Browsing: 2020

Introduction. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, everyone must respect the rules of social distancing. During this time, most of the people have felt trapped in a continuous loop in which the concept of time and space was just a distant dream. Even if the economic situation during this pandemic is not so dramatic many people have been unmotivated to work, most of them, currently working remotely. Switching to online is more difficult to keep up with everyday work activities. However, many jobs can be successfully done remotely. Unfortunately, while working from home, the employees can be easily distracted, which lowers their productivity.

Aim of the study. Reaching a minimum level of motivation and productivity, we decided to include in this research paper a case study on the motivation of the artistic staff within an event organizing companyduring the pandemic. By reviewing the results of the case study we want to analyze the specific factors of the human resources management that have an impact on the evetns organinzing comapnies including the evolution of the motivation and introduce some ways that can grow the motivation and make employees feel comfortable while working from home.
Keywords: Motivation, Pandemic, COVID – 19, Crisis, Productivity, Human Resource Management.
JELClassification: I260, M12

Introduction. This paper investigates the size of the rural population in Romania. If we define the rural community in Europe, we can say that more than half of the people in the 27 European states live in rural areas. As the surface of these rural localities occupies over 90% of the European Union territory, which is important because until recently, within the European Union’s policies, the rustic was considered a sector, and no emphasis was placed on its character and spatial size. From this position derived from the available studies and statistics, the study adopts desktop research methods from reliable sources to retrieve verified data to complete this study. The findings of the study are also outlined in the paper as follows. The study finds out the opposite trend in urbanization in Romania as more people are settling in rural areas than the rest of the countries across the European Union.

Aim of the study. This paper entails a discussion section where the data is well presented and explained using tables, graphs, and images to relay the information. The report concludes by outlining significant findings of the study like the opposite urbanization trends in Romania compared with UE countries.
Keywords: Rural Romania, Urban Romania, Romania GDP
JEL Classification: J64, B16

Introduction. This paper aims to identify the long-run relationships between the quality of the education system, public trust in politicians, wastefulness of government spending and tax compliance in the area of individual income taxation (taxpayer’s behaviour).

Aim of the study. Using data for Romania during 2007-2017 period, the analysis identifies a long-run relationship between the variables.
Keywords: tax policy; tax behaviour; tax compliance; cointegration; unit root; stationarity; Romania
JEL Classification: H21; H26

Introduction. The current paper wants to showcase a study referring to the remanufactured products.

Aim of the study. In this study it is analyzed the concept of remanufactured products with a focus on consumers’ perception over this concept. In the 4th chapter of the article I presented the main results of the questionnaire which was taken with more than 50 employees of a Romanian company with a focus on Tourism domain (for the purpose of this research, the name of the company shall remain anonymous). The questionnaire had 3 important sections through which I analyzed the market for remanufactured products and the willingness of different groups of people (mainly individuals with a low income) to purchase such goods.
Keywords: remanufactured products, sustainability, Pearson Chi-Square Tests
JEL Classification: O14, L15, L63, F63, F64

Introduction. Firms seeking competitive advantage therefore face a paradoxical situation. If they embrace diversity, they risk workplace conflict, and if they avoid diversity, they risk loss of competitiveness. The advantages and disadvantages associated with workforce diversity put organizations in a position of managing a paradoxical situation. To give support to this assertion, the paper considers what is meant by diversity, how it is best managed, what its relationship with creativity and innovation might be and how the problems created by the management of diversity, creativity and innovation might be resolved.

Aim of the study. This conceptual and discursive paper argues that diversity is a recognizable source of creativity and innovation that can provide a basis for competitive advantage. On the other hand, diversity is also a cause of misunderstanding, suspicion and conflict in the workplace that can result in absenteeism, poor quality, low morale and loss of competitiveness.
Keywords: management, creativity, innovation, human resource
JEL Classification: M10, M12, M54

Introduction. The objective considered in the research undertaken by the authors is the investigation of students from the Faculty of Public Administration and Business at the University of Bucharest on how to use e-commerce platforms during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic crisis in 2020 from Romania. The analytical approaches focused on the frequency of use of e-commerce platforms during this period, but also compared to previous periods, the ways of accessing these platforms, the categories of products and services purchased, the typology of problems encountered in accessing and using, as well as methods of payment and delivery most frequently used.

Aim of the study. The analysis was based on a research methodology, both quantitative and qualitative, on the conditions and factors that determined the developments regarding the use of e-commerce platforms by students. The quantitative research was based on the analysis of a questionnaire containing 19 questions on the characteristics and determinants of the use of e-commerce platforms in 2020 by students. Qualitative research explores how the determinants of e-commerce use are placed in the context of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic crisis in Romania. The results of the present study highlight the leading factors that influence students’ purchases based on accessing e-commerce platforms, as well as the elements that could determine the increase in traffic within them.
Keywords: E-commerce, SARS-COV-2 pandemic, Social Media, security of payments, delivery methods
JEL Classification: C15, C51, D91, F14, M2

Introduction. The sustainable management in the field of the tourism is important because this sector is one of the main sectors which contributes to the economic growth.

Aim of the study. The purpose of this research is to illustrate the evolution and the positive and negative impact of the tourism on the national economies in Romania, in the European Union and worldwide, related with the environmental, social and cultural aspects. The role of the national States is very important, in order to improve institutions, regulations and financing, to encourage the private economic entities, depending on the national specific, which requires specific economic policy instruments. The quantitative and especially the qualitative methods aim to highlight the importance of the sustainable tourism and of the sustainable management in the tourism sector for a green economy, considering the changes in the economic behavior.
Keywords: sustainable management, sustainable tourism, green hotels, energy consumption
JEL Classification: A13, D12, D63, E61, F63, G18, J21, L83, Z32

Introduction. Leadership is as old as human civilization. The field of leadership has burgeoned since its emergence in the last century. Leadership has become a fast-growing topic of interest for both scholars and practitioners from all over the world. On the one hand, leadership is a widespread research area. On the other hand, leadership is one of the oldest practices in human history.

Aim of the study. The aims of the paper are to define the concept of leadership from a multiple perspective and to present its main characteristics. The paper demonstrates that leadership represents a complex, context-based, multifaceted, dynamic, and even an elusive concept as there is no universal definition of leadership. Also, the paper illustrates some of the main characteristics of leadership by taking into account various perspectives, theories, and paradigms.
Keywords: leadership, leadership-as-practice, leader, paradigm, theory
JEL Classification: M1, M19

Introduction. Entrepreneurs, managers and leaders are important players in a competitive market economy. Entrepreneurs create and develop businesses, by manifesting initiative and entrepreneurship, which are real drivers of economic development in the contemporary period. Managers design and implement organizational strategies and policies, the fundamental objective of which is to obtain sustainable competitive advantages. Leaders, through their informal authority, charisma and their ability to relate and communicate, give credibility and consistency to entrepreneurial and managerial actions. Entrepreneurs and managers need to gain the support of leaders in substantiating, adopting and implementing organizational change projects, which are essential in an increasingly dynamic business environment.

Aim of the study. The paper provides an integrated perspective on issues related to entrepreneurs, managers and leaders, highlighting similarities, differences and points of interference among them.
Keywords: organization, change, entrepreneurs, managers, leaders
JEL Classification: L26, M10, M21, O10

Introduction. The current economic environment is increasingly turbulent and companies are developing skills through human resources, technologies and Research & Development to cope with declining product cycles and faster technological changes. In evolutionary theory, innovations are heterogeneous and firms learn dynamically from interacting with other firms and technologies, from which incremental or radical innovations can emerge. After a new technology appears, the embedded part of the technology will be disseminated within the industry through some channels and the non-embedded part of the technology will accumulate some idiosyncratic knowledge within the innovative companies through the appropriation of knowledge and knowledge spillovers. There are two major trends in studies, some do not study the innovation per se but are oriented towards the transformations regarding the innovative strategies of the companies in different economic and social environments. The other trend of studies is oriented towards the innovation process itself which has evolved from a linear process of R&D-patent-innovation-market to one towards open-innovation in which the company interacts with other entities.

Aim of the study. The aim of this paper is to present some approaches to study innovative activities from the company’s perspective with a focus on resource-based view and evolutionary theory. In the resource-based approach, companies develop competitive advantages through resources and innovations that are rare and difficult to imitate.
Keywords: innovation activities, resource-based view, evolutionary theory, competitive advantage, technological changes
JEL Classification: D21, L25, O33