Consumer innovativeness: a marketing approach

By innovativeness we mean the predisposition of a consumer to adopt a product earlier than most others. Various studies have shown that across product categories, innovators tend to be: opinion leaders, risk takers, more likely to obtain information from mass media than through word of mouth, open to new ideas and change, relatively young etc. Marketers want to identify the segment of the market that is most likely to adopt a new product when it is the first introduced. This article describes we ask some key questions about the nature of innovativeness and try to make a correlation between characteristics of the innovators and innovativeness.innovativeness, new product, opinion leaders, risk takers.

Activitatea "Astrei" în 25 ani dela Unire

Sibiu : Editura "Astrei", 194

BEHAVIOUR OF SOME WALNUT, HAZELNUT AND SWEET CHESTNUT CULTIVARS UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS FROM SOUTH OF ROMANIA

The nut crops are important for their valuable fruits and for their potential to increase the economic growth of Romania. The Southern part of Romania which includes the regions of Oltenia and Muntenia is known for its favourable conditions for fruit growing and in particular for nut crops like walnut, hazelnut and sweet chestnut. During the last two decades at University of Craiova - SCDP Vâlcea several cultivars trials were set up in order to compare the Romanian and foreign cultivars and to establish the most favourable ones for culture in this part of the country. This study presents the behaviour of 19 walnut cultivars (9 Romanian ones and 10 of foreignorigin), 19 hazelnut cultivars (8 Romanian and 11 foreign ones) and 11 cultivars and hybrids of sweet chestnut (3 Romanian and 8 of foreign origin). Due to the results obtained several cultivars of walnut, hazelnut and sweet chestnut are recommended to be propagated and planted into the orchards from southern part of Romania

The Perceived Value of Higher Education and University Competitiveness - The Rubik Cube Metaphor

Purpose. Over the past two decades, concerned with how stakeholders perceive the value of their services, universities have adopted entrepreneurial orientations and relationship marketing approaches into their activities. The fierce competition on the global higher education market, forced university managers to innovate, to look for new ways to build their offer. Relationship marketing and the knowledge regarding the stakeholders, primarily the students’ perception of their offerings, can provide universities with a competitive advantage. As such, university managers need to carry out satisfaction surveys, inquiries regarding the universities image or the perceived value of the academic programs and services offered, need to plan and organize offline and online integrated marketing communication campaigns. Methodology /Design/Approach. Based on the resemblance of perceived value with a Rubik\u27s cube, university marketers can constantly innovate through the way they match the various dimensions of perceived value or facets of the cube to meet the stakeholders’ expectations. Result /Findings. This research highlights the dimensions of the perceived value of the educational offer and determines the extent to which factors such as the university image, the source of financing the studies and the duration of the student - university relationship have an influence on the perception of value. For this purpose we conducted a quantitative research on a sample of 320 students from the largest faculty from the West University of Timișoara, Romania. To perform the statistical data analysis, the following steps were carried out: (1) the reliability of the measurement scales analysis; (2) the opportunity to perform the factorial analysis verification; (3) the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and (4) the research hypotheses testing. Research results showed that the perceived relational value affects the student’s perceptions on the quality of learning, the usefulness and quality of the acquired knowledge, the employment opportunities. The institutional image has a positive influence on the perceived value of the educational offer. For university or faculty managers, it is important to know how to combine the various facets of the perceived value-technical value, relational value, social value, temporal value- in order to provide the value expected by their stakeholders, primarily by students

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNAL MARKET ORIENTATION AND EMPLOYEE JOB SATISFACTION: THE CASE OF THE ROMANIAN BANKING SECTOR

The paper aims to investigate the effect of internal market orientation and its dimensions on the employee job satisfaction. The idea of this research emerged from the extensive scientific literature that suggests the existence of a relationship between internal market orientation and employee job satisfaction. In fact, internal market orientation is conceptualized as a set of managerial behaviors that have the potential to influence employee behavior which would in turn affect customer satisfaction. The research involves a questionnaire-based survey of employees in the banking sector in Romania. The convenience sampling method was used. A total of 170 usable questionnaires were received from the employees. The measurement scales within the proposed model were evaluated for reliability and validity. The research hypotheses were tested via linear regression. The study’s empirical results suggest a positive influence of the internal market orientation and each of its three dimensions on employee job satisfaction. In order to increase the level of employee job satisfaction, the organization should systematically monitor the personal needs of every employee, to adapt every important decision taken by the managers to the individual needs that employees of different groups may have, supervisors should be interested in listening to what subordinates have to say about jobs, about the issues they have and the management of the organization must seriously consider employees’ needs, introduce policies and allocate funds to meet these needs. JEL CLASSIFICATION: M31, G2

Ethical aspects in managing patients diagnosed with digestive cancers; a review of literature

Numerous bioethical recommendations are now available in the complex process of communication with cancer patients. In this review, we have focused on the complex process of managing patients with different types of oncologic digestive diseases, immediately after the diagnosis is made. We have analyzed the literature data on the topic. MEDSCAPE and PubMed databases have been studied. Issues such as telling the truth to patients with digestive cancer, the physician\u27s responsibility in the psychological management of patients and their relatives, the nurses’ duties, the consented death, the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) as well as the clinical research have been the main targets of our study

Researches Concerning the Correlation of the Semiplanetary Rolling Process Factors

An available solution of the elimination of the superficial cracks network at the continuous cast slabs is the semiplanetary rolling. The application of a semiplanetary rolling mill at the exit of slab from the curve zone of the continuous casting machine leads at the slab unbending. For real constructive conditions of the geometry of casting machine, the establishing of the factors of semiplanetary rolling process, is necessary. The researches showed in this paper, worked at a lab semiplanetary mill, demonstrate that the bending of the linear body or the unbending of the curve body is possible. At the same time is establishing a correlation between the geometrical factors of body and the semiplanetary rolling factor – the relative reduction of thickness

Ethical aspects in managing patients diagnosed with digestive cancers; a review of literature

Numerous bioethical recommendations are now available in the complex process of communication with cancer patients. In this review, we have focused on the complex process of managing patients with different types of oncologic digestive diseases, immediately after the diagnosis is made. We have analyzed the literature data on the topic. MEDSCAPE and PubMed databases have been studied. Issues such as telling the truth to patients with digestive cancer, the physician\u27s responsibility in the psychological management of patients and their relatives, the nurses’ duties, the consented death, the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) as well as the clinical research have been the main targets of our study

Ethical aspects in managing patients diagnosed with digestive cancers; a review of literature

Numerous bioethical recommendations are now available in the complex process of communication with cancer patients. In this review, we have focused on the complex process of managing patients with different types of oncologic digestive diseases, immediately after the diagnosis is made. We have analyzed the literature data on the topic. MEDSCAPE and PubMed databases have been studied. Issues such as telling the truth to patients with digestive cancer, the physician's responsibility in the psychological management of patients and their relatives, the nurses’ duties, the consented death, the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) as well as the clinical research have been the main targets of our study

Case report: Tackling the complexities of an extremely premature newborn with intrauterine growth restriction and congenital metabolic disorders through a multidisciplinary approach

Background and objectivesThe premature birth of a newborn can present a complex challenge for healthcare providers, particularly in cases of extreme prematurity combined with intrauterine growth restriction and multiple metabolic deficiencies. In this report, we aim to shed light on the difficulties and considerations involved in the management of such a case. In addition, our study is aimed to raise awareness of the importance of a multidisciplinary team in managing an extreme premature case with multiple comorbidities.Case presentation and main findingsWe present the case of a 28-week premature female newborn with very low birth weight (660 g, percentile <10%) and intrauterine growth restriction. She was born through emergency cesarean delivery due to maternal Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, and Low Platelet count (HELLP) syndrome and had a high-risk pregnancy (spontaneous twin pregnancy, with one fetus stopping development at 16 weeks and maternal hypertension). In the first hours of life, she presented with persistent hypoglycemia requiring progressive glucose supplementation up to 16 g/kg/day to maintain normal blood glucose levels. The baby then showed favorable progress. However, from days 24 to 25, hypoglycemia recurred and did not respond to glucose boluses or supplementation in both intravenous and oral feeds, leading to the suspicion of a congenital metabolic disorder. Endocrine and metabolic screenings led to suspicion of primary carnitine deficiency and a deficiency in hepatic form of carnitine-palmitoyltransferase type I (CPT1) on the second screening.Conclusion and clinical implicationsThe study highlights rare metabolic anomalies that can be due to both organ and system immaturity and delayed enteral feeding and excessive use of antibiotics. The clinical implications of this study emphasize the need for careful monitoring and comprehensive care of premature infants to prevent and manage potential metabolic abnormalities by neonatal metabolic screening