CORPORATIVE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, PARTNER OR OPPONENT OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?

It appeared as an initiative of the big transnational companies in their fight for the maintaining and the improvement of their competitive position, Corporative Social Responsibility imposes itself nowadays as an innovative concept, usually associated to “society based on knowledge” that has as a purpose the improvement of the organization’s relationship with the environment (internal and external) and also on gaining some important advantages in connection to the competition. On the other hand, Knowledge management became in the last few years one of the most recent and innovative ways of formation, certification and international cooperation in the field of global consulting, that has as a final target the creation of value and the generation of competitive advantages at an organizational level. The convergence of both concepts towards the final purpose of improving the competitive advantages leads to the conclusion that both Corporative Social Responsibility and Knowledge Management are challenging intercession, of maximum interest, that conditions the evolution of modern society, even if sometimes they merge together, most of the times they complete each other while other times they are in opposition because of the actual state of the research. The paper focuses mainly on the systematical analysis of the concept of Corporative social responsibility at the level of economic entity, because the content of the notion of Knowledge Management is better known within the Conference, and the participants can formulate their own pro and con opinions in the relationship Corporative social responsibility – Knowledge Management.corporate social responsibility, business ethics, knowledge management, stakeholders, commitment, performance, sustainability, competitive advantage.

INNOVATION - THE CORNERSTONE OF ECONOMIC SUCCES AT EUROPEAN LEVEL

In a world that is in a permanent change, in which the interdependencies between the states are more and more obvious and the rivalry and the inequalities between the nations deepen, one of the main objectives of the actual era wishes to be the growth of the competitivity and innovation degree at a microeconomic level and at a regional and international level. The innovation process means the conversion of new knowledge into economic and social benefits, as a result of some complex interactions between numerous actors in a system that is formed of an environement (local, regional and national) that has productive firms, research institutes, and networks through which all these come into contact.region, innovation, rivalry, methodology, diagnosis, evaluation.

Risk factors for infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales: an international matched case-control-control study (EURECA)

Cases were patients with complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI), complicated intraabdominal (cIAI), pneumonia or bacteraemia from other sources (BSI-OS) due to CRE; control groups were patients with infection caused by carbapenem-susceptible Enterobacterales (CSE), and by non-infected patients, respectively. Matching criteria included type of infection for CSE group, ward and duration of hospital admission. Conditional logistic regression was used to identify risk factors. Findings Overall, 235 CRE case patients, 235 CSE controls and 705 non-infected controls were included. The CRE infections were cUTI (133, 56.7%), pneumonia (44, 18.7%), cIAI and BSI-OS (29, 12.3% each). Carbapenemase genes were found in 228 isolates: OXA-48/like, 112 (47.6%), KPC, 84 (35.7%), and metallo-beta-lactamases, 44 (18.7%); 13 produced two. The risk factors for CRE infection in both type of controls were (adjusted OR for CSE controls; 95% CI; p value) previous colonisation/infection by CRE (6.94; 2.74-15.53; <0.001), urinary catheter (1.78; 1.03-3.07; 0.038) and exposure to broad spectrum antibiotics, as categorical (2.20; 1.25-3.88; 0.006) and time-dependent (1.04 per day; 1.00-1.07; 0.014); chronic renal failure (2.81; 1.40-5.64; 0.004) and admission from home (0.44; 0.23-0.85; 0.014) were significant only for CSE controls. Subgroup analyses provided similar results. Interpretation The main risk factors for CRE infections in hospitals with high incidence included previous coloni-zation, urinary catheter and exposure to broad spectrum antibiotics

THE ANALYSIS OF THE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS IN THE CURRENT ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

Real estate investments are one of the most attractive business opportunities in the context of the contemporary economy, generally marked by economic recession and especially by monetary and financial instability. Last years international reporting concluded that deepening the global economic crisis determined an increase of the real estate request, while despite all expectations one did not assist a crash of the prices. Economic reality showed that real estate assets value (buildings, land) kept proportions with economic reality over time. A comparison between stock exchange market and the real estate market shows that while an movables investor (investments in stocks, bonds or life insurance) might lose completely his initial investment, the investments in real estate assets, such as buildings, would keep their quality as goods and would also keep a value to better resist shocks and thus allowing an increase of the capital. When appreciating the value of an investment the first things to analyze are the return, liquidity and risk criteria, which are essential in real estate investments too. Stimulating real estate market must be not only a wish but also a reality of global economy, since it can correct many of the aggregated indicators of a country. Containing scientifically detached from economic practice, this article is addressed to readers with interests in real estate investment. The language is usually referred particularly to the qualitative side of the real estate market approach. The feasibility of the real estate investments is being conditioned by their capacity to generate important profits, on the background of the reduction of the duration of recovery of their value. The economic instability from the last couple of years has generated fears and failures but, paraphrasing Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, courage is a mixture of genius, magic and power that helps us succeed in everything we set our mind to. The investments on the real estate market usually have a long period of recovery, compared to the placements at the stock market or to the commercial business. The structure of investments in the field of real estate is complex and depends on several factors: the fiscal and financial policies of a country, elements that are specific to the constructions sector, the fluctuations of the real estate market, the development degree of a nation, the free circulation of people, the evolution of the exchange rate etc. The international statistics show that the real estate sector represents one of the most profitable businesses from the last two decades. Even now the real estate sector seems to be profitable, especially for the speculators, in the measure in which there are financial sources and enough information about the market

Corporate Social Responsibility – between Desideratum and Reality

The corporate social responsibility is a desideratum of the world and it is an important premise of the business environment. The objectives of this presentation are: conceptual understanding, the identification of the advantages generated by the social responsibility for the company and for the society as a whole, the determination of the correlation between the enterprise’s efforts and the obtained effects, the pointing out of the necessity of setting up of the corporate social responsibility on ethical criteria. As a corollary, one can appreciate that the corporate social responsibility is a source of competitive advantage and a strategic intercession.corporate social responsibility; business ethics; innovation; sustainability; competitive advantage.

Corporate Social Responsibility – between Desideratum and Reality

The corporate social responsibility is a desideratum of the world and it is an important premise of the business environment. The objectives of this presentation are: conceptual understanding, the identification of the advantages generated by the social responsibility for the company and for the society as a whole, the determination of the correlation between the enterprise’s efforts and the obtained effects, the pointing out of the necessity of setting up of the corporate social responsibility on ethical criteria. As a corollary, one can appreciate that the corporate social responsibility is a source of competitive advantage and a strategic intercession

INNOVATION THE CORNERSTONE OF ECONOMIC SUCCES AT EUROPEAN LEVEL

In a world that is in a permanent change, in which the interdependencies between the states are more and more obvious and the rivalry and the inequalities between the nations deepen, one of the main objectives of the actual era wishes to be the growth of the competitivity and innovation degree at a microeconomic level and at a regional and international level. The innovation process means the conversion of new knowledge into economic and social benefits, as a result of some complex interactions between numerous actors in a system that is formed of an environement (local, regional and national) that has productive firms, research institutes, and networks through which all these come into contact

Private brand – differentiating concept and source of stimulation of the Romanian retail trade

Recent studies show the importance of the private brand in the stimulation of retail sales. This paper has three main scopes: to evaluate the consumers’ attitude towards the retailers’ private brand according to the satisfaction and loyalty levels; to show the role of private brands in the consumers’ preferences; and to identify the key factors of success in private brands commerce. The authors have selected the descriptive method, the questionnaire, by performing a survey among the loyal customers of four Metro Cash and Carry stores, which represent a representative sample. The final conclusion is that the private brand is the cornerstone completing the puzzle game on a strongly competitive consumer market