WILBERT

Description: The purpose of this study is to systematically review the city branding literature to provide an explicated and organized view and highlight further research opportunities. In that sense, the articles published on "city branding" and "city marketing" between 1988 and 2014 were explored via content analysis. The analysis of 146 articles suggests that there is a growing interest from different disciplines for city branding as a research domain. Therefore, it is concluded that, city branding is a multi-disciplinary area. There is a wide array of journals that are interested in and published articles on city branding. However, especially, the domain-specific journals contributed most that research area to develop. It was found that that 102 different cities from 38 different nations are studied and comparison among the cities are highly common. Most of the studies are research based and qualitative methods and case study approach are commonly used. However, there is a general tendency to describe the data but not interpret the relations between the concepts and theories. Therefore the knowledge is idiographic. Even if there is a western domination, the worldwide geographical coverage is

Description: Purpose - This paper investigates mandatory and voluntary disclosure practices of non-financial listed companies on the Belgrade Stock Exchange. The results help in determining the level of transparency of Serbian s listed companies and in formulating recommendations for improving the quality and relevance of disclosed information. Design/methodology/approach - We focus on modeling both mandatory and voluntary disclosure indices for financial and non-financial information in order to evaluate the level of disclosure of 63 Serbian companies for reporting period 2012. Findings - We found the low level of both mandatory and voluntary disclosures. Concerning mandatary disclosure, the information that is least frequently disclosed by the sample companies are those related to the material content of the financial statements (information on changes in accounting estimates and corrections of fundamental errors in the previous period, as well as related companies). Serbian companies usually disclose information that contributes to their greater visibility. Similar to the mandatory disclosure, usually published voluntary information are mostly "neutral" from the point of impact on the values reported in the financial statements, which do not contribute to a better understanding of the financial position, profitability and cash flows of the company. Research limitations/implications - There is a limitation concerning the sample size (which is generally intrinsic to Serbian capital market size) and the sample structure (research is limited to listed non-financial companies). The study covers the annual reports for 2012 which in Serbia coincides with a crisis period. The same research methodology could be applied on a larger and comprehensive database (non-listed companies) and include period after 2012, which will allow the analysis of evolution of disclosure practices by companies within new accounting framework. Originality/value - The authors give some recommendations for improving the relevance of financial and non-financial disclosures in order to increase the efficiency of capital markets.

Description: Taking under consideration the fact that the main factor of increasing work productivity, and increasing agricultural production is mechanization, in the present work, I want to analyze the evolution of the farm equipment fleet in Romania and the E.U. during 2010-2016, highlighting the upgrading trend of this sector compared to the demands from the Romanian farmers who buy these equipments from abroad. There are discussions regarding the decreasing of the number of workers in the agricultural sector due to the modernization and the invasion of the market with new models of tractors and equipments that ease the farmer's work by reducing the work hours by half for the same surface compared to the European average.

Description: The definition of social responsibility has often changed over the time. Differences in the economies of the United States of America (USA) and Europe have a strong impact on the social responsibility and stakeholders' expectations from socially responsible business (SRB). The economic sector of the USA makes a significant contribution to addressing social and development initiatives in the local community, while in European countries there is an expectation that the state will meet such needs. The globalization processes transfer American corporate culture all around the world, as well as the engagement in solving social problems in the communities in which they operate. The economic model of social responsibility puts the profit motivation into the first place and emphasizes that it is the most effective tool for solving the world problems. The new circumstances in which businesses operate and the fact that information are available always and everywhere have a strong influence on the evolution of the social responsibility model from the economic to the socio-economic model. The role of business is not just to make profit, but also to cooperate between companies and society, and a balanced benefit for all stakeholders. This work consists of three parts. The introduction describes a traditional and new approach to social responsibility and benefits for companies that operate under the principles of social responsibility. The second chapter outlines European Union (EU) guidelines on SRB while concluding remarks synthesize the benefits of social responsibility in modern business as well as the critiques of the model.

Description: Research and development (R&D) is an important driver of productivity, competitiveness and economic growth, both nationally and regionally. In Romania all national development strategies acknowledged R&D as a priority sector, but the territorial component of the national innovation system is still underdeveloped. Moreover, research and development activity might be among the factors accountable for the increasing regional economic disparities, as the territorial distribution of its potential and performance is extremely unbalanced, the capital region (Bucharest-Ilfov) concentrating over half of R&D endowment. Romania is still lacking a strong regional R&D policy to address such disparities and the recent economic crisis brought about new hardships on the Romanian innovation system. Following a significant rise in research and development funding prior to the crisis, R&D intensity declined from 0.58 % in 2008 la 0.38 % in 2014, placing Romania at the bottom of European Union hierarchy. The convergence of the regional R&D and innovation system is as an essential component of successful regional development because, on the one hand, it provides a key asset to improve local economic competitiveness and, on the other hand, facilitates cohesion in the social sector. In this context our paper explored the convergence patterns of R&D in Romania over 1995-2014 and several subperiods, with a focus on the recent economic crisis, applying the 'sigma' and "beta" convergence methods, as introduced by Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995). We used county level (NUTS3) data provided by the National Institute of Statistics. The diagnostics for spatial dependence have been performed, but Moran's I test for errors could not reject spatial randomness (on all time spans considered), therefore classic OLS model has been applied as the best fit for our data. We found a discontinuous sigma convergence trend, with some temporary periods of divergence that disrupted the convergence process, and conditional beta convergence over 1995-2014. When exploring the relevant subperiods of this time span, the results indicated absolute (unconditional) beta convergence until 2008, but no evidence of either convergence or divergence afterwards. The annual average speed of convergence declined from 6.97% over 1995-2000 to 2.65% over 2000-2008. Sigma convergence has been also reversed during the crisis, but seems to have resumed in the last couple of years. Our findings clearly show the disruptive impact of the economic crisis on the convergence path, from the perspective of both sigma and beta technique. The persistence of high R&D regional inequalities and low convergence calls for adequate policies, able to stimulate the regional innovation potential and underpin faster development of the Romanian regional research and innovation system.

Description: In a business environment defined by overproduction, ever increasing competitive pressures, fast technological dynamics, there remain few reliable instruments to be used by managers in order to develop and maintain competitive advantages. Traditionally, manufacturing cost reduction represents one the solution that are most close to the managers in order to counteract the threats coming from a business's environment. In such a context, this paper aims to develop the ways to obtain cost reduction of three types of resources: direct materials, direct labour and manufacturing overhead. The main method used in the article is analytical logic, the objective being to highlight the approaches to be used in order to optimize resource consumption in its different forms. The results of the article focus on the practical ways to increase a manufacturing enterprise's efficiency.

Description: Along with the economic globalization, the international accounting regulation bodies faced the need to issue internationally accepted global accounting standards. The effect was the issuance and the widespread of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). At European level, the IFRS gained legitimacy in 2002, when the European Parliament and Council have decided that all European publicly traded entities must prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS starting with January 1st, 2005. The regulation from 2002 on the application of the international standards in EU summarizes the benefits emerging from the adoption and use of IFRS, related to: a high degree of transparency and comparability of financial statements and, as consequence, an efficient functioning capital market. However, the achievement of these expected benefits is based on the assumption that the application of these standards contributes to the increase in the quality of accounting data reported in the financial statements. In this context, our main objective is to summarize, based on the research literature, the economic consequences that emerge from the publication of higher quality accounting data in accordance with IFRS.

Description: Sustainability, with its three pillars, is projected into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and their effectiveness and efficiency depend upon the operation of the multi-stakeholder model. Both the EU and the EU member states depone clearly that, via CSR, we can exit from the COVID-19 crises stronger and better. The feasibility of the CSR depends upon the eager support of all stakeholders, including consumers. Therefore, it is highly relevant to assess whether the new group of consumers, known as Generation Z, is open to financially support CSR, to what extent and why and/or under what conditions. These three research questions became the foundation of a survey of 179 college students paying for their tertiary study at a private university in Prague. The survey included both closed and open question, brought forth a highly revealing and surprisingly consistent message about the conditional and rather generous readiness of this new generation of consumers in Central Europe, and led to a set of recommendations.

Description: The sectors of transport and energy are at a turning point, which is generated by various factors such as climate change, population growth and its reliance on classic fuels , the necessity of access to modern energy services for the rural population. The solution would be widespread use of renewable sources in final consumption and in transport. Based on these considerations , the authors aim to present their analysis of the situation of the EU market for biofuels and bioliquids. On the one hand, the use of biomass ensures a sustainable approach to energy consumption, but, on the other hand, it raises the issue of food security.