Content Accessibility of Web documents. Principles and Recommendations

The paper is an overview of issues related to the accessibility of Web sites, of European initiatives and recommendations in the field, of future solutions, such as developing Web 2.0 accessible applications with WAI-ARIA. As part of the Pro-Inclusiv project was included a set of accessibility recommendations to design web sites, recommendations presented in the paper.Web accessibility, users with disabilities, standards and recommendations

The Impact of the Cross-Cultural Factors on Getting the Management Performances within AKER Multinational Company

Our paper approaches the aspects connected to the analysis of the values’ system specific to the AKER multinational group, world leader on the market targets represented by cruises and ferryboats, commercial ships and offshore platforms. The case study was developed at Aker Tulcea subsidiary, component of AKER multinational group. We proposed to identify the cultural profile of this firm, on the basis of the organizational cultures pattern elaborated by G. Hofstede. In this way, we conceived a questionnaire addressed to a number of 20 middle managers, in view to analyze the cross-cultural influence upon the performances of this organization. The results obtained during our research revealed that Aker Tulcea subsidiary assumed the values promoted by AKER multinational group, fact which led at the efficient management of the cultural differences and the creation of the premises in order to obtain organizational performances.cross-cultural; performance; cultural values; motivation; rewards, cultural differences.

The planning of a Customer Relationship Management project: requirements and opportunities

After a brief presentation of the aspects regarding the planning of a customer relationship management (CRM) project, we emphasize the factors that assure the success of such an approach. In order to obtain the attended results, an organization needs the best selection of the project manager and the most efficient teamwork, which implies employees from the company’s departments and also IT specialists. In the final part, we made appreciations concerning the efficiency of a CRM project and the opportunities created by its implementation.customer relationship management, business strategies

The Impact of the New Information and Communication Technologies on the Performance Control Indicators System

Our paper emphasizes the way in which the information and communication technologies offer a real support to the managers which have a global vision on the key factors that assure business performances. The simulation of a Total Performance Scorecard reveals the advantages and opportunities of the software - Balanced Scorecard Designer in the determination of the project efficiency, based on four integrated dimensions: financial perspective, customers’ perspective, internal business perspective and organizational learning.Balanced Scorecard, performance control, strategy, organizational learning

ESTIMATING THE SIZE OF ROMANIAN SHADOW ECONOMY USING THE CURRENCY DEMAND APPROACH

In this paper, we estimate the size and the evolution of the Romanian shadow economy in the period 1998Q1-2008Q4, using a vector error correction model. A special attention it was given to the problem of non-stationarity and cointegration. The results indshadow economy,currency demand approach, VECM, Romania

The impact of unemployment rate on the dimension of shadow economy in Spain : a structural equation approach

The paper uses annual data for the period 1970-2007 in order to estimate the size of Spanish shadow economy. In view to do so, the shadow economy is modelled like a latent variable using the structural equation model(SEM). The model includes tax burden, social benefits, subsidies, government employment, self-employment and unemployment rate as main causes of shadow economy and the results indicates that the size of informal sector oscillates between 22% and 18% of GDP in the last ten years. Investigating the relationship between the shadow economy and unemployment rate a positive relationship is marked out between this two variables.peer-reviewe

Estimating the size of Romanian shadow economy using Gutmann’s simple currency ratio approach

Currency is widely assumed to have a comparative advantage over checks for the payment of purchases of goods and services that individuals wish to conceal from the authorities. A rise in currency stocks and payments may be taken as a rough indicator of the extent to which these transactions may not be reported to government authorities.The paper aims to estimate the size of subterranean economy using the simple currency ratio method of Gutmann for quarterly data covering the period 2000-2010. Thus, the study analyzes the ratio of currency to demand deposits in order to estimate the amount of economic activity in the subterranean economy.The empirical results point out that the illegal economic activities are about four billion RON at the middle of 2000; it constitutes 17.4 percent of the official GNP. During the period 2001-2004, illegal economic activities follow a downward path reaching 9.5% of official GNP at the end of 2004. For the period 2004-2006, unofficial economic activities fit a slow upward trend until the second quarter of 2006, for which the size of subterranean economy reaches the value of 12.3% of official GNP.Beginning with 2007, the amount of illegal activities as % of official GNP begin to decrease until the third quarter of 2008, which is the base year in which no shadow economy is supposed to exist. For the last years, the ratio of subterranean economy to official economy increased slowly, reaching about 9.3% in the second quarter of 2010

RESEARCH ON THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF COMPOSITES MADE OF ECOLOGICAL FIBERS

The paper presents the results of the researchconducted to obtain new ecological composites thatcould be used for thermal insulation of buildings. Theobtained panels are made of ecological materials thatdo not affect the human health (wood chips andfibers, host of hemp, textile fibers, wool and reed).The testing was performed in eight points, for aninternal temperature of T=200C and an outdoortemperature situated in the range of -200C÷200C). Asthe tests conducted, the results showed that the bestinsulating capacity belonged to a composite whichhas wood fiber and wool in its structure, followed acomposite which has wood chips, hemp particles andwool in its structure

SHADOW ECONOMY AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS FOR THE CASE OF ROMANIA

Shadow economy (SE) represents a controversial phenomenon, present more or less in all economies, whose empirical estimates should be regarded with due reserve. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the nature of the relationship between Romanian shadow economy, expressed as % of the official GDP and the foreign direct investments (FDI) using two causality analysis methods, namely the Granger causality analysis method and the Toda-Yamamoto procedure, based on quarterly data, over the period 2000-2010. The paper will also try to particularize the implications of this relationship on the sustainable development of the Romanian economy. For that purpose we will use the shadow economy series estimated in a previous article using one of the monetary approaches, the currency demand approach, based on econometrical methodology of error correction models and co-integration. The quantitative demarche of shadow economy estimation is detailed in Alexandru (Davidescu) and Dobre (2013). The empirical results highlight a unidirectional short-run causality that runs only from foreign direct investments to the shadow economy. The impulse responses function indicates a short-run negative relationship between FDI and SE