Research Regarding Connections between Risks and Processes within Small and Medium Enterprises

AbstractBusiness process approach is a current concern for many scholars and practitioners as the performance of any organization is directly influenced on how the objectives of these activities are achieved. The methodology framework consists of a literature review regarding the main concepts which are underlying the connection between risk and process. Main findings of the study will comprise of identifying the risks along with the trigger causes or circumstances and their potential effect not only on the activity, but also on the overall process. The importance to detect the risks whose impact has critical effect on the SMEs activity in terms of sustainable development and business continuity will be emphasized. In this respect, the potential processes highly exposed to risks are the most reliable indicators highlighting where an SME is vulnerable and to where should resources be directed to. A clear understanding of the types and intensity of the relationships and interactions between processes and their particular risks leads to cost effective decisions regarding undertaking long term mitigating strategies. The awareness of the link between different types of processes with their specific risks has become highly important as the overall vulnerability of an enterprise is enlarging in line with the business development

Predictors of Companies Preferences for Adopting a Proposed Marketing Strategy

Digital marketing has become increasingly popular and even a mandatory component of anorganization's marketing strategy because it covers the entire range of tools, technologies andcommunication channels. Digital marketing involves the use of digital technologies to supportmarketing activities for profitable acquisition and customer retention in a multi-channel process,no matter what the stage of the customer acquisition cycle. Through this article we will look at itsimportance in a company, the benefits of digital marketing and there will be developed hypothesisto improve the marketing strategy, starting from the current situation

A Model for Relational Marketing

Relational marketing, connects the new type of consumer and society, redefines the meaning ofthe act of buying by taking into account the needs and expectations of the clients. Relationmarketing aims at customer loyalty, becoming more volatile, with higher and more difficultexpectations, as well as attracting customers from new markets. Consumer-oriented, relationalmarketing announces the end of the macro-marketing era and the beginning of the micromarketingera, by replacing macro-segmentation strategies with niche strategies. This article wishes toexplore the means by which people can be attracted by a business so that they become buyers andturn into loyal customers, but also those that can be used to render them. There will be a modelthat includes digital marketing elements that impact on consumers, and they are a key element forany organization

The necessity of a dual education system for Romanian automotive industry. Case study: The German dual vocational training

According to the official data, Romania has more than 600 companies involved in the automotive industry, with more than 203,600 employees. However the automotive industry is facing a real problem when it comes to finding skilled work force. In the west part of the country, the unemployment rate is negative and companies are forced to find solutions for their lack of personnel. This study presents the solutions that were taken by Germany in order to solve the matter. A dual education system was implemented which combines trainings in a company with vocational education. This kind of system is practiced in countries such as: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Korea. As of 2005 young German people can learn one of 356 apprenticeship occupations through this program. In France, dual education has gained a lot of popularity since the 1990s. In order to gain more experience and have multilateral development, in Germany the students are also send to workshops run by guilds or chamber of commerce. The advantages of the dual training system are numerous and this program can help the industry by providing skilled workers with flexible qualifications, solution which may as well be suitable for the Romanian Automotive Industry

Innovation Audit for business excellence

Innovation means creativity and added value recognise by the market. The first step in creating a sustainable commercialization of research results, Technological Transfer - TT mechanism, on one hand is to define the “technology” which will be transferred and on other hand to define the context in which the TT mechanism work, the ecosystem. The Innovation Audit is a component of the analysis of innovation capability potential of SMEs and R&D Institutions together with TO - Technology Offer, TR - Technology Request in the field of economy, technology transfer. We created a methodology and a tool that will support the entities that work in the field of technology transfer and innovation to analyze the company’s capacity to be innovative, to create competitiveness. The Innovation Audit tool developed will be available online for all the users interested, in the conditions described above, which makes them accessible beyond the members of the consortium and their home regions and countries. Also, since the development process will be part of the financing project, all the consultations, reports, analyses, inputs and feedbacks will be available to any interested party which can replicate the process in other fields or in other regions. Actually, this would be highly desirable, as it would lead to building a stronger network of support for innovation and technology transfer that can lead to an increased competitiveness of European enterprises (especially SMEs) in domains important for the future life and welfare of European citizens. The Innovation Audit tool developed is readily transferable to the organisations from all the countries along Danube, involved in the “Made in Danube” project that are active in the domain of bio-economy. This is due to the fact that they will be conceived starting from the real needs of these organisations and in line with European level guidelines and international best practices and come to fill a know-how niche that is under populated at the moment

The necessity of a dual education system for Romanian automotive industry. Case study: The German dual vocational training

According to the official data, Romania has more than 600 companies involved in the automotive industry, with more than 203,600 employees. However the automotive industry is facing a real problem when it comes to finding skilled work force. In the west part of the country, the unemployment rate is negative and companies are forced to find solutions for their lack of personnel. This study presents the solutions that were taken by Germany in order to solve the matter. A dual education system was implemented which combines trainings in a company with vocational education. This kind of system is practiced in countries such as: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Korea. As of 2005 young German people can learn one of 356 apprenticeship occupations through this program. In France, dual education has gained a lot of popularity since the 1990s. In order to gain more experience and have multilateral development, in Germany the students are also send to workshops run by guilds or chamber of commerce. The advantages of the dual training system are numerous and this program can help the industry by providing skilled workers with flexible qualifications, solution which may as well be suitable for the Romanian Automotive Industry

Conceptual modelling of human resource evaluation process

Taking into account the highly diverse tasks which employees have to fulfil due to complex requirements of nowadays consumers, the human resource within an enterprise has become a strategic element for developing and exploiting products which meet the market expectations. Therefore, organizations encounter difficulties when approaching the human resource evaluation process. Hence, the aim of the current paper is to design a conceptual model of the aforementioned process, which allows the enterprises to develop a specific methodology. In order to design the conceptual model, Business Process Modelling instruments were employed - Adonis Community Edition Business Process Management Toolkit using the ADONIS BPMS Notation. The conceptual model was developed based on an in-depth secondary research regarding the human resource evaluation process. The proposed conceptual model represents a generic workflow (sequential and/ or simultaneously activities), which can be extended considering the enterprise’s needs regarding their requirements when conducting a human resource evaluation process. Enterprises can benefit from using software instruments for business process modelling as they enable process analysis and evaluation (predefined / specific queries) and also model optimization (simulations)

Applying The Analytic Hierarchy Process to Rank Natural Threats to Power System Security

Power systems are contemporarily exposing to multiple threats and schematic changes per se. Always modest rather than adequate financial resources are allocated to justified and easy-to-adopt effective actions “against the most serious threat”. Selecting a limited number of natural threats to work with, authors described in this paper the principal steps to achieve a related threats’ ranking by using the analytical hierarchy process method. The key outcome is the knowledge provided to decision-makers to consolidate their actions of allotting the available financial resources to restrict possible effects of the most vigorous menace impact