THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE ROMANIAN COMPANIES’ MARKETING NEEDS AND MEANS OF COMMUNICATION - A MARKETING RESEARCH -

The marketing needs of the Romanian companies are very diversified, commencingwith the research of the needs and demand on the target market, going down to the 4Ps (Product,Price, Promotion and Placement) and their components. The present marketing research was performed using 11 categories of information sources:specialised publications in marketing; specialised publications in economics; national officialstatistics; publications of professional associations; publications/web sites of NGOs; reports issuedby media institutions and web sites; information provided by specialised institutions in consultancyand marketing research; information provided by individual marketing specialists; informationprovided by advertising agencies; information provided by the economic sections of the dailynewspapers; job web sites.marketing needs, Romanian companies, secondary data

The impact of the future Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and South Korea on the European and Romanian economies – a marketing research

The signing of a Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and the European Union is one of the main goals of the General Affairs and External Relations Council of the EU. The FTA between the EU and South Korea will have a significant impact on the European economy with positive and negative consequences. The goal of this study is to determine the opportunities and possible threats for the European and Romanian economies. The most important effects of this Free Trade Agreement could be summarized in the increase of productivity and efficiency and spreading of innovation within a great number of industries.Free Trade Agreement, EU, South Korea.

The Need for Integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into Teacher Training Programmes in Nigeria

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a major factor in shaping a new global economy and producing rapid changes in society. In order to function in this new world economy, students and their teachers have to learn to deal with large amount of information. This entails the analysis of such information and making decisions based on the result of the analysis. In order to help students achieve these capabilities, the classroom teacher must be knowledgeable in the use of ICT tools. The teacher is responsible for creating a conducive classroom environment and preparing the learning opportunities that facilitate students‟ use of technology to learn, communicate and develop knowledge product. It is therefore, critical that all classroom teachers are prepared to provide their students with these opportunities. This paper therefore, sets out to highlight the importance of ICT and the need to integrate same into the teacher training programmes in Nigeria.Keywords: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Integration, Teacher training programmes and Classroom environment

The impact of CSR on the stakeholders of oil miltinational corporation in Niger Delta, Nigeria

This study examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of oil companies in developing countries, focusing on the conflict surrounding Shell Oil Company in the Niger Delta. Western literature presents CSR as a philanthropic or moral but largely voluntary activity, intended to satisfy various stakeholders, whose needs can be negotiated through dialogue. However, it is often descriptive and theoretical, and neglects local communities as stakeholders. This study explores the applicability of these Western notions in the Nigerian context, with particular reference to the perceptions within the oil company, and those of the local communities as neglected stakeholders.An ethnographic approach was employed to elicit fresh insights from Shell employees and local groups in the Niger Delta, drawing on formal interviews, informal interactions and documentary evidence regarding understandings of CSR perceptions and expectations of Shell’s behaviour, and impacts on life, livelihood and culture in the local area. A complex picture emerges of CSR as an elusive, contested and context-dependent concept that has different meanings for different people. Western notions of philanthropy, voluntarism and stakeholder engagement are shown to be highly problematic in the Niger Delta, where the difficulty of reconciling conflicting expectations is exacerbated by the colonial legacy of mistrust between multinationals and the local people, as well as weak government. As a consequence of exclusion from decision-making, the local community denies the legitimacy of any CSR initiatives by Shell, and indeed, evidence supports that Shell’s behaviour in Niger Delta differs from its actions in other contexts. Whilst joining academic calls to refocus CSR of oil companies to one that is community-oriented and negotiated rather than dictated, it recognises the challenges facing these concepts in communities like the Niger Delta

Contemporary Realities and Challenges in the World Christian Gravitational Shift : Some Scholars Who Engaged Philip Jenkins’ Trilogy in Disagreement

Jenkins is the author of a trilogy. The central theme in the trilogy is that there has been a shift of the world Christian gravitational center from the North to the South. In addition, the practice of Christianity in Africa, Asia, and Latin-America is in resonance with the biblical theologizing than in Euro-America. For Jenkins, the Southern churches with the World’s Christian centre of gravity are quite at home with biblical notions of the supernatural, with ideas such as dreams, visions, prophecy, healing, and deliverance dominating their practice and that, in addition, the old Christendom must give priority to Southern voices. Secularism and religious decline/immigration and religious upsurge are some dominant themes in the Trilogy. Jenkins sees a looming and persistent crisis in European Christianity. Accordingly, it is high time Western scholars ask whether Europe's current problems are religious, racial, or classism. Euro-America is now living in fear of attacks by Muslim fundamentalists. Mixed reactions have engaged the above analysis by Jenkins. Many scholars have agreed with Jenkins. Others have debunked his ideas with many still being neutral. The reactions by four of Jenkins’ critics form the basis for this article. Views from one Northern and three Southern scholars—Robert (Euro-America), Phan (Asia), Sanneh (Africa), and Escobar (Latin-America) will be provided; all ending with an assessment

Editorial

During 2019 we faced new challenges and devised new ways of improving our work alongside authors and reviewers. In this Editorial we summarize all these changes and thank all collaborators that helped us during this year

Impacts of Parcel-Based Second Level Landholding Certificates on Tenure Security, Investment and Land Productivity: In Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia

The question of whether the rural land registration and certification has an impact on tenure security, investment and land productivity or not, remains an important policy question. It is also a deeply sensitive political issue in present day of Ethiopia. Using household level data collected from 279 households of Raya Azebo district of Tigrai, north Ethiopia this paper investigates the impacts of parcel based second level land holding certificates on tenure security, investment and land productivity. Results of both probit model and IV-probit model consistently indicate that certificate positively and significantly associated with both specification of tenure security. in case of the investment impacts of certificate, The double hurdle model (probit specification for adoption decision and alternative truncated regressions on the actual zeros and predicted zeros from probit regression) and alternative Tobit specification are run. But the likelihood ratio test of model appropriates rejects the Tobit model in favour of the double hurdle model. This encourages the research to separately estimate adoption decision and intensity of adoption. Results from the double hurdle model shows certificate have positively and significantly correlated with decision to invest stone terrace and soil bound but negatively correlated with intensity of investment. While, there is no significant relationship between tree planting and second level land holding certificate but the parametric result confirms that certified households have significant gains from certification in terms of productivity. In sum, a result indicates that certificate has positive and significant benefits on both perceived tenure security investment decision and land productivity