The Adjustment of Perspective Among Students Regarding Protection of Educational Services’ Consumer

Academic education services entered Romanians habits more than a century and a half ago, at the beginning as a need for professional development mostly. Paradigm shift from the traditional perspective on education to the knowledge society perspective requires the increasing competitiveness of higher education systems. From this perspective, universities should collaborate frequently with other research institutions, private companies and public institutions, and participate in international research networks, to produce the optics change regarding the protection of educational services consumers: the next generation of students. To determine the above-mentioned change the authors developed and executed the pilot survey, which granted the possibility of testing the set of questionnaires and the relevance of questions. The survey was a random one; most of the responses are complying with the actual configuration in economic higher education institutions. The research objective “Investigation of student opinion of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies on changes recorded in the Romanian higher education” consists in the development of an accurate picture of the changes that occurred and are occurring in our education system. The originality of the paper resides in the feasibility of implementing the research results reflecting changes that require an appropriate management allowing institution and its members to accomplish the implementation of changes required by Bologna process in the interests of its main beneficiaries: the students.consumer of education services, students, change management, university, the protection of the consumer, higher economic education

The Perception of the Academics and Students Regarding the Entrepreneurial Education Iin Economic Education

The XXI century has brought radical transformations in the ways of organising the society as a whole and particularly of the academic world. It is known that the higher learning institutions have constantly positioned themselves among the sustainable institutions of the civilisation, fact due in large amount to their flexibility, but also to their power of anticipation, transformation, and innovation. The role of education in society, but especially of entrepreneurial education is in a constant state of change, and must be correlated with social requirements that keep evolving. The knowledge based economy focuses on continuous development of human education and their entrepreneurial capabilities. The modern economy needs specialists with entrepreneurial attitudes, and universities must assume an important role of providers of potential entrepreneurs. This requirement is also valid for the university community from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies; the purpose of this work was to find the perception of teachers and students in regards to using the professional competences through business education

Past and Future Trends in Medical Spas: A Co-Word Analysis

The present paper consists of a co-word analysis of the previous research in the medical spa field published in the Web Science Core Collection database. The study’s main purpose is to identify the past trends in the medical spa field from the tourist and medical perspectives and to anticipate the future research focuses in the field. In this regard, the article is based on four objectives that create a descriptive picture of the research in the medical spa area, such as (i) studying the current state of the art, (ii) analysing the most visible articles in the field, (iii) highlighting the leading research interests in medical spa research and (iv) anticipating new possible research trends that link cost-effective medical spa activity to COVID-19 post-recovery treatments. A total of 627 articles, published between 1997 and 2021 (March), were analysed, and the data were interpreted using the VOS Viewer software. The study results indicate that high interest in medical spas started to become observable in 2015, when the funding bodies became interested in this field and began supporting publishing and research regarding medical spas. The main subjects investigated in previous studies were related to the specific issues of the industry and tourism activity. They also considered the medical approach of the spa and the use of natural resources in treating different diseases. Except for these main interests, since 2020, it has started to become evident that another approach in the published studies may lead to a new trend in research. The study results show that researchers have begun to investigate the possibility of using medical spa resorts to aid post-COVID-19 recovery, which is considered a cost-efficient option for completing traditional treatment. This new focus in research proves that the medical spa field can rebrand itself as playing a supportive role in national healthcare systems in countries with a long tradition in balneotherapy, and gives a new developing trajectory to the medical spa industry

Traditional products – vectors of sustainable development on the regional and national markets

Traditional products represent an important component of the Romanian culture, of the Romanian identity, of the national heritage. In order to succeed imposing over fakes on the market, this product’s regime must be very well defined and regulated by the acting legislation. While also sanctioning those who produce the so called traditional products, for which they ask a price that is usually greater, offering – not in few cases, products which can affect the consumers’ health through their contents of additives or other substances that have no connection to the traditional preparation methods. The purpose of this paper was to review the main traditional Romanian products, by geographic area and finding the clients’ interest towards buying such products. The analysis is realised from the point of view of a sustainable development of this sector and by areas of provenience. In order to observe what types of traditional products are demanded on the market a research from secondary sources has been made, by analysing the information provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the period of 1 – 20 September, and also a direct marketing research realised in the virtual environment, which followed the investigation of the main dimension/characteristics of the consumers behaviour towards the traditional products that exist on the Romanian market

Gastronomic tourism - stages and evolution

On a worldwide level, the dimension of tourism has been sustained and amplified by globalisation. This has facilitated not just easier travel, but also the internationalisation of food from the national kitchens. One of the interesting segments of the immaterial regional cultural heritage is the local gastronomic arts. Each destination has its own cultural vision linked to the area, region, and country which generate corresponding gastronomic identities. The link between local cuisine and national identity is deeply rooted in all ethnicities because food has forever been central to the day to day rituals. A distinctive trait of many cultures is given by the type of food and drinks we associate with them. Currently, many of these are available outside the borders, globalisation being largely responsible to the spread of food and drinks beyond the traditional cultural borders: Mexican and Italian food are very popular in the USA, Indian food in Great Britain, Chinese in the whole world. That is why local gastronomy is considered as being a vital part of culture and community and this is the reason for which it must be kept and protected. The gastronomy is an attribute of the identity of a destination: countries are usually characterised by one or two culinary plates, considered to be emblematic for the nation just like the national flag

Competition and Consumer Behavior in the Context of the Digital Economy

The current paper aims to investigate the relation between competition and online purchasing decision-making, integrating consumer protection awareness and the corresponding consumer behavior as mediators. The focus is on both subjective and objective measures related to the level of consumer awareness and action in a fast-growing competition, potentiated by the digital economy. In order to investigate the relations between the aforementioned concepts, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted, using a sample of 257 students from three top Romanian universities. Based upon the theoretical directions presented in the literature review, a conceptual model was elaborated and tested by employing a partial least squares structural equation modeling technique. As the examination of the structural model indicated, online purchasing decision-making is indirectly influenced by the high competition in the digital economy, by means of consumer protection awareness and consumer protection behavior. At this level, the analyzed factors, namely the competition in the digital economy, the consumer protection awareness and the consumer behavior with respect to the consumer protection policies, explain over 16% in the variance of the online purchasing decision-making

Can We Talk about Smart Tourist Villages in Mărginimea Sibiului, Romania?

The aim of this paper is to evaluate some villages in the mountain area of Sibiu County, Romania, as “smart” tourist villages. The research was carried out in two stages: Stage 1 was collection of information on (a) food products registered in different national and international quality schemes and (b) the number of tourist structures by type, comfort category, and accommodation capacity. Stage 2 was a case study conducted among 32 rural tourism entrepreneurs from 3 villages in Mărginimea Sibiului, using a questionnaire with 22 items on the criteria for evaluation of “smart” villages. The answers were systematized, statistically processed, and interpreted. The main results are as follows: (a) Concerning products, producers, and gastronomic points (PGL) registered, there are 9 products in the quality scheme “mountain product”, 10 producers on the platform “Gusturisibiene”, 1 producer of “telemea de Sibiu”, a registered product with protected geographical indication, and 2 PGL. (b) The number of officially registered tourist structures is 93, of which 72% are agritourism guesthouses. (c) The results for the evaluation of villages as “smart” are that 78.2% of locals use the internet, 74% own at least one smart device, 60.16% of energy used is renewable. There are low values of water and air pollution; there are local job and business opportunities (93.75%); future local development activities will target agriculture with all its sectors and agritourism; public administrations have implemented 7 types of activities to increase the attractiveness of localities; and quality of life, services, and social life aspects are perceived to be at high standards