Funding, Turnover, Sustainability and Digital Technologies: A Multicriteria Research Model for SMEs Facing a Challenging Context

none7sìAbstract: The pandemic crisis has meant a challenge for SMEs and a factor that can change the way of doing business. The current paper analyses the correlations between financial resources, turnover, sustainability, and digital technologies and how these components can be adapted to changes in the economy triggered by the pandemic crisis in the structure of activities carried out by SMEs. Resting on the importance of integrating the innovative, digital component to the activities of SMEs, in close connection with the financial resources component, a multicriteria research model for business has been developed, assessing the correlations between key variables and their influence on European SMEs. In order to fully define the concepts envisaged and to emphasise these correlations, multiple linear regression, clustering techniques, and correlation analysis were used. In the end, the proposed solution provided a common language through which companies can evaluate traditional processes and bring together the research components into business activities.Received: 26 February 2022 Accepted: 24 March 2022 Published: 27 March 2022openDel Baldo, M.; Sitnikov, C.; Vasilescu, L.; Mandache, L.; Ogarc˘a, R.; B˘andoi, A.; Ganea, E.Del Baldo, M.; Sitnikov, C.; Vasilescu, L.; Mandache, L.; Ogarc˘a, R.; B˘andoi, A.; Ganea, E

Tourism managers’ perception of the impact of the emotional intelligence and resilience on organizational response to crisis

The study aims to analyze the synergies between internal factors (i.e., emotional intelligence and resilience) and external factors (i.e., governmental support) on the performance of tourism organizations in the post-disaster recovery phase. Data collected from the sample of 390 managers and owners in the tourism industry were analyzed using structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM) as an appropriate model method with variables containing multiple items and multiple causal relationships. Our findings reveal that the resilience of tourism organizations (during and post-pandemic crisis) is positively influenced by the employees’ and managers’ emotional intelligence and government support. Planned and adaptive resilience significantly affects organizational response to disruptive events and organizational performance. Our findings guide tourism organization managers and government authorities and help them make timely decisions based on the relationship between resilience, emotional intelligence, and governmental support during and after a crisis. Managers need to be aware of the importance of emotional intelligence in managing the business in uncertain/turbulent times and to be concerned with improving emotional intelligence for themselves and their employees. Our study is one of the first to analyze the pandemic’s effects in the post-disaster recovery phase and the first one focused on Romania’s tourism organizations. First published online 19 January 202

LEADERSHIP STYLES IN SMES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY IN ROMANIA

The manager’s leadership styles define the way a manager acts behaves and takes decisions in certain situations and has a direct influence upon the employees’ well-being. In a small and medium enterprise setting, unlike in a large enterprise, the employees are feeling the influence of the leadership style in a much more direct and personal way, due to the small number of hierarchical levels and the constant interaction between the owner/manager and the employees. The present paper focuses on analyzing how the employees of SMEs from Oltenia and Muntenia Regions of Romania perceive their superiors’ leadership styles. In order to meet this goal, we have used a 21 question survey, based on which we could determine the leadership style (Autocratic, Democratic or Laissez-faire) of the superior, as it is perceived by each respondent. The survey has been applied on a sample of cca. 300 employees from small and medium enterprises from Oltenia, and approximately 130 responses have been used in the actual research. The results of this study will be used in a further research, in which we aim to compare the way the managers perceive their own leadership style and how it is perceived by their employees

THE INFLUENCE OF THE BEHAVIORAL PROFILE UPON THE MANAGEMENT TEAM’S PERFORMANCE

The present paper’s goal were: analysing the relationship between the personalityprofile (determined using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) and the team role (established with the Belbin Test), identifying the possible correlations between the two and studying the way in which these correlations are influencing the relationships between the team members and the efficiency with which they are fulfilling their tasks. The present research is exploratory and due to its characteristics, the sampling has not been probability-based. Thus, the sample is composed of the members of the executive board of AIESEC Craiova, a non-governmental organisation, active in the youth-work field. Our endeavour is focusing on problem which has been sparsely researched in the best: the analysis of the management team’s performance through two models, which have not been thoroughly studied together (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Belbin Team Roles

Matrix Model for Choosing Green Marketing Sustainable Strategic Alternatives

Green marketing examines the symbiotic role played by marketing in ensuring sustainable business, exploring issues concerning the environment and the way strategic decisions can influence it. At present, the environmental issues concern more and more the competitive approach any organization can implement. Based on this approach, organizations can gain competitive advantage by managing environmental variables and by developing and implementing green marketing strategies. Considering the importance and impact of green marketing, by using theoretical concepts and defining a set of research directions, the paper and the research conducted were focused on creating a matrix model for choosing the optimal green marketing strategy, oriented towards competitive advantage. The model is based on the correlation that can be established among the generic strategies of competitive advantage, the variables of extended marketing mix (7Ps) and the green marketing strategy matrix. There are also analyzed the implications that may be generated within a company by the adoption of a green marketing strategy and its role in promoting the environmental benefits of products

From Ownership to Access: How the Sharing Economy is Changing the Consumer Behavior

Promoting the principles of circular economy and the new business models advocated by the circular economy can represent a solution for a more prosperous society, less dependent on primary and energy resources and more environmentally friendly. The sharing economy, which primarily involves the transformation of traditional market behaviors into collaborative consumption models, that ensure a more efficient and sustainable use of resources, is part of the circular economy and has generated business models that are compatible with it. This article discusses the possibility for the sharing economy to bring about profound changes in consumer behavior towards products and services and to highlight the factors that drive consumers’ shift towards the sharing economy. For this purpose we developed and tested a model in which the change in consumer mindset has as the main direct determinants the satisfaction with the services of the sharing economy and the intention to access such products and services. The study uses data collected through a questionnaire, applied to a sample of 320 customers of Uber – a symbol of the sharing economy, and processed using structural equation modelling. Research results show that there are premises for switching to an access-based consumption mode