and fisheries areas, in order to help them using the new regulations to meet some of the challenges emerging. The article also contains sections relevant for new partnerships in cities and those aimed at social inclusion.

In the European Union’s states the functioning speed of managerial systems is continuously rising, being necessary the improvement or the replacement of the organization’s management systems in order to adapt them to the requests specific to the new economy. In the new economy, the human and informational resource has a risen importance. On the organization and exploitation method for these resources depends more and more the accomplishment of the organization’s performances.

My paper will focus on several basic features concerning blended learning, and it will build on the properties of digital technologies. In our contemporary world, students in general, and working students in particular, feel the need to use their digital skills to be successful in both the study and work environment. This means that our courses should be upgraded by resorting to the new technologies in the field of teaching and assessment. By doing so, the advantages would be multiple, starting with accessibility, affordability, flexibility and ending with inclusivity, selfempowerment and resource management. An example of such a ‘fortunate’ mixture between on-site classroom interaction and on-line activities is the case of flipped classrooms, where, as it is going to be discussed, student-time is increased and so is the quality of the interaction between the teacher and the learners.

The study of the characteristics of human behaviors from the perspective of content reframing provides information about the ability to understand human behavior and the formation of constructive relationship skills. The significance we give to an event depends especially on the frame of reference we use to form our inner map of that event. The technique of content reframing addresses those behaviors that seem to get out of conscious control and helps people to change their limited and limiting views, outdated or inappropriate to the context, in order to gain a deeper understanding of their own life and reality and to identify new opportunities, solutions and possible objectives. For this purpose, a clear distinction is made between the person, his behavior and the intent behind this behavior. Therefore, the possession of the skills of understanding human behavior is absolutely necessary for a future specialist.

Background and purpose: Knowing key indicators of goodwill value can contribute to its effective management and growth of the market value of the enterprise. The purpose of this research is to identify individual goodwill indicators. The paper aim is to obtain potential indicators of enterprise goodwill under the conditions of the Slovak Republic.

This paper highlights the role played by small and medium-sized enterprises in the development of the global economy. In essence, it is presented in the form of three chapters entitled suggestively. During the paper, I tried to touch on the main themes to demonstrate that these companies play an essential role in the economy. It is well known that SMEs are vital for economic health, both for high-income and lower-income countries worldwide. In terms of numbers, small and medium-sized businesses dominate the global business scene, although accurate and up-to-date data are difficult to obtain, estimates suggest that more than 95% of businesses worldwide are SMEs, accounting for about 60% of SMEs. employment in the private sector. SMEs are very important in creating jobs and contributing to GDP, but they are also an important source in the innovative system. In order to face the competition, the economic agents use many means, such as: reducing the expenses, improving the quality, renewing the offer, granting advantages to the buyer, etc. Other means would be the creation of tacit alliances between companies, partial mergers or the request to the state bodies to impose restrictions for foreign competitors.

The present paper aims to study the impact of terrorist attacks on the economy as a whole and on several European stock markets. Thus, the event study methodology used in this paper identifies negative abnormal returns during the day of the terrorist attack, showing that investor sentiment has been properly incorporated into stock market prices. Moreover, due to a highly integrated global financial system and to the contagion effect generated by the rapid dissemination of information around the world, more negative abnormal returns were identified on markets that present the same characteristics as the one directly affected by the terrorist attack.