Romania Foreign Trade in Global Recession, Revealed by the Extended Method of Exchange Rate Indicators

In this article the authors propose an extended method for assessing foreign trade, which is capitalized on in the analysis of foreign trade/external marketing, under the influence of two of the most difficult recession of the Romanian economy, placed in the last interwar decade and in the first decade of the new millennium. The selection of the periods for the analysis, despite and beyond the methodological shortcomings concerning the provision of statistical comparability, which is relatively overcome by the advantages of the method, was dictated by the regulator impact of the major recessions in Romanian foreign trade, which offers the possibility to identify a national profile of economic behaviour. The structure of the article includes, after an introductory reference to approaching external marketing in the main economic theories, the first section dealing with the repertoire of foreign trade theories, with main emphasis on the specific contemporary issues and trends, but also a section for detailing the extended method proposed and the original statistical tools that are proposed (from the spread of the mobile rates of the contrary flows, to the indices and coefficients of the Hirschman and Gini-Struck type in curve ABC), and of the databases. Once applied in the results section, the extended method manages to quantify the broad outline of a reactive profile, slightly lagging and inertial, of the external marketing / foreign trade of the national economy, in relation to crisis or recession in both time analyses, which is relatively stable for eight decades, providing space for comments that allow greater macro-economic self-awareness. The main final remark shows that a small starting gap, apparently favourable, of Romanian foreign trade, in response to crisis or recession type phenomena, cannot however compensate the inertial trend of these cyclic phenomena, which is slightly longer than one year, and whose negative impact is strongly felt and amplified.method of exchange indicators, foreign/international trade, mercantilism, spread of mobile rates, Hirschman and Gini-Struck indices and coefficients in ABC curve

Education and Training Needs in the Field of Local Development in the Lower Danube Macro Region

The present paper is the result of an effort made by the authors to explore the needs of education and training in the field of local development, according to the situation in Romanian and Bulgarian Danube bordering regions, aiming at designing joint projects to address such needs between the universities to which authors are affiliated. Local development is here understood as a deliberately induced process of improving the welfare of local communities, which should be democratic, inclusive and sustainable, in particular with regard to creating competitive local economies, stimulating economic growth and ensuring better living conditions for the inhabitants. Local development is an important part of a governance process which involves complex interactions at various territorially defined levels: local, regional, national, cross-national, international. In the case of the regions considered in the present paper a historical opportunity is provided for them by the so called European Union Strategy for the Danube Region. In order to fully exploit this opportunity, the capacity to address local development issues should be strengthened in both countries, especially by well designed education and training programmes. This is why local development was considered a priority topic for the cooperation between the two universities. In the same framework, taking into consideration the challenges which are specific to the Lower Danube Region, other topics of interest were considered: logistics, tourism, consumer affairs or rural development. The authors of the present paper had to avoid overlapping with the work of the other teams. In particular, there are many common points between local development and rural development, because in both countries the regions on the border of Danube are predominately rural and significantly dependent on agriculture. Therefore, here, the needs for education and training are defined in strict correlation with the required capacity for understanding the development process and its priorities, designing, planning, implementing and assessing development policies with a favourable local impact in a regional context. The paper presents as in a mirror the Romanian and the Bulgarian points of view. The two perspectives are quite different but complementary. Briefly said, while the Romanian approach is bottom-up, with a focus on the local capacity to take initiatives that will contribute at shaping the regional development process, the Bulgarian one considers first the priorities of the region, in order to define the capacities required for a proper response at AE Education and Training Needs in the Field of Local Development in the Lower Danube Macro Region local level. Both perspectives are valid, and it should not be any contradiction between them. This is why we consider they are complementary. The studies rely on documentary research and secondary analysis of data in order to assess the capacity gap in addressing local development issues, and to identify education and training needs in economics and business matters related to local development. They discuss the rationale of cooperation between universities from Bulgaria and Romania in responding to such needs, and, finally they propose an inventory of joint initiatives in this respect. The paper emphasizes the factors which explain the reasons why cooperation between universities in raising the expertise in local development maters on both sides of Lower Danube is required and desirable, such as the vicinity, the common opportunities and responsibilities related to having Danube as a common asset, the similarities in development patterns, the common challenge of European integration, use of EU support and better exploitation of the Internal Market, the need to speed up the modernisation process and to achieve some economies of scope and scale. Among other proposals, authors propose the establishment of a university hub to coordinate networking among higher education institutions from Bulgaria, Romania and other countries of the Danube Macro-region in the field of local and regional development related research, education and training and a joint master program in local development.local development; education and training; Danube Region, cross-border cooperation; macro-regional strategy

Impact of Knowledge Intensive Business Services on Economic Performance of Sectors and Regions

The role of knowledge intensive services in today's economy are among the topics most frequently addressed in recent years by researchers. The major interest is targeting in particular services provided to enterprises, known internationally as knowledge intensive business services or, by abbreviation, KIBS. As a sector of the economy, KIBS consists of enterprises specializing in providing to other businesses services that require intensive use of advanced knowledge, thus characterized by the fact that intellectual input has a decisive share in the value added. Usually are considered part of this sector undertakings which have as object of activity the provision of services in the fields of research and development, design and technical assistance in implementing of new technologies including information and communication, training, management consulting, marketing and advertising, quality assurance and certification, accounting and auditing, legal consulting and assistance, architecture and construction engineering. According to the statistical classification NACE rev2, much of KIBS can be found in divisions 62, 63, 69, 71-74

TOURISM POLICY IN ROMANIA: A NECESSARY CHANGE OF DIRECTION

<div>In modern economies services are dominant. As the role of services is increasing, the difference between goods and services is vanishing, but most of our economics and business knowledge is developed from a manufacturing perspective which is no more satisfactory in the new service economy conditions. One important aspect is that the ability of a country to participate effectively to the growing international trade in services depends more and more on its attractiveness as a visitors' destination. Although there is a well developed understanding of the role of tourism to the general economic and social development, it is less understood the effect of economic and social living conditions as visitor attractiveness factors.</div><div>Reviewing recent studies, assessments and reports regarding the travel &amp; tourism economy of Romania, authors found out that achieving the economic potential of tourism faces serious challenges due, primarily, to the discrepancy between the conditions visitors are increasingly looking for and the conditions provided by Romanian destinations. In order to accept the challenges with chances of success the tourism policy making should radically change direction. The authors identify three main priorities: focus on general development, put policy in the service of visitors first, improve communication and branding.</div

Assessment of the Service Innovation System in the Region of Bucharest-Ilfov

Competitive economies display a pattern of regional clusters and networks, where innovation is stimulated by intensive interaction among industries and where knowledge intensive services play an important role in novelty creation and diffusion. In order to catch up with the most competitive regions, the region of Bucharest-Ilfov needs to develop a service-inclusive innovation system, which in turn requires an adequate policy mix. The main aim of this paper is to provide an assessment of the service innovation system in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, by confronting its current performance with the regional innovation policy context. On one hand, we characterize the performance of the service innovation system in accordance with the methodology and the data provided by the European Service Innovation Scoreboard. On the other hand, using desk research and in-depth interviews with experts, we investigate the service innovation policy mix on conceptual grounds provided by the literature regarding the typology of service innovation policy approaches. We find that the policy measures supporting innovation that are available in the Bucharest-Ilfov region are not specifically targeted to regional development priorities and are predominantly technology oriented. Policies are not systemic and ignore the potential of knowledge intensive business services to be a driver for innovation in the region. This paper highlights the stakes of adopting a coherent regional innovation policy, designed systemically, and exploiting the full potential of knowledge-based services. Being aware of the current state of service innovation within the region and its potential, the stakeholders may benefit of the recommendations included within the paper

An Inter-, Trans-, Cross- and Multidisciplinary Approach to Higher Education in the Field of Business Studies

Modern academic education in economics, and especially that in the field of business, frequently tries, and rather seldom manages to combine, interfere and unify, to varying degrees, distinct disciplines with practical interests usually similar or even seemingly adverse; its concrete action is an example of the successful attempt at prompt adaptation to the entrepreneurial reality, which is constantly changing, and also to the more and more dynamic economic environment, perhaps excessively so in the last two decades. This paper attempts to clarify the conceptual differences and the relatively common parts of inter-, trans-, cross- and multidisciplinarity in general, and in particular in education, focusing on business education. A brief introduction structures the inter-, trans-, cross- and multidisciplinary investigative approach within an educational context in business, and a review of the scientific literature section clarifies both the meaning of those major concepts, extending from simple paradigm of each concept to their multiple aggregative paradigm, and some modern educational trends in economics. A second section is devoted to the method of investigating opinions, based on the volume of a sample determined statistically and from a scientific methodology of observation and recording, by collecting individual data, validating the rigor of research on the diversity in business education approaches, by simply and consistently noting them by the students and graduates of faculties of economics. The study of the graduates’ opinions focused on an original questionnaire, presented in the a annexes of the paper, and the resulting databases were subjected to a descriptive statistical analysis, made with the software package Eviews, with emphasis on the homogeneity, symmetry, skewness and normality of distributions. The third section is a brief analysis of the research results, supplemented naturally by some clarifying discussions, which outline the current option of the graduates towards early multidisciplinarity as a necessary goal resulting from the content analysis of opinions. The conclusions briefly describe the expected trends of inter-, trans-, cross- and multidisciplinary education in economics, relating to business, approached as any job well done, from several scientific viewpoint

Services and structural patterns of a post-transition Romanian economy

The present paper reflects a first step in exploring in a systematic way the manner in which services are embedded in the economic life in Romania. The authors believe that service industries, in particular knowledge intensive services, are at the core of this transformational process and economic transitions. This article presents the input–output tables and their role for the real GDP and real growth estimations, the importance of correlation between goods and services, an econometrical analysis of some major matrix of correlation developed from data, and a set of conclusions describing the impact of goods-services correlation on the Romanian economic growth. The three sections are the distinct research objectives: (a) the input–output descriptive images, emphasising statistical characteristics of goods-services liaisons; (b) the evaluation of these correlations with the dynamics of real Romanian GDP, based on the R-squared matrix; (c) the identification of the impact on the real growth of goods-services liaisons for the Romanian economy as a specificity of its stage of development

Education and Training Needs in the Field of Local Development in the Lower Danube Macro Region

The present paper is the result of an effort made by the authors to explore the needs of education and training in the field of local development, according to the situation in Romanian and Bulgarian Danube bordering regions, aiming at designing joint projects to address such needs between the universities to which authors are affiliated. Local development is here understood as a deliberately induced process of improving the welfare of local communities, which should be democratic, inclusive and sustainable, in particular with regard to creating competitive local economies, stimulating economic growth and ensuring better living conditions for the inhabitants. Local development is an important part of a governance process which involves complex interactions at various territorially defined levels: local, regional, national, cross-national, international. In the case of the regions considered in the present paper a historical opportunity is provided for them by the so called European Union Strategy for the Danube Region. In order to fully exploit this opportunity, the capacity to address local development issues should be strengthened in both countries, especially by well designed education and training programmes. This is why local development was considered a priority topic for the cooperation between the two universities. In the same framework, taking into consideration the challenges which are specific to the Lower Danube Region, other topics of interest were considered: logistics, tourism, consumer affairs or rural development. The authors of the present paper had to avoid overlapping with the work of the other teams. In particular, there are many common points between local development and rural development, because in both countries the regions on the border of Danube are predominately rural and significantly dependent on agriculture. Therefore, here, the needs for education and training are defined in strict correlation with the required capacity for understanding the development process and its priorities, designing, planning, implementing and assessing development policies with a favourable local impact in a regional context. The paper presents as in a mirror the Romanian and the Bulgarian points of view. The two perspectives are quite different but complementary. Briefly said, while the Romanian approach is bottom-up, with a focus on the local capacity to take initiatives that will contribute at shaping the regional development process, the Bulgarian one considers first the priorities of the region, in order to define the capacities required for a proper response at local level. Both perspectives are valid, and it should not be any contradiction between them. This is why we consider they are complementary. The studies rely on documentary research and secondary analysis of data in order to assess the capacity gap in addressing local development issues, and to identify education and training needs in economics and business matters related to local development. They discuss the rationale of cooperation between universities from Bulgaria and Romania in responding to such needs, and, finally they propose an inventory of joint initiatives in this respect. The paper emphasizes the factors which explain the reasons why cooperation between universities in raising the expertise in local development maters on both sides of Lower Danube is required and desirable, such as the vicinity, the common opportunities and responsibilities related to having Danube as a common asset, the similarities in development patterns, the common challenge of European integration, use of EU support and better exploitation of the Internal Market, the need to speed up the modernisation process and to achieve some economies of scope and scale. Among other proposals, authors propose the establishment of a university hub to coordinate networking among higher education institutions from Bulgaria, Romania and other countries of the Danube Macro-region in the field of local and regional development related research, education and training and a joint master program in local development