HOW TO ENHANCE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN UNIVERSITIES. BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC STUDIES CASE STUDY

Entrepreneurship has been an area of interest among academics across the world. It is admitted as a booster for market innovation, product and technological growth. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered an important factor for health of the economy. It is seen as the force that revitalizes the economy and leads to economic progress, job creation for the community. Higher education institutions play a vital role in providing society with skilled human resources, owning specific skills accordingly to economy needs. The aim of this study is to investigate ways in which the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (BUES) could amplify the entrepreneurial potential of their students. Results showed that cooperation of universities with entrepreneur NGO’s and other local institutions and organizations, apprenticeship courses, innovative educational content and use of creativity- centred methods of teaching were the most effective improving entrepreneurial skills of students. Detecting the challenges and competencies of entrepreneurial students could help professor to consider these challenges in developing the student’s capabilities that allow them to successfully conduct entrepreneurial activities. Thus, we propose three major implications for actors involved in enhancing entrepreneurial engagement at higher education institutions. First, differences between universities organizational structures (i.e. faculties and departments) regarding organizational norms and cultures should be taking account when encouraging entrepreneurial engagement. Second, all levels of the university hierarchy should be considered when developing the support system for academic entrepreneurship. Third, despite their subordinate position, today’s students will soon have influential positions in the university. Hence, any attempt to create a more entrepreneurial university should pay particular attention to this group of academics. Whilst senior academics may be difficult to influence, our study shows that students seem to be receptive to communication about the commercialization of research results. Our findings indicate that initiatives and research about the creation of entrepreneurial universities should put students in a central position

NEW PERSPECTIVES REGARDING CHANGE AND INNOVATION INTO ROMANIAN SMES

Innovation is one of the major factor to contribute to success and competitiveness on an SMES, as these enterprises are vital for a healthy and sustainable economy. Literature consider innovativeness as one of the most important agent through which such businesses contribute to economic development. This is an even more important issue for country such Romania, where SMEs are often faced with inadequate business infrastructure and lack of support for entrepreneurs. We also consider that last years have been characterized by an increasingly dynamic, complex and unpredictable environment for businesses. Intense competition in the global market is compelling SMEs to leverage their capabilities and competencies in order to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, and improve their performance. In this paper, we explore factors that drive innovation activities and change in SMEs in Romania, and compare it with findings from other studies. We also consider that implementing changes has positive impact on products/services innovation while applying into specific organizational structures, peculiar on SMEs. In this research four types of product innovation are studied: product, process, line extension and radical radical product innovation. We also consider factors regarding percentage of highly skilled employees (T managers, knowledge oriented white collars), implementation of changed strategy, new/improved managerial techniques , SMEs age, region of developement, company dimension and legal type of organization. To generate additional insight in innovation, we also explore problems and obstacle to innovation and change. Literature considers that it is necessary to continuous change and improve SMES in order to be more sustainable and provide innovative products and services to the market If SMEs account for over 90% of businesses all over the world, and there is a growing need to create sustainable SMEs, then developing and implementing change is highest in making progress towards sustainability. This study is based on a research conducted on over 800 entrepreneurs from Romanian economy. We try to demonstrate the usability of the presented findings in practice in order to contribute to the development of SMEs in Romania

Women Entrepreneurship in Romania: the Case of North East Development Region

Women entrepreneurship benefit from a process of expansion all over the world. Business established and developed by women are an important source of wealth and improved living standards in many countries. Even though women represent 46% of Europe's working population, which means in theory that trend of this type entrepreneurship can only go upward, however entrepreneurship is still considered an activity for men. Entrepreneurship has an active role in employment, economic development and quality of life, constituting a dynamic part of any developed economy. Supporting women in their involvement in setting up new start-ups and small business and unlock their potential is an important part of government actions to foster entrepreneurial activities. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study found out that economies of Eastern European countries are in poor condition in terms of women's participation in entrepreneurial activity. Romania is no exception. This paper analyze women entrepreneurship in the poorest region of Romania, North East region, through an empirical survey but provide also some insights on overall Romanian situation based on National Trade Register Office data

Innovation ambidexterity and impact on the performance in IT companies: the moderating role of business experience

International audienc

COMPETITIVENESS ASESSMENT: AN OVERVIEW

Measuring competitiveness of companies, industries or nations and their ranking according to the level and dynamics became, for several decades already, a significant concern for scholars. Competitiveness should be approached in a multi-layered and comprehensive manner, considering that it has a specific content and is perceived differently depending on the system involved. In our view, a comprehensive approach has to adress five levels, facilitating a rigorous and consistent approach to variables that determine competitiveness. These levels are

Assessing the Role of Strategic Choice on Organizational Performance by Jacquemin–Berry Entropy Index

This paper investigates effects of strategic choice on organizational performance for Romanian family-owned Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). Using adapted Jacquemin–Berry entropy index for both product and international diversification and using a regression model, our study discusses family involvement as a moderating factor for organizational performance assessment. We discovered that there are multiple interactions between strategic choice and organizational performance while family involvement fails to have a significant role in moderating these interactions

Relationship between Entropy, Corporate Entrepreneurship and Organizational Capabilities in Romanian Medium Sized Enterprises

This paper analyses the relations between entropy, organizational capabilities and corporate entrepreneurship. The results indicate strong links between strategy and corporate entrepreneurship, moderated by the organizational capabilities. We find that companies with strong organizational capabilities, using a systematic strategic approach, widely use corporate entrepreneurship as an instrument to fulfil their objectives. Our study contributes to the limited amount of empirical research on entropy in an organization setting by highlighting the boundary conditions of the impact by examining the moderating effect of firms’ organizational capabilities and also to the development of Econophysics as a fast growing area of interdisciplinary sciences

An Exploratory Study on Knowledge Management Process Barriers in the Oil Industry

This paper identify and discuss barriers affecting knowledge management (KM) processes in the oil industry. Based on reviewing the literature on this topic, we used a conceptual model comprising the most important barriers, grouped in three categories–organizational, knowledge and people related–influencing four critical KM processes–creation, storage, share and application. Using factor analysis, we identified which barriers influence the most each of the KM process and what are the practical implications for companies operating in the oil industry. This study provides useful insights regarding knowledge processes barriers, enabling top executives to better cope with factors hindering successful implementation of KM initiatives

Financing of Romanian Non-governmental Organizations

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become increasingly important in the last decade for the Romanian society. They raise public awareness for human rights, promote development of democracy and seek to improve the well-being of communities by being increasingly engaging in various development, educational, social or health projects. Unfortunately, many NGOs has to cope with significant financing problems since competition for resources amplified and some of the traditional donors cut or reduced support. This paper analyze financing issues in NGOs, based on a quantitative analysis, using a structured questionnaire. Since it is one of the very few studies covering Romania, the scope of the paper was to provide for those involved or interested in NGO sector new data concerning, for instance, sources of revenue or destination of resources, enabling NGOs executives to build financial sustainable organizations