Browsing: 2013

Introduction. The main hypothesis of the experiment is that the pressure of the public and academic discourse generates an organizational context in the public institutions [PI] in Romania, which allows the strategies of participative management [PM] to be valued. In the same socio-discursive context, we find the assumption of the concepts of effective communication [EC] and emotional intelligence [EI], and also the components of the leadership participative management in [PI]. Another hypothesis is that a new system of values of the organizational culture is created when the participative management principles are applied; these values are assumed to the extent to which the leadership implements the [PM] strategies and all that it entails.

Aim of the study. The present study aims to emphasize the extent to which modern management principles are known and applied in the Romanian public institutions. We also aim to identify a system of values that set a pattern of the organizational culture in the system of public institutions. The investigation technique we used is the questionnaire and the method we chose is the sociological survey. According to the standards of research methodology and in order to obtain accurate results, we have pre-tested the research tools in conditions similar to those of the study itself. In this respect, the present study will test the validity of the questionnaire on a group of 41 subjects, master’s students in a specialized program at the University of Bucharest, with the purpose of undertaking the sociological survey. The pilot study conclusions will allow the methodological framework of the sociological survey to refine and adapt the models of international analysis to the actual Romanian context.
Keywords: effective communication, public discourse, emotional intelligence, participative management.

Introduction. The defining with profound implications on the economy and society is represented by the globalization. In this context, we have noticed the increasing influence of the financial markets on the economy, the tendency to remove the finances from the real economy requirements, the growing role of external financing using more volatile capital goods, increased competition regarding the access to financing, the significant increase of power of the international capital markets whose characteristic is represented by the increased instability, the implications of the investors’ obsession with an excessive profitableness of their own funds and the expansion of using sophisticated financial products.

Aim of the study. This paper aims to highlight that realities of today’s financial markets, which are the subject of numerous studies and analysis, have contributed to the association of the arguments that are contesting the thesis on the virtues of self-regulation markets and promoting a new paradigm, within which finances should subordinate the requirements of a balanced and sustained economic growth.
Keywords: cognitive capitalism, the financialization of the economy, financial innovations, volatile capital, institutional investors, derivative products.

Introduction. The evolution of Romanian advertising is also deeply connected to its identity on the European market, especially to being recognized as a re-born industry after the Communist Era. From another viewpoint, the present study attempts to reveal whether the departmental organization of advertising agencies visibly changed in order to more effectively meet clients’ demands.

Aim of the study. This paper aims to present the opinions of Romanian advertisers on the local industry from two viewpoints: the evolution of advertising after 1990 with regards to brand development, and the attempt of advertising agencies to balance change and stability during the economic crisis. Regarding the first aspect, the study emphasizes the way the Romanian market has developed in terms of local and global brands, revealing the most successful brands and campaigns delivered by the local industry and the significance of local brands to advertising professionals.The evolution of Romanian advertising is also deeply connected to its identity on the European market, especially to being recognized as a re-born industry after the Communist Era. Regarding the second issue of the present research, the study attempts to uncover whether the internal organization of advertising agencies progressively changed in order to more effectively cater to client needs.
Keywords: advertising agency, consumer, communism, democracy, identity

Introduction. Analysis of income inequality is a general and constant concern of both the public and researchers and politicians. This subject, though, and has been widely debated, never becomes obsolete and does not lose its importance or valence mobilizing the more as he becomes more present with the onset of the recent economic crisis. This interest framework, on the one hand and the difficult context generated by the economic crisis, on the other hand, bring forward decisions and policy choices implemented or required to restore economic balance and well-being of citizens. Causes (factors of influence) of income inequality differ from country to country, there is dispute among economists on the preponderance of cases compared to the others.

Aim of the study. In this paper I will analyze two of these factors: education and socioeconomic status of their parents.
Keywords: education, level of education, skills, abilities, opportunities, social mobility.

Introduction. Education preserves and transforms the important components of societies such as culture, tradition, or customs which are thus perpetuated and transmitted to the next generations. Education also designs the motivations of the actions of human beings. For this reason, the role of education in society is essential and inherent and this is why society and education are considered as intertwined entities.

Aim of the study. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between education and the economic growth of a country. Education is one of the most important factors for the economic and social developments of a society; and it is also the main component of the construction of human capital. It is very difficult for a country to accomplish a successful economic progress if it does not invest sufficiently and judiciously in education. Therefore, investment in education is seen as the vital part of a country’s economic development. It is clear that educational investments are expensive and long-term projects and must be more important than other possible development projects in order to ensure the welfare and prosperity of societies. Unfortunately, this idea falls especially focusing on most under-developed countries. For this reason, the importance of education in a country’s economic development and growth must be stated and asserted overtly and unambiguously.
Keywords: education, economic growth, developing country, educational investment.

Introduction. The innovative potential of a nation is determined by its members’ creative capacity, as well as by the design and implementation of strategies and policies that are meant to support the devise,  experimentation and application of new ideas, respectively the transformation thereof both into tangible goods (products and services) and intangible ones (knowledge).

Aim of the study. The present paper approaches innovation as a vector of the new knowledge-based society, which consists of the main actions undertaken by the EU within the context of the “European Year of Creativity and Innovation”, as well as of the actions promoted through the Initiative known as “A Union of Innovation”, comprised by the Europe Strategy 2020. The final part of the paper illustrates the essential role of universities in developing knowledge-based and innovation- based society.
Keywords: innovation, knowledge-based society, intelligent growth, community actions, university.

Introduction. The communist take-over had significant consequences on the Romanian public education. Because of the tight political control on education, higher education followed closely the evolution pattern of the general political system of communist Romania: Soviet-inspired restructuration from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, development and expansion based on a relative opening and partial retrieval of pre-communist national traditions during the 1960s and part of the 1970s, and a relative closing of the system in the late 1970s and in the 1980s, closely connected with the economic constraints and the hardening of national-communist policies.

Aim of the study. The study analyzes the evolution of study programs in the Romanian higher education in two very different institutional settings: during the communist regime, when the state controlled centrally the structure and contents of higher education, and during the post-communist liberalization and expansion of the number of institutions, students and study programs. The analysis investigates the legal foundations of establishing new qualifications, as well as the number and share of the various types of study programs. It allows to identify different phases during the two main historical periods. For example, during the last two decades of the communist rule, the number of study programs and qualifications increased significantly during the 1960s and most of the 1970s, and then contracted the late 1970s to 1989. After the demise of communism, there was a massive expansion in the number of qualifications and study programs, especially in the context of establishing new institutions of higher education and liberalizing to a certain extent the procedures for proposing and implementing new study programs. This expansion was reversed after 2001, and the number of study programs fluctuated considerably up to the enforcement of the National Education Law 1/2011.
Keywords: qualification; higher education; Romania; communism; post-communism; Bologna process.

Introduction. Business storytelling is a leadership tool, which, as recent studies show, has a significant influence on the employees’ performance and the competitiveness of the organizations. The American researchers in this field emphasize that a business cannot exist without a story – there’s no business without story business.

Aim of the study. The research addresses a new concept introduced into the managerial practice of the insurance industry from Romania and it aims to test the hypothesis that success, performance and competitiveness of the organizations in the insurance industry depend also on the quality of the leadership and the leaders’ ability to use storytelling, taking into account the intangibility of the insurance products. The main tool that this exploratory, qualitative research has used is the structured interview with three target groups, which we considered to be relevant: CEOs/managers of insurance companies and insurance brokerage firms, public relations specialists and economic journalists. The results of our research endeavours may be of interest for both the managers, employees and communication specialists in the insurance industry and the business world in general, for which the introduction of storytelling in the leadership practices might increase the attractiveness not only for employees, but also for stakeholders and customers.
Keywords: Storytelling, leadership, insurance, communication, efficiency

Introduction. Within the different categories of companies, the joint stock companies occupies an important place with a special configuration. The joint stock companies are companies able to manage large capital business.

Aim of the study. This paper aims to highlight that in the joint stock company there are three types of bodies: deliberative and decision-making (general meeting of shareholders), executive and management (administrator, administrators, Administrative Board, Directorate or Supervisory Board) and management control (auditors). The shareholders may set by the constitutive act other organs of society than those provided for under company law. An important role in the organization of a company has the administrators who have responsibilities in the sphere of internal management acts and representation in relations with third parties. Under the Romanian legal provisions, the joint stock companies may be managed in two systems: unitary and dualist.
Keywords: unitary system, dualist system, administrative board, directorate, joint stock company.

The capital of relationships at the level of an organisation

If we make an analysis of the organisational dynamics, we cannot ignore the connection between the quality of the network of relationships and the modality of highlighting the same. The relationships with suppliers, beneficiaries, competitors, banks, public institutions, NGOs have an essential impact on the personal and organisational performance. As regards their customers, the companies are sometimes tempted to make exclusive use of impersonal relationships. The apparent time saving obtained by resorting to such relationships can endanger the achieving of the established purposes. It is ascertained that the interpersonal relationships have an important role in the evolution of partnerships. The optimum combination between the use of interpersonal and impersonal relationships can generate performance. The analysis of stakeholders, of environments and the SWOT analysis can provide the information necessary to define the alliances and to identify the nodes of a future relationship. The preoccupation for the development of networks of relationships led to researches in the network, networking and network management fields. Successful companies are sometimes involved in partnerships having as final result research, technological and marketing activities. Hence, they create their own networks of trust relationships able to generate synergic effects.