FAIR TRADE, THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL

Fair Trade is a complex trading partnership which seeks greater equity in international trade by creating closer relationships between the consumers and the producers from the geopolitical North and South. From its shy beginnings as an alternative means of selling craftwork in charity shops, Fair Trade products have become highly accessible to the consumers in Europe and the United States. While sales remain fairly low in global terms, the growth of the Fair Trade market has been phenomenal: in 2008, global Fair Trade sales reached 2.9 billion euros, growing at a rate of 22% per annum. In 2009, this percentage reached 37%. Fair Trade products occupy between 0,5-5% of all sales in Europe and the United States. By 2010, over 1.5 million disadvantaged producers were directly benefiting from Fair Trade, while an additional 5 million were enjoying the fruits of infrastructure and development projects financed through the Fair Trade system. In order to make these possible, Fair Trade has incorporated a dynamic series of products, standards and certification systems, new actors, new political and organizing alliances and more and more complex governmental arrangements.fair trade, WFTO

COMUNICARE VERBALA SI NONVERBALA

Our symblos for communicating with others are based on shared experience. To us, the symbolic values of stimuli are learned associations usually derived from our experiences. The primary system for human symbolic communication is language, the basic definition of which is the relation between sounds andmeanings. The social aspect of language is that groups of people share a knowledge of these relations and therefore can communicate using them. We study the human symbols in terms of the basic linguistic rules that seem to relate sounds to meanings (linguistic theory); in terms of how we are able to learn and to use these rules (psycholinguistic theory); and in terms of how our uses vary with the social aspects of the communicators and the situation (sociolinguistic theory). Beyond the basic symbol system of language, we have nonverbal symbols. The study of these symbols is devided among paralinguistics, kinesics, haptics, proxemics, dress and appearance, chronemics, and icons. We must also consider the intentionality with which a nonverbal symbol is communicated.business negotiation, marketing communication

European challenges for Islamic Banking

The paper briefly review the growth in Islamic Finance, implications of the Islamic banking in Europe and challenges to be met, in terms of compatibility with local banking markets, product development and strict anti-money laundering rules. The paper analyses also the hawala remittance system and the negative association with the Islamic banks. This type of funds transfer is often related with illegal remittances, money laundering and financial crime. As acting as European banks, newly established in Europe Islamic banks, as new comers, will have to face the critics about their possible link with terrorism support and money laundering.hawala; interest- free; money laundering

PERSONAL VERSUS MASS COMMUNICATION

From the comparison of the various aspects of advertising and personal selling, it can be seen that personal selling is a more effective and powerful communication tool than advertising, but advertising is more time and cost efficient than personal selling. Thus advertising and personal selling are tools at the disposal of a marketer and subjects to a firm’s overall objectives.advertising, personal selling, communication, tool.

The Doha Round, the downfall of the WTO?

In 1995, when the WTO was institutionalized, its perspectives were great. Today, 151 countries are member states, amongst which international trade moguls like the USA, Japan and China while even Russia is in the midst of its accession negotiations. Looks like a success story. Yet, to no avail, since the Doha Round seems doomed and further negotiations are endangered by the creation of two factions: developed and developing countries accusing each other of non-cooperation and, respectively, of exploitation. The WTO faces its biggest challenge: surpass self interests for the general good and hail for victory or raise the white flag and accept defeat.World Trade Organization, Doha Round, negociations, liberalization

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT ON THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Considering that entrepreneurship is closely related to the environmental evolution and dynamism in which it take place, and depending of all its factors: economical, social, cultural, etc., this study tries to outline an overview of what the social and cultural environment, the entrepreneurial activity and the connection between these two mean. The analysis of social and cultural environment on the entrepreneurial activity highlights the importance of social and cultural factors in the entrepreneurial activity because its evolution depends from country to country, depending on the culture, values, norms and importance the respective country give to entrepreneurship.impact, environment, entrepreneurial activity