THE COMPETITITVITY FACTORS

To evaluate a nation’s competitivity, we have to take into consideration a large number of variables. The difficulty does not exist in the number of factors, but in how you treat them, considering that some of them have an effectively qualitative determination (the style and the capacity of the managers, quality of the products, etc). Their quantification is not easy; especially since it cannot be accomplished unless we use some indicators which take into account the prices, costs, wages, productivities, investments and exports.competitivity, Business Competitiveness Index, Growth Competitiveness Index, Global Competitiveness Index

Root architecture of provenances, seedlings and cuttings of Melia volkensii: implications for crop yield in dryland agroforestry

Melia volkensii (Gürke) is being increasingly promoted as an on-farm tree in Kenya. Researchers’ and farmers’ views on its competitiveness with crops differ; research station studies have found it to be highly competitive whereas farmers do not consider it to be so. Because of difficulties in seed germination, it is probable that dissemination programmes will rely upon plants produced from root and stem cuttings, rather than on seedlings. This study evaluates differences in root system architecture of plants raised from seed (of four provenances), stem or root cuttings and the relationships between the competitivity index (CI) and crop yield. Cuttings were more shallowly rooting than seedlings, and had higher competitivity indices, and there was a negative relationship between CI and crop yield. No differences in root architecture between provenances were found. Therefore, to reduce tree-crop competition, the use of seedlings rather than cuttings should be recommended when promoting the use of this species on dryland farms. If cuttings are used to circumvent the problems of seed germination, alternative methods of controlling competition, such as root pruning, need to be considered

On-line bin-packing problem : maximizing the number of unused bins

In this paper, we study the on-line version of the bin-packing problem. We analyze the approximation behavior of an on-line bin-packing algorithm under an approximation criterion called differential ratio. We are interested in two types of results : the differential competitivity ratio guaranteed by the on-line algorithm and hardness results that account for the difficulty of the problem and for the quality of the algorithm developed to solve it. In its off-line version, the bin-packing problem, BP, is better approximated in differential framework than in standard one. Our objective is to determine if or not such result exists for the on-line version of BP.On-line algorithm, bin-packing problem, competitivity ratio.

The influence of the European single market upon the SME activity

The analysis tries to highlight the manner in which the European common market will influence the SME activity in Romania. The challenges caused by regionalization and globalization of markets demand the compliance of SME to the competitive environment, by consolidating their market position and benefit from the economical opportunities. Romanian SME could become an economical growth vector only if the real capacity to adapt to a global competition and knowledge based economy is proved. Regarding this aspect, the authors try to present the most important positive and negative effects on the SME activity. Presently, the small level of competitiveness is due to the lack of necessary capital for supporting investment projects, but also to the constraints of financial sources. The study reveals the importance of SME in an economy and the Romanian SME capacity of overcoming the difficulties of entering a strongly competitive market. Romania has a SME sector which, although has recently followed a positive trend, it possess performances which are still low in comparison with the countries from European Union, including the countries which entered the European Union in May 2004. The branch structure of Romanian SME is still one specific to a less developed country: industries that use a high level of labor force and that has a competitive advantage related to the small cost of this factor; a small proportion of the tertiary sector; and an increased presence of the SME that have as principal activity commerce (2 times bigger than the European average). SME sector contribution to economical growth is well known in the majority of the countries of the European Union. If traditionally, small and medium enterprises were considered economical operators belonging to the internal market, today a growing number of SME are managing to conquer the global markets. Approximately one fifth of the SME involved in the productive activity in the OECD countries realize a proportion of 10 to 40 % of their turnover from international activities. SME contribute in a high proportion to the global industrial exports and increase the volume of foreign direct investments worldwide. Moreover, the European Union experience show that it has a significant contribution to the GDP and to the reduction of the unemployment rate.Competitiveness, SMEs (Small and Medium Entreprises), single market

Interactions among components of a university system

In general, terms like competitivity and performance are found together when we want to evaluate the competitivity of a university in the academic system or when we want to rank the performance of the faculty members in the academic world or their competitivity inside their institution. As such, we are interested both in the performance of the institution, as well as in the performance of its human components, the students or the faculty members, with the well defined goal of improving, when it is necessary, the low performances in order to increase se competitivity at the general level.performance, competitivity, management.

EVOLUTION TENDENCIES SPECIFIC TO THE FIELD OF QUALITY IN THE CONTEXT OF KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY

In the actual rivalry environment characterised by the exacerbation of the competition, quality is getting the most important factor. Sequel every organization has to consider a priority the improvement of their products quality. Set going from these realities, we consider convenient and interesting to present the most important tendencies in the field of quality, which understanding depends on the turning to account of numerous improvement opportunities.quality, tendences, competitiveness, knowledge economy

IMPACT OF SERVICE COMMERCE LIBERALIZATION ON THE ACTIVITY OF TOURISM AGENCIES

Throughout time practice has demonstrated that the performance and competitivity of countries in certain fields of activity is mainly generated by the countries’ ability to develop partnerships and strategic alliances based on free flow of goods, capital and people. Such a model, nevertheless this time on a much larger scale is the European Union itself, which has from its birth supported and promoted partnerships, free trade and common monetary policies via stimulation of investments of any type and in any segment of activity.performance, competitivity, tourism agencies