The importance of stakeholders and policy influence enhancing the innovation in nature based tourism services Greece, Austria, Finland and Romania case studies

This paper aims to illustrate in the context of the challenges of the Europeanization process what kind of co-operation models there exist between nature-based tourism companies and the critical stakeholder groups effecting the business activities and social sustainability of the companies. The following topics are part of our current research: which are the cooperation strategy; which are the management models applied in countries with competitive market and strong innovation policy; which are the costs of implementing innovation policies for co-operation strategies enhancing the innovation in nature based tourism services; which barriers avoid the entrepreneurship development and how innovative can be the firm management. We intend to analyze the importance of stakeholders and policy influence enhancing the innovation in nature based tourism service, in Greece, Austria, Finland and Romania case studies. The research will continue with a comparison between these cases, including the perspective of supporting entrepreneurship and regional competitiveness in Romania.peer-reviewe

Municipal waste management in Romania in the context of the EU. A stakeholders’ perspective

The European waste policy is focused on reducing the negative impact of waste, eliminating the unhealthy use of resources, and on better waste management. The aim of this paper is to analyse Romania’s waste management practices in the EU context. The research methodology is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis. The descriptive data analysis reveals significant differences among EU countries in terms of the municipal waste generated and the recycling rate. The municipal waste generated registers decrease, whereas there are significant increases in terms of the recycling rates in the EU countries. The qualitative research is based on the analysis of structured interviews among stakeholders, relevant for the waste management in Romania. The information obtained based on interviews was processed using NVivo and the main findings are focused on recommendations for improving the waste management system. We have identified a lack of adequate public support in the waste field due to insufficient awareness programs, lack of operator’s obligation for separate waste sanitation, people's discouragement to separate their household waste, and lack of bins to separate collection. The correction of identified weaknesses could lead to an improved waste management system, feasible only through an active involvement of stakeholders

Economic Insights -Trends and Challenges The Evolution of Overall Development in the Central and Eastern Europe Countries in the Context of E.U. Accession

Abstract In the EU there are some differences in development between western countries and those of Central and Eastern Europe, that joined the EU starting with 2004. The EU cohesion policy aims to minimize these differences by providing significant financial assistance to the underdeveloped areas. The present paper analyzes the general development level of these countries in the context of the EU accession. The evolutions are observed both at the states and regions level and reveal a growing GDP in these countries after the EU integration -which caused a reduction in the existing disparities in the EU

ASPECTE REFERITOARE LA MEDIUL EXTERN AL FIRMEI DIN DOMENIUL TURISMULUI ŞI PRINCIPALELE DESTINAŢII TURISTICE DIN ROMÂNIA

La connaissance du milieu externe est un élément essentiel pour chaque firme du domaine du tourisme. Le milieu externe comprend plusieurs catégories de facteurs externes: économiques, financiers, de management, démographiques, politiques, juridiques et naturels. La Roumanie a un potentiel naturel très bon pour le développement du tourisme. Bien qu’il existe beaucoup de points faibles pour le tourisme autochtone, les dernières années, il y a des efforts pour l’amélioration de ces aspects. Il est aussi nécessaire d’un management professionnel

CONSIDERAŢII PRIVIND IMPACTUL INTERNETULUI ASUPRA DEZVOLTĂRII ŞI PROMOVĂRII TURISMULUI

Les dernières années, la présence sur Internet est devenue un problème important pour tous les agents du tourisme sans tenir compte de la grandeur de la firme; les frais sont menus. En commençant par la nouvelle technologie, se sont aussi développés les systèmes de distribution globale (GDS) pour des réservations touristiques, des billets d’avion et d’autres services assimilés

THE EVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC TERRITORIAL DISPARITIES IN ROMANIA

This paper addresses the problem of inter-regional and inter-county development disparities existing in Romania and their evolution over time, in the context of the fact that the problem of development gaps receives increased attention in the European Union, especially through regional policy. For our study we used the values of GDP per capita expressed in Euro and Purchasing Power Standard. We have noticed that the differences of development existing among the regions of Romania are maintained although the differences between them and the EU 28 average tend to decrease slightly. Also, at the level of the counties, the development differences are maintained and the Bucharest Municipality records higher values compared to the counties and only it manages to have values of GDP / inhabitant expressed in PPS over the EU average, the values of the other counties getting slightly closer

THE INFLUENCE OF E.U. INTEGRATION ON THE OVERALL DEVELOPMENT IN THE REGIONS NORTH-EAST OF ROMANIA, SUBCARPATHIA OF POLAND AND CENTRAL SLOVAKIA

The existence of some notable development differences in EU at interstate and interregional level imposed the elaboration of a regional development policy aimed at reducing such disparities. The financial assistance provided by the EU is to help the underdeveloped regions. In this article we highlight the overall level of development and its evolution in Romania, Poland and Slovakia, at regional level, in the context of EU accession. Our attention will be focused on the North-East region of Romania, achieving a comparative analysis with two other similar regions from Poland and Slovakia: Subcarpathia and Central Slovakia, respectively

THE E.U. REGIONAL POLICY AND THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The purpose of this paper is to reveal some aspects regarding the evolution of disparities in the European Union, the absorption of the Structural Funds in 2007-2013 period and the regional policy effects. EU expanded in the latest decades, having now regions with different level of development, so that is why economic disparities became higher in the EU. In order minimize them and to consolidate the regional competitive capacity, the regional development policy gained more importance and more funds were allocated to it. The bigger part of these Structural Funds are designated to less developed regions. For 2007-2013 period, the level of the funds absorption is different for the EU countries, as well as the growth of GDP. In the EU, more than a quarter of the regions are less developed with a GDP/inhabitant expressed in Purchasing Power Standard<75% of EU average, but there are less (almost 7%) regions with GDP under 50% of the EU-28 average than 10 years ago, as a result of the regional development policy that contribute to the decrease of the disparities. EU adhering brought an increase of GDP/inhabitant in the Eastern and Central Europe countries. In order to continue the decrease the regional disparities, for the 2014-2020 period the European Structural and Investment funds are also considerable, to the Eastern and Central Europe countries being allocated the biggest part of them

AN ANALYSIS OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE COUNTRIES OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE IN THE CONTEXT OF E.U. ADHERING

Unemployment is a negative phenomenon that manifests itself in any economy with varying degrees of intensity. In this paper we propose to analyze the evolution of unemployment in the EU. There are countries where economic recession was felt more intense and harder recovered from it, such as Greece or Spain. Within the European Union one notes some differences in unemployment between Member States but also in terms of age groups. In the EU youth unemployment rate is approximately double that the general unemployment rate, but the situation is worse in some countries where youth unemployment rate is even higher. Our analysis also focuses on trends recorded at regional level in Central and Eastern Europe countries in the context of their accession to the EU, highlighting positive developments, which were maintained in the coming years. The unemployment rate decrease is one of the objectives followed by the EU through its policies