Browsing: M10

Introduction. All over the European Union companies face the same problem: a dramatic gender gap in leadership. Men far outnumber women in senior business positions in developed and less developed countries, including Romania. What makes leadership positions so inaccessible to Romanian women? Senior women leaders in Western Europe mentioned stereotyping as an important barrier to consider.

Aim of the study. To demonstrate that stereotyping is indeed a factor in the leadership gender gap, it was first necessary to substantiate that stereotype-based perceptions of women’s leadership do in fact exist in Romania. In the second part of this research, perceived existing differences between men and women leaders were scrutinized and compared to their standardized profiles as indicated by the Hogan Assessment Systems, both at the organizational and individual levels. Whether women stereotyping was found to be relatively low in Romania, differences in personality traits between men and women seem to impede women from advancing to the top management positions. It also explains the emergence of a diversity of leadership styles.
Keywords: gender gap, leadership, gender roles, personality assessment
JEL Classification: M10, M20, L290.

Introduction. Currently, the small and medium enterprises sector is a factor of sustainable development, with a significant contribution to GDP creation and providing jobs in most economies. Economic strategies and policies in the European Union, USA and Japan lay major emphasis on encouraging entrepreneurship and the development of the small and medium enterprises sector as a balancing factor at micro- and macroeconomic level.

Aim of the study. The paper approaches important issues on the small and medium enterprises sector as a vector of economic development in the contemporary period. It presents the SMEs delimitation criteria in the microeconomic landscape used in the European Union, USA and Japan. It also highlights the preoccupations manifested at European and world level in terms of promoting entrepreneurship activities, materialized in organizing summits and major events dedicated to small and medium enterprises, as well as in the operationalization of funding programs for them. The last part of this paper reflects issues related to the support SMEs receive at institutional level, emphasizing areas of assistance, support programs and services that various institutions and bodies offer to develop the small and medium sector.
Keywords: SMEs, defining criteria, financial support, institutional support, programs, areas of assistance.
JEL Classification: L25, L26, M10, M21, O10.

Introduction. Leadership has become a major topic in various domains such as sociology, political science, psychology, history, management or business for several decades and has spawned a huge number of empirical and conceptual researches. Today’s challenging and turbulent times require more than ever authentic and strong leaders both at the micro and macro level.

Aim of the study. The aims of the paper are to briefly define the concepts of leadership and leader, and to present the case of Carlos Ghosn, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Since the beginning of his professional career, Ghosn has proved to be a leader par excellence. Our research is based on a literature review.
Keywords: leader, leadership, Carlos Ghosn, Renault-Nissan Alliance
JEL Classification: M10

Introduction. The impact of leadership on economic welfare is therefore perceived from a double perspective: on one hand, company true leaders, exerting positive influences on the organisations they lead by providing jobs and by increasing revenues to the sate budget and, on the other hand, national true leaders, holding the mechanisms for stimulating, by their actions, both consumption and investment and, thus, for sustaining a sound economic growth.

Aim of the study. This paper has as main purpose to reveal, via a series of examples taken from real life, the dependence of economic welfare on good leadership, irrespective on the context of manifestation of the latter. Be they company leaders, therefore leaders acting at microeconomic level, or national leaders, herein embodied by governmental leaders, monetary authority leaders or presidential leaders, making decisions at macroeconomic level, true leadership is a continuous source of well being for any economy, as it represents the coagulation of miscellaneous economic touch constructive ideas and facts.
Keywords: company leaders, national leaders, economic welfare, microeconomic context, macroeconomic approach
JEL Classification: I31, O11, O12, M10, H20

Introduction. Research on stereotypes and stereotyping (Acker, 1990; Bergeron, Block & Echtenkamp, 2006; Carton and Rosette, 2011; Heilman, 2012) has so far shown that female leaders, in particular, can experience increased threat when attempting leadership positions in organizations.

Aim of the study. In this article, I explore the many ways in which stereotypes can undermine women performance in leadership and I discuss the factors that may help women become less vulnerable when faced with negative stereotyping. These factors are analyzed at various levels – the individual, the organizational and the situational/contextual levels. In the end, I suggest some ways designed to increase women’s belief in their leadership abilities as well as some interventions meant to determine organizations to become “aware” of their unconscious biases when evaluating women job positions and performance.
Keywords: negative stereotyping, stereotype threat, vulnerability, reactance, growth mindset
JEL Classification: M10, M20

Introduction. The entrepreneur is one of the main pawns of a competitive market economy, as he creates and develops organizations, thereby contributing decisively to the strengthening of the small and medium enterprises sector in contemporary economies.

Aim of the study. This paper aims to addresses important issues regarding the economic dimension of the entrepreneurial phenomenon, showing that entrepreneurship also manifests itself in other spheres of human activity such as education, social interaction, culture, politics, etc. The paper summarizes the main coordinates that define the conceptual framework of the entrepreneur and, at the same time, it exposes and analyzes some of the most important qualities that an entrepreneur should have in order to cope with the current business environment successfully.
Keywords: entrepreneur, SMEs, entrepreneurial phenomenon, entrepreneurial environment.
JEL Classification: L26, M10, M21, O10.

Introduction. Globalization brings pressure on tourism businesses who now must develop in a more complex environment. In this framework, there is a need for a new vision, new tools for businesses to manage various aspects of the economic life.

Aim of the study. The companies must consider some changes in the way they operate, to better understand all stakeholders, the local communities and the influences from the world economy.
Keywords: tourism supply, tourism demand, business management, globalization, Romania
JEL Classification: L83, M10, Z32

Introduction. The future of organizations depends decisively on their ability to constantly improve their technologies and processes and, on this basis, to develop new products and services that correspond in quantitative and qualitative terms to the evermore diversified requirements of the demand bearers.

Aim of the study. The paper addresses relevant aspects related to creativity and innovation as inexhaustible sources of sustainable competitive advantages. The conceptual framework of creativity is defined and the important phases of a creative process are delimited. The main types of innovations are briefly presented, while at the same time the variables defining the innovation capacity of organizations are revealed. The final section of the paper highlights the key role of management in stimulating creative and innovative processes within organizations and in developing innovative projects.
Keywords: organization, creativity, innovation, management, sustainable competitive advantage.
JEL Classification: M10, L21, O31, O32.

Introduction. The entrepreneur is a key character of the economy with a competitive market that translates into business ideas by taking advantage of opportunities offered by the market.

Aim of the study. The paper sets out representative approaches in relation to the entrepreneur, developed over time by reputed economics and management specialists. The best known and quoted classifications of entrepreneurs set out in the specialized literature, namely the one elaborated by the American Professor John B. Miner and the STRATOS typology, are presented and analyzed in a comparative vision. The strengths and vulnerabilities of each type of entrepreneur in the two types presented are systematically emphasized. Also, the main variables defining entrepreneurial spirit and the most important forces that determine it are highlighted and explained in the paper.
Keywords: entrepreneur, business idea, business opportunity, entrepreneurial spirit.
JEL Classification: L26, M10, M21, O10.

Introduction. Given that organizational development is achieved through the design and implementation of some change projects, several representative models of organizational change developed over time by recognized personalities in the field of change management are presented and analyzed. Based on the analysis of these models, the paper proposes a model of organizational change applicable to companies operating in the contemporary business environment.

Aim of the study. Organizational development is influenced by the continuous improvement of the processes and activities carried out and, implicitly, of the results obtained. In this context, this paper offers a perspective on organizational development by exposing some reference approaches from specialized literature, highlighting the “management system – strategy – organizational culture” trinomial.
Keywords: organization, organizational development, change, change model.
JEL Classification: M10, M21, L21, O21.