Does Stakeholder Management Contribute to a Museum’s Sustainable Development?

Museums are increasingly more connected to the concerns of the present-day society. In order to be actively involved in the development of the society and well-being of their communities, museums are more connected than ever, are active partners for their stakeholders. Having this new framework in mind, the present paper investigates the complex relationships between stakeholders and museums, as well as the role stakeholders could have to achieve the museum’s sustainable development. The present paper investigates how Romanian museums are using the stakeholder management approach to ensure their sustainable development. The interviews reveal why the funding bodies are considered by far the most important stakeholders. Other museums are generally ranked among the most important partners, along with local cultural organizations and educational ones. Sustainable development and increased impact on the museum’s community are constant concerns, but the main stakeholders and partners are rather narrowly considered

How to Sell a Book? Insights from Romania

Many other famous intellectuals, artists and writers stress various positive aspects of reading. Scientific research in medicine and psychology also prove the positive outcomes of reading. Therefore, it is not a surprise that books are highly valued by societies. Nevertheless, book reading seems to be a rarity in some societies. Although reading is beneficial, the book market is not flourishing in many countries, including Romania. The present paper sets a framework for developing marketing strategies that could be used by Romanian publishers to attract more readers. The methodology comprises two parts. A first section is dedicated to the Romanian book market. Investigating its specificity helps us pinpoint the references for successful marketing strategies. The second part is based on the analysis of the scarce literature on marketing in the book industry in order to identify key aspects and vulnerabilities of marketing strategy in this sector

Have banks been supportive during the COVID19 pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had disrupting and negative effects on economies and society. Nevertheless, it seems that it has contributed to increased solidarity, and determined individuals and organizations to be more responsible, at least concerning health-related aspects. Companies around the world have been involved in supporting the health care system and minimizing the impact of the pandemic on economies around the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies were motivated by utilitarianism and deontological factors to get involved in philanthropic CSR actions in the toughest moments of the pandemic. Banks seem to be no exception. Even more, during this pandemic, banks have done much to rehabilitate their reputations, tarnished during the previous financial and economic crises. This paper aims to analyze the perception of the involvement of Romanian banks during the pandemic, especially for overcoming the crises of the healthcare system. The findings could guide banks to be more consistent and better communicate their CSR activities and involvement for the benefit of society, and helps understand how people observe and evaluate the CSR efforts of banks

Museums as Theme Parks - A Possible Marketing Approach?

Museums compete increasingly more with very diverse entertainment providers, such as theme parks, despite the fact that their offer is mainly cultural. Museums have had to be more active and they have had to diversify their offer, in order to be more popular, therefore to better achieve their complex cultural missions. They should be more “market oriented” and aim to develop their programs according with their visitors’ needs and desires, as well as with the evolutions in the contemporary society.  One answer to this challenge would be the controversial theme parkisation of museums. The paper discusses in what extent the market approach of theme parks could be a viable marketing strategy for museums. It underlines several differences and similarities between the marketing approaches of museums and theme parks, in order to better understand how a museum could preserve its cultural functions, while obtaining economic success. Only the latter would allow it to better develop its cultural activity and thus to better serve its visitors and the community

Romanian Museums under Scrutiny

The museum sector has changed in the past decades, becoming for dynamic, diverse, interactive, participative and innovative. All this shifts make museums more and more appealing and increase the level of satisfaction of museum visits. Understanding to what degree the public perceives and appreciate these trends, could give museum management hints to better fit their development strategies to the audience. Generally, perceptions are very important for appealing organizations. This is valid also for museums. Museum’s image influences the audience’s satisfaction. Perceptions are important for successful museum visits in many ways. Having this is mind, the present study investigates how participative and innovative are considered Romanian museums

Communication between publishers and the public: the magnetic effect of social media

In the contemporary dynamic and turbulent economic environment being present and up to the minute becomes a necessity for almost any business. Social media is a communication infrastructure that allows and concomitantly sets the rules for information and message dissemination. Just as most organizations nowadays, publishing houses need to establish a strong online presence through posts on social media platforms. As they are both economic and cultural agents, the messages shared by publishers on social networks imply a higher degree of social responsibility and their content is particularly important. The present paper aims to explore how Romanian publishing houses are communicating with their current and potential customers on social platforms. The posts on various social media such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc. from the last two months of 2022 and the first two months of 2023 are investigated through the content analysis research technique. As the book industry is strongly linked to the concept of knowledge, the analysis is performed from the perspective of the Theory of Knowledge Fields. The findings of this study could prove useful to various actors involved in the book industry and other cultural organizations, as it provides insights into cultural promotion via social platforms practices. The subject is topical since book consumption is an essential part of a healthy cultural and social life of a country

Ageing and responsible consumption

Multiple studies show that the contemporary society is increasingly more responsible and ask companies to prove responsible citizens, too. The current study aims to a better understanding of the role of age plans in responsible consumption attitudes and values. Investigating the literature in the field, including studies developed worldwide as well as on the Romanian market. The research documents that the younger adults are more responsible and greener than older persons. Nevertheless, the older the consumer, the more trustful in the personal impact of her/his consumption is. The older adults seem to be less inclined towards responsible buying. The available data also suggests that the age gap is closing, and older consumers tend to be increasingly more responsible

Communication between publishers and the public: the magnetic effect of social media

In the contemporary dynamic and turbulent economic environment being present and up to the minute becomes a necessity for almost any business. Social media is a communication infrastructure that allows and concomitantly sets the rules for information and message dissemination. Just as most organizations nowadays, publishing houses need to establish a strong online presence through posts on social media platforms. As they are both economic and cultural agents, the messages shared by publishers on social networks imply a higher degree of social responsibility and their content is particularly important. The present paper aims to explore how Romanian publishing houses are communicating with their current and potential customers on social platforms. The posts on various social media such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc. from the last two months of 2022 and the first two months of 2023 are investigated through the content analysis research technique. As the book industry is strongly linked to the concept of knowledge, the analysis is performed from the perspective of the Theory of Knowledge Fields. The findings of this study could prove useful to various actors involved in the book industry and other cultural organizations, as it provides insights into cultural promotion via social platforms practices. The subject is topical since book consumption is an essential part of a healthy cultural and social life of a country

Innovation in the Book Market Retail. Preferences Among Romanian Readers

Today’s dynamic business environment forces companies to differentiate more than ever and focus on gaining long-term competitive advantages through innovation. The book market faces new challenges, mainly related to the shifting behaviour of readers. Innovation might be perceived as a path towards differentiation, attaining competitive advantage, and market success. Understanding the preferences of the readers and knowing the retail innovation trends could help all the decision-making actors of the book market adapt better to the dynamics of contemporary society and the business environment. The present paper aims at identifying the preferences of Romanian readers regarding the innovations employed in the book market retail.  To gather the data, we applied an online questionnaire to a sample of 486 respondents from Romania. The main conclusion of the study underlines that the consumers are not necessarily sensitive to technological innovation or an innovative format of the stores but are highly sensitive to the atmosphere in the bookstores and to the special offers of the bookstores