Browsing: 2013, Vol. 18, Issue 2, December

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.

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