INNOVATION PERFORMANCE IN EUROPEAN UNION

The enlargement of the European Union calls for specific action to be taken. People in the candidate countries have often had to display a capacity for entrepreneurship in adapting to the transformation of their economies. Innovation helps companies conquer new markets or stave off competition. It comes in many different forms, ranging from an invention arising from R&D to efforts to adapt production procedures, tap new markets, use new organisational approaches or create new marketing concepts.innovation indicators, innovation performance, innovation policy

Trends and correlations of romanian merchandise foreign trade from 2006 to 2010. An econometrical approach

The Romania’s adhesion to European Union has implied several economic and social changes with a direct impact to foreign trade. At regional level, the foreign trade in Romania has registered a growing bias of commercial exchanges with the EU member states, giving the fact that the EU has become the main commercial partner of Romania in the last few years. The period from June 2006 to June 2010 includes both the last years of economic growth in Romania and the first years of actual economic crisis. Thus, the monthly statistically data series show the time and effects of Romania’ change from a relative economic growth to recession. There are different influences upon the structure of FOB exports and CIF imports. The paper analyses the evolution of Romanian merchandise foreign trade in EU area and also with the non-members states. It is also analysed the weight as against total results of foreign trade and the evolution of FOB/CIF deficit. There is an estimation of the correlation between and the lei/euro monthly exchange rates for this period and also there are presented the influences of lei/euro exchange rate upon FOB exports and CIF imports.foreign trade, correlation, ANOVA, F test, trend

The role of regional trade agreements in the global economy

Regional and sub-regional groups having an integrative character appeared after the war and they aimed at harmonizing their economic policies, and, at the same time, they ensured, in accordance with the agreed degree of integration, free turnover of goods, products, services, capitals and labor force. By setting up these international economic organizations, the states of the world and especially developing countries wanted to improve their efforts for a sustained economic growth, to counteract the effects of the unequal external affairs and to eliminate underdevelopment. Some of the regional agreements that represent the new regionalism have been motivated politically and they were stimulated by the conviction that good agreements do not necessarily stand for good neighbors. Such agreements consolidate good diplomatic practices and their objective is to reduce the inevitable confrontation that may appear as a result of commercial disputes that interfere at the border.integration, trade agreements, global economy

DIGITALIZATION, DUAL-USE TECHNOLOGIES AND MANAGEMENT OF NEW BUSINESS MODELS - WAYS TO RESPOND TO CHALLENGES. USH PROBUSINESS, WALACHIA HUB AND DUAL-USE CLUSTER STUDY CASE

Dual use technologies, which means technologies used for both military and civil applications, are evolving in the context of digitalization.            Even in pre-digital era, at the dawns of the technological progress of mankind, the use of technologies was ambivalent, both for warfare and civil wellbeing. Now however, we assist to a fast blending of dual use and digital processes which is changing the landscape of the business models. We name this new process interaction as Dual-use Digital Blending (DDB).            This paper is investigating the trends of evolution of this blended dual use-digital transformation technologies and their impact on the new geo-economic and geopolitical confrontations, on the trade flows and economic balance of power. We look at the new emerging business models triggered by the          DDB and the managerial challenges this will require especially for innovative start-ups and SMEs. Finally, we argue that university led innovation ecosystem, like the study case presented, may offer knowledge hubs for managers, organized in clusters in order to be better prepared for the described DDB process

EVALUATION OF HEAVY METALS CONTENT IN EDIBLE MUSHROOMS BY MICROWAVE DIGESTION AND FLAME ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY

The aim of this work was to determine the heavy metal (Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Mn, Zn, Fe and Cu) content of the fruiting bodies (cap and stipe) of four species (Amanita caesarea, Pleurotus ostreatus, Fistulina hepatica and Armillariella mellea) and their substrate, collected from forest sites in Dâmboviţa County, Romania. The elements were determined by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS) after microwave assisted digestion. From the same collecting point were taken n = 5 samples of young and mature fruiting bodies of mushrooms and their substrate. The high concentrations of lead, chrome and cadmium (Pb: 0.25 – 1.89 mg.kg-1, Cr: 0.36 – 1.94 mg.kg-1, Cd: 0.23 – 1.13 mg.kg-1) for all collected wild edible mushrooms, were determined. These data were compared with maximum level for certain contaminants in foodstuffs established by the commission of the European Committees (EC No 466/2001). A quantitative evaluation of the relationship of element uptake by mushrooms from substrate was made by calculating the accumulation coefficient (Ka). The moderately acid pH value of soil influenced the accumulation of Zn and Cd inside of the studied species. The variation of heavy metals content between edible mushrooms species is dependent upon the ability of the species to extract elements from the substrate and on the selective uptake and deposition of metals in tissue

NEW OFFSHORE LOCATIONS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The offshore activity provides benefits for the host market and has positive effects on services, and on producers that use intermediate services. FDI in services has an important impact on the offshore activity, especially through transfer of technology. Many transnational companies have recognized the advantages of offshoring and the fact that it becomes a key globalization force. Recently, the Central European countries have become popular destinations among offshorin

RENEWABLE ENERGY STRATEGIES: WHERE EUROPEAN UNION HEADED?

The states from European Union must take advantage from renewable energy sources in order to revive the economy. Climate change creates new jobs and could reduce energy imports which would stimulate the economy of those states. The European Union should support research in the field, apply more efficient policies in energy, and create economies of scale to get an integrated European energy market in which the main actors can reduce the cost of production of renewable energy. In addition, it is possible to use the comparative advantages of the Member States and not only, like Greece, through solar energy, Southern Mediterranean, through distribution networks interconnections with EU, Russia and Ukraine, through biomass and the North Sea, through wind energy. This paper refers to the evolution and trends of the renewable energy sources and presents some scenarios of it

THE ROLE OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Regional and sub-regional groups having an integrative character appeared after the war and they aimed at harmonizing their economic policies, and, at the same time, they ensured, in accordance with the agreed degree of integration, free turnover of goods, products, services, capitals and labor force. By setting up these international economic organizations, the states of the world and especially developing countries wanted to improve their efforts for a sustained economic growth, to counteract the effects of the unequal external affairs and to eliminate underdevelopment. Some of the regional agreements that represent the new regionalism have been motivated politically and they were stimulated by the conviction that good agreements do not necessarily stand for good neighbors. Such agreements consolidate good diplomatic practices and their objective is to reduce the inevitable confrontation that may appear as a result of co

Cohesion Forces Determinants in Cluster Development: A Study Case for Romania

This paper investigates to what extent bilateral relationships between business partners can positively impact multiple business alliances, such as clusters based on community of practice (CoP). Given empirical facts developed in the clustering process of Romanian companies, this paper investigates the way clusters may contribute to the alleviation of the dark side phenomenon and what ingredients, such as trust building, cluster management dedication, social interaction, pre-existing bilateral business relations, and others, may contribute to this role. Based on questionnaires and interviews, we found the significant importance of these ingredients as cohesion determinants in cluster development. The most influent factors of CF were an immediate and short-term business interest (0.62), pre-existing personal relationships (without business interest) with one or more members of the cluster (0.57), pre-existing business relationships with one or more members of the cluster (0.58), and participation in joint funding (0.48). We collected the information using the questionnaire administered online as a measuring instrument whose role was to collect and systematize data. The collected data were processed, and we obtained tables of frequency and correlation, graphs associated with them, and a regression model designed in SmartPLS software (SmartPLS GmbH, Oststeinbek, Germany). The variables that form the main constructs were introduced in SmartPls Software, where we designed a model and evaluated the Composite Reliability, Cronbach’s alpha, AVE, R-square, and Bootstrapping of the model

Evaluation of essential elements and heavy metal levels in fruiting bodies of wild mushrooms and their substrate by EDXRF spectrometry and FAA spectrometry

Abstract The essential elements (Zn, Cu, Fe, K, Mn, Mg, Se) and heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Ti, Sr, Co, Bi