Internal city marketing: Positive activation of inhabitants through supported voluntarism

Urban settlements which were planned and established during the socialist period either in their entirety or partially (in form of fast-growing districts) can be found all over Central and Eastern Europe. In most of them authorities have been fighting numerous economic and social problems, many either caused by, or stemming from, lack of social cohesion. One visible sign of such problems are neglected public spaces, often doomed to be in a poor condition due to lack of co-ordinated action. In this paper we demonstrate the importance of social capital and public administration’s courage and creativity when applying the tools of internal city marketing for what we call ‘supported voluntarism’ aimed at positive transformation of public spaces in a post-socialist residential neighbourhood using the Slovenian post-socialist city of Velenje as a showcase. Keywords: internal city marketing, supported voluntarism, urban revitalisation</p

The gender gap in economic dependency over the life cycle: some theoretical and practical considerations

Economic analysis usually defines the period of dependency with arbitrary age limits that are independent of country, year, gender and other factors. This paper uses the National Transfer Accounts methodology, which defines dependency by the life cycle periods in which individuals’ consumption exceeds their labour income. The novelty of the paper is the decomposition of the results by gender, as well as the retrospective pre- and post-crisis analysis for the 2000– 2012 period. Slovenia, an ageing European society with a small, open economy, is used as a showcase. The findings indicate that, in Slovenia in 2012, women were able to finance their consumption through their labour income for 29.0 years, compared to 35.9 years for men, with a significant decrease in the gender gap in economic dependency over time, from 7.9 years in 2000 to 6.9 in 2012. It would seem that the economic crisis interrupted the path to equal periods of economic dependency for both genders. However, overall, the gender gap tends to decrease, despite the economic crisis

Socioekonomski položaj samozaposlenih v kulturi: oris stanja v Sloveniji

The empirical study carried out in the last third of 2012 focused on the analysis of the self-employed individuals in the field of culture in Slovenia. Special emphasis was put the examination of their survival strategies. The qualitative part of research is based on nethnography, online interviews and face-to-face interviews. The quantitative part of the study is based on the online questionnaire survey. The results indicate several serious inadequacies of the current national support system for the self-employed in culture. The improvements should take into account specific occupational characteristics as well as the working conditions of the self-employed and contribute to their increased social welfare rights.V empirični študiji, izvedeni v zadnji tretjini leta 2012, smo analizirali položaj samozaposlenih v kulturi v Sloveniji. Poseben poudarek smo namenili preučevanju preživetvenih strategij. Kvalitativni del raziskave smo izvedli s pomočjo netnografije, spletnega intervjuja in osebnega intervjuja, kvantitativni del raziskave pa s pomočjo spletnega vprašalnika. Rezultati raziskave so pokazali, da aktualni način državne podpore samozaposlenim v kulturi ni ustrezen. Izboljšave so potrebne predvsem v smeri priznavanja večjih socialnih pravic, upoštevanja specifike poklica ter posebnih pogojev dela samozaposlenih v kulturi

Developing official statistics literacy : a proposed model and implications

This paper points to a gap in the literature regarding the lack of a widely accepted conceptual framework about the knowledge bases that adults at large and non-specialists need in order to be critically aware of social and economic phenomena by understanding key aspects of official statistics. This negatively affects work by official statistics providers and statistics educators. We thus propose a model encompassing six key knowledge elements needed for official statistics literacy and highlight its implications. We emphasize the need to develop a digital textbook about official statistics literacy as well as a modular online course, and point to other directions official statistics providers and statistics educators could take

Integralni pristup poslovnoj ekologiji i njegova primjena na zemlju u tranziciji

In this paper we propose and implement an integral approach to corporate environmentalism. Our integral model accounts not only for corporate environmentalism motivation and conception but also for corporate environmentalism mode and speed of implementation. A broad range of identified corporate environmentalism dimensions helps characterize fi ve basic groups of companies we propose to name “non-compliers,” “legalistic incrementalists,” “greenwashers,” “incremental innovators,” and “radical innovators.” We then seek to empirically verify the soundness of the proposed integral typology by surveying a large sample of Slovenian manufacturing companies. Maximum likelihood probit estimation, exploratory factor analysis, cluster analysis and binary logistic modeling are used in the empirical analysis. Our main conclusions are twofold: (1) The integral approach to corporate environmentalism works: in the framework of a small open transitional economy, the model differentiates well among different groups of companies. (2) There are no radical innovators among Slovenian companies, and less than one third of the companies are actively thinking and acting in line of environment-friendly processes and products. This fi nding can be partially explained by the fact that Slovenian economy still has some transitional characteristics.U ovome radu predložen je i implementirani integralni pristup ekologiji na razini poduzeća (poslovnoj ekologiji). Predloženi integralni model ne pojašnjava samo motivaciju i koncepciju ekološkog poslovanja već i načine njegova postizanja te brzinu implementacije. Široki spektar utvrđenih dimenzija korporativnih okruženja pomaže u opisivanju pet temeljnih skupina poduzeća. navedene skupine poduzeća u ovome su radu imenovane sukladno svojim svojstvima te se razlikuju “nepokretljivi”, “minimalni legalisti“, “kvazi zeleni”, “minimalni inovatori” i “radikalni inovatori”. U cilju empirijskog potvrđivanja utemeljenosti predložene integralne tipologije provedeno je anketiranje velikog uzorka slovenskih proizvođačkih poduzeća. U empirijskoj analizi korištena je probit analiza, eksploratorna faktorska analiza, klaster analiza i binarno logističko modeliranje. Glavni zaključak vodi dvjema ključnim postavkama: (1) Integralni pristup poslovnoj ekologiji djeluje: u okviru male, otvorene tranzicijske ekonomije, model razlikuje dobro diferencirane skupine poduzeća. (2) Među slovenskim poduzećima ne postoje “radikalni inovatori”, a manje od trećine poduzeća aktivno razmišlja i djeluje u smjeru proizvodnje ekološki prihvatljivih procesa i proizvoda. Rezultati bi se djelomice mogli objasniti činjenicom da se slovenska privreda još uvijek odlikuje određenim tranzicijskim karakteristikama

On the Value System as a Precondition for Sustainability: An Overview of Preliminary Survey Results for Slovenia

The Brundtland report (1987) defi ned sustainable development as a form of development which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’’. Given that the concept of sustainable development closely links the desire for the development of a harmonious society aimed at higher welfare, social cohesion and environmental protection, it requires a shift in values of the society; a shift towards more aware, compashionate, better human. This further requires a shift in consumption and production patterns. We examine the readiness of Slovenian population to support the implementation of more sustainable patterns by examining their values system. The survey based analyis stems from the theoretical concept of happiness, a stream of economics, beginning in the 1970s with the Easterlin paradox. In the article we effectively demonstrate that Slovenian population is in many aspects very traditional. Given that the value system of the general public drives the politicians, this can act as a strong driver towards or against implementation of changes that would support sustainability

SWOT-analiza uporabnosti e-izobraževanja za zaposlene

In practice, e-learning is often being reduced to on-line availability of existing learning materials in various data file formats. However, our experiences with development of an e-learning programme on Economic Statistics on one hand, as well as evaluation procedures conducted during the programme's pilot implementation phase on the other hand, show that in order to take advantage of e-learning, existing pedagogical concepts should be revised. Also, the use of organisational, financial and personnel resources has to be adapted accordingly. The paper sys­temises our experiences, relevant for e­-learning at the workplace, by means of the SWOT analysis. V praksi je e-učenje pogosto skrčeno na dostopnost učnih vsebin v različnih formatih na spletu. Toda naše izkušnje z razvijanjem e-izobraževalnega programa pri ekonomski statistiki na eni strani, na drugi pa postopki ocenjevanja, vodeni v pilotski fazi izvajanja programa, kažejo, da je treba popraviti sedanje pedagoške koncepte, če hočemo resnično izbrati prednosti e-izobraževanja. Ustrezno je treba prilagoditi tudi uporabo organizacijskih, finančnih in kadrovskih virov. Prispevek sistemizira naše izkušnje, pomembne za e-izobraževanje na delovnem mestu, s SWOT-analizo

Improving student in-depth understanding of statistics

When striving to improve student in-depth understanding of statistics, one of the most important challenges instructors face is overcoming the negative student attitude towards statistics. This paper focuses on one approach that has been very effective, namely the inclusion of historical insights into statistics courses. Possibilities of doing that are numerous and range from simple exercises (e.g. assigning a face to the name, or discussing examples of famous past statistical achievements and blunders) to well-rounded lectures (e.g. on socio-economic context of past developments in statistics and methodology, or the role of women in statistics). In the paper, the advantages and disadvantages of this approach are discussed in detail along with several excellent resources that can aid instructors in their endeavours to give statistics a more human face in the eyes of their students